Wow, what an amazing weekend of MMA...

Wow, what an amazing weekend of MMA...

Well, most of us were looking forward to this weekend all week long and now it has come and gone. I want to say first off that it was without a doubt worth all of the excitement leading up to the night. For the Strikeforce brand, they truly showed their ass by putting on the best event that I have ever seen from the company in regards to their main card. Bellator also put on a pretty good show at the same time. Bellator is noteworthy because their entire season has put forward some great fights and they are quickly rising to the ranks where Strikeforce was before the purchase by Zuffa in my opinion.

The hype leading into this weekend was amazing and it was obvious that the Zuffa machine was behind the promoting of this event for Strikeforce. There was so much media covereage leading into the event, I was shocked to be honest. Strikeforce really seemed like a major player and seeing Dana White in a Strikeforce shirt was just amazing. I do want to add before I get into the fights this weekend a note on a previous article I wrote. It appears that Dan Henderson and Fedor Emelianenko has been signed for July in Strikeforce which is going to be a dream come true. Dan Henderson said that he will move UP to heavyweight and doesn't expect a catch weight. Personally, I think that Fedor should drop DOWN to 205 and challenge for the title. C'mon Dan, don't be scared to put the title on the line.

Getting into to Bellator first, I want to say that Jay Hieron just looks so good these days, I truly believe that he deserves another shot in the big leagues. Granted, GSP destroyed him, but look at GSP now and we can see why. Hieron looks real good these days and I believe that he has a legitimate chance to win the Bellator tournament. Now, when it comes to Bellator 40, I would like to say that Michael Chandler and Lloyd Woodard lived up to the hype and definitely was the fight of the night in my opinion. Michael Chandler looks really good and has a great shot at winning the lightweight portion of the tournament this season. I still think Alvarez can probably take him, but Chandler would be a truly strong challenger none the less.

Brent Weedman looked good against Hieron may I add, but talent and skill wise, he was just over matched in my opinion. On a side note, Tyler Stinson looked extremely good and Nathan James looked just as good. Both of these men put on a very solid fight and I look forward to seeing where they go from here. Eric Prindle and Josh Burns put on the most FUN fight of the night for Bellator as these two big men pounded the hell out of each other despite running out of gas pretty early. I loved this fight and Im glad that Bellator found time to show this prelim on their actual broadcast.

This leads me into the main event...Of course I am one of the people that believe that you should do whatever it takes to win and feed your family. With that being said, I do not hate Ben Askren. He is a winner and is winning fights and making money. I can never criticize winning, so I will say that I think Askren should keep doing whatever it takes to win and reign as champion. Now, with that being said, I am going to speak as a “fan” for a second. Ben Askren is fucking boring. Yes, thats the truth, he is as boring as it gets and the proof was last night. Granted, he has beaten Thompson into retirement as we found out today, but the truth is that he layed and prayed his way to another victory. Im going to tell you the reason I am so critical as a fan of this style.

Askren went on record to call people like Leonard Garcia a loser because he likes to earn the fight of the night award. He called “bonus chasers” losers and said that he will never be like them. Askren hasn't done enough in this sport to be able to talk that kind of mess just yet. Putting on a fun and exciting fight is something that certain fighters like to do because it keeps them employed. Askren can say what he wants, but he needs to learn from Mr. Antonio McKee. Mr. McKee has a great record, but when he got a shot in the UFC, he lost by split decision and was released after only one fight. Jon Fitch is consistently snubbed of title shots from Dana White and there is a reason for this. Dana White, the GOD of MMA likes the loser “bonus chasers” and so do I.

Ben Askren is setting himself up for a one and done in the UFC if he keeps this up just like Antonio Mckee. There are plenty of people including myself that rooted for Mr. Mckee to get a shot inside the Octagon. I thought for sure that he would try to excite the crowd and take advantage of this chance in the big time. He failed to do so and was the same boring fighter that he usually is. He barely lost and that was all Dana needed to get rid of him. Askren is setting himself up for the same fate. He very well could be setting himself up for a fight with Josh Koscheck or someone like that who will do the EXACT same thing to him, thus ending him in the UFC. Can I see this happening? Sure I can! We all know Dana White loves to prove that these outside “champions” couldn't cut it in the UFC. Why does he like to prove that? Well, the answer is simple...It proves that his company truly DOES have the best of the best. Burying a boring fighter like Askren would prove that Bellator can't hang with the UFC in any way and do Dana White a service. I can easily see this transpiring.

My advice to Askren...If your gonna be boring, fine, just don't talk shit about it and defend it. People will eventually call for your head and Mr. Dana White will eventually give the people what they want. That's the truth. If Jon Fitch lost a couple decisions in a row, what do you think would happen to him? Dana White would cut him in a second and say that he “told us” that he wasn't championship material. Maybe I am right, maybe I am wrong, but I believe 100% that if Bellator wants to be considered a top company, they better not put their Jon Fitch as the main event of their shows. Askren is a great and solid talent, but so is Antonio McKee. Remember that!

Now, moving onto Strikeforce, whom in my opinion, put on the greatest show that I have ever seen from them. In their undercard, we saw Robert Peralta get the split decision win over the great Hiroyuki Takaya. This was considered an upset by many and I am one of those people. Personally, I scored the fight for Takaya, but it was so close, it honestly could have went either way. Regardless, this was a great fight and I have no choice but to give Peralta two thumbs up as this has to be the biggest win of his career. I am actually surprised that this card was SO GREAT that this had to be a preliminary fight. I would have put this on the main card any day of the week. I can't wait until Strikeforce makes their main cards five fights instead of four, which we all know will happen soon.

Shinya Aoki proved that he truly is in the top five of lightweights in the world. Granted, Beerbohm isn't in the top ten, but he was solid enough to where a 90 second win over him should mean quite a bit. I really learned to love Aoki after this event. During the pre-fight press conference he basically said that he didn't give a shit about Japan and their issues nor his family. He said that he was here to fight and thats all he cared about right now. I loved that response for some reason. I have heard plenty of people talk crazy about it already, but the truth is that is what makes Aoki so good. He is ruthless and he wants to make sure that the MMA world knows it. As a mixed martial artist, he is great and can literally tap out anyone. Beerbohm is no joke either, but he was NOT ready for someone as great as Shinya Aoki. Aoki is right behind Melendez and Edgar in my book. I may even put Alvarez above him, but overall, Shinya Aoki is a great fighter and I can't wait to see where he goes from here.

Now, we are going to go to the controversial fight of the night. Keith Jardine and Gegard Mousasi was without a doubt the fight of the night and boy, did it end with some controversy. I am one of the few people on earth that gives this fight two thumbs up for calling it a draw and I will soon explain why. Gegard Mousasi may not have lost this fight, but he did NOT win it either. Yes, he out struck Keith Jardine and I will give him that. Yes, he busted up Jardine's face and hurt him more and I will give him that. However, he also LOST a point as well as got taken down around ten times. Keith Jardine took Gegard down at will and he should be rewarded for that. Think about it, we all know that scoring in MMA is a little goofy, but at this point, takedowns mean a lot. Now, whether they should or shouldn't isnt the question right now. The point is that they DO MEAN a lot in the judges a lot.

The truth is that Keith Jardine took him down at will as well as busted his eyes up. Jardine won the first round 10-9 and with the point deduction, it was 10-8. Now...the second round is obviously where the questions are. I scored round two for Jardine, but it could have went either way. So, if Jardine won it (as I scored), he would have been up on the cards 20-17 going into the third round. However, if you scored it for Gegard, then Gegard would have had the score a little closer at 19-18 for Jardine. There is no question that Gegard won the third round, but the question is whether he won it 10-8 or 10-9. I scored the round 10-8 for Gegard which made my score 28-27 for Jardine. If the others did as well, that would have made it 28-28 and a draw, which obviously is what happened. I guess the real question in this fight is who gave who round two. Now, all of the people that say that Gegard won are some how giving him ROUND ONE. How is that possible? Even without the point taken away, Jardine took him down like 5 times AND busted his eyes open as well. Jardine may not have necessarily won this fight either, but a DRAW is definitely a good call. You cannot give Gegard this fight based on striking any more than you can give Jardine this fight based on takedowns. A draw is really good here.

Gilbert Melendez is the best lightweight in the world and last night put the stamp on it. He is so vicious, it is crazy. I do not think Frankie Edgar could beat Gilbert in any way conceivable. All I can really say about that fight is that he is just top notch and should be considered easily in the top three in the division. Keep in mind that the same guy I bragged on earlier in Aoki couldn't beat Melendez either. I am just amazed by the fighters from Caesar Gracie's camp. I heard that Dave Batista is training there too, so that makes me a little more interested in his debut in MMA this year when it happens. Gilbert Melendez will some day be the UFC Lightweight Champion and I think it will be sooner rather than later.

Now, onto the main event of the evening which may have posted the most exciting five minutes that MMA can give you. First off, let me say this...I respect the shit out of both men for what they did here. They stood and banged and this was just GREAT and exciting to watch. I loved every minute of this fight and Nick Diaz easily moved up to the #2 welterweight in the world in my opinion. Hell, he may even be able to beat GSP and the reason is simple. Laying on Diaz for five rounds may be a mistake as Diaz is one of the best off his back in the entire sport of MMA. Now, back to the fight. Daley dropped Diaz with his hook a couple times and the fight could have actually probably been stopped the second time as Diaz was covering up instead of defending himself. Daley however did NOT finish the fight and Diaz somehow came back to. Later in the fight, it looked like Daley slipped following losing his balance. Granted, Diaz popped him before that and that was probably what did it. However, Diaz followed with three punches as Daley tried to get up and out of the way, but Big John stopped the fight.

I was very unhappy with the stoppage there with three seconds left in the first round. Daley was NOT out cold and he was fighting to get up MORE than Diaz was when he got dropped. He didn't stop the fight when Diaz got dropped and was taking some punishment and I don't think that Daley should have been stopped in his first droppage, which was more of a slip either. Now, Diaz won this fight standing and I will give him props. He is a TRUE champion and one of the best in this business. However, was Paul Daley actually beaten? I do not think so...Even if he was, I think he had already beaten Diaz earlier in the fight if we are going to stop it that easily. Diaz was given two to three chances to recover without the fight being stopped whereas Daley was given none. I agree with Paul Daley that the fight was stopped too soon. There was three seconds left in the round and I would have rather seen a clean start in round two than see the fight stopped like that. Regardless, the fight WAS STOPPED and Nick Diaz proved all of his doubters wrong. I wonder what is next for Paul Daley now though with Dana White running the show. Will he be allowed to finish his contract? I am excited to see...

Now back to the weekend as a whole...This was just great MMA action from the beginning to the end. On Friday night, we got to see Hermes Franca and Marcus Davis out there performing for a small company which was our appetizer. Then we got SUPER SATURDAY night which lived up to its hype. I am very satisfied as a writer and as a fan of the sport. What was even more special about the entire thing was this....There was no UFC what-so-ever....MMA as a sport is just great. Thank you MMA for giving us this weekend.