James Brydon

With great fights like Saturday night's, Strikeforce is proving to be a great alternative for fighters and MMA fans.

Saturday night a Zuffa show went head-to-head against a fledgling rival promotion and the latter proved to be a formidable opponent.

While the former wasn’t the UFC but its "lighter" companion, the WEC, their parent company would be wise to realize that Strikeforce is much more than a flash in the pan. It’s here to stay, and dare I say, compete with the UFC.

Not being at either event Saturday, I flipped between the two on my TV (making good use of the dual-tuner PVR) but I found myself much more intrigued by what was going on in the six-sided cage in San Jose than in the world-famous Octagon that is also employed by the WEC.

Opening the televised portion of Strikeforce’s appropriately named "Evolution" card was Muhammed Lawal, who up to this point might have been more hyped than what his mere fifteen months of professional MMA fighting should warrant. But the unbeaten shined in his Strikeforce debut against an accomplished Mike Whitehead, who holds wins over Kevin Randleman, Krzysztof Soszynski and Mark Kerr.

A wrestler by training with championship credentials, "King Mo" chose instead to keep this fight standing as he faced a much heavier opponent. Lawal waited for the right opportunity and eventually put Whitehead down with a perfectly timed left/right combo and finished with ground and pound to improve to 6-0.

Next, Ronaldo Souza, a.k.a. Jacare, also debuted with a strong victory after a great run in Dream. He made relatively short work of Matt Lindland, a former UFC fighter and Olympic silver medallist in Greco-Roman wrestling.

Souza proved difficult to take down and the one time he was, Souza was able to roll his body to avoid damage to his head. Souza displayed some great striking -- likely a product of training with Anderson Silva -- and once they were on the ground he showed off fantastic jiu-jitsu, eventually getting an arm-triangle choke from side control after quickly transitioning from Lindland’s half guard.

As for Josh Thomson vs. Gilbert Melendez for the lightweight title, what can you say? With two weeks to go in 2009, they pulled out a late candidate for fight of the year. Who doesn’t like to see two guys throwing bombs right through to the end of the fifth round, especially when both fighters still have energy (unlike some of the efforts we’ve seen from UFC fighters of late)?

Finally, there was the main event, and it was a real treat. Through two-and-a-half rounds Cung Le looked precise in his strikes, particularly his kicks, and I didn’t give Scott Smith much of a chance to last the full three rounds, let alone win.

But throwing those legs really tired Le partway through the third and Smith was able to time his blocking better. And then with one sudden punch, "Hands of Steel" flipped the tables, toppling Le and moments later scoring an amazing TKO victory in the most stunning comeback I’d seen in a long time.

While this was unfolding, the WEC was winding down its card with some pretty respectable fights. Top bantamweight up-and-comers Scott Jorgensen and Joseph Benavidez beat talented guys in Takeya Mizugaki and Rani Yahya. Jorgensen earned a close decision while Benavidez KO’ed Yahya in amazing fashion.

In the co-main event, Anthony Njokuani won his third straight in the organization, picking off Canadian Chris Horodecki with a highlight-reel roundhouse right to the side of the face of a retreating Horodecki. Then Donald (Cowboy) Cerrone showed off his submission game to go with his Muay Thai with a late choke of Ed Ratcliff. (And never mind the low blows -- they were unintentional and the point deductions only would have made the scores closer had it gone to a decision).

Yet it was pretty clear the Strikeforce competitors were of a different calibre, marketability-wise, than the WEC’s, no offence to the little guys.

The same can be said about the production of the two shows, including their respective booth crews. Strikeforce had great colour commentary from Frank Shamrock coupled with the energy from Mauro Ranallo that rivals the lung-killing exclamations of CBS play-by-play man Gus Johnson.

Said an incredibly excited Ranallo, after main-event upset: "Scott Smith delivers the Christmas miracle! The comeback kid does it again!"

Sorry but the WEC’s colour guy Frank Mir, while very knowledgeable, doesn’t generate the same amount of excitement, and embarrasses himself by admitting he hasn’t got the hang of the "twitterer" thing. "I’m working on it," said Mir.

Overall, Strikeforce on Showtime delivers a stronger viewing experience than what Versus brings. And another piece of news that should have UFC president Dana White steaming: EA Sports MMA, the competing game to THQ’s UFC Undisputed, has added all of the above Strikeforce main-card fighters (save for Whitehead) to its roster, which already includes Fedor Emelianenko, Randy Couture, Gegard Mousasi and Jake Shields. Not a bad offering, if I do say so myself.

Strikeforce is taking an entirely different approach to MMA promotion by spending a large portion of their money on the upper tier of their smaller stable of fighters -- Le earned almost as much himself ($150K) as the entire payroll for the WEC show ($162K) -- and using them in greater frequency. With the UFC putting on so many shows, it’s hard enough to fill each of its events with quality talent let alone having to deal with the current plethora of injuries. So perhaps Strikeforce is on the right track with its approach.

The San Jose-based organization has expanded its sponsorships, partnered with CBS and NBC along with Showtime for primetime broadcasts and weekly highlights, and has formed alliances with Dream and M-1 Global that allow for co-promotion and fighter exchanges.

And there are a number of great matchups on the Strikeforce horizon, including the reported bout between Shields and newly-signed Dan Henderson. I’m really looking forward to that, perhaps more than any UFC fight in the coming months.

No, Strikeforce isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. That may not make White happy, but it’s great news for MMA fans.