The first big MMA event of the year left a lot to be desired on a number of fronts. Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine wasn’t exactly stellar from a matchmaking point-of-view, it featured numerous judging and officiating decisions that were curious at best, and left us wondering what’s next for a number of its competitors.
Having said that, it did offer us an opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with FightMetric’s fight stats again, so let’s do that for the first time in 2012. We’ll begin with the first fight on the main card and work towards the main event.
Tarec Saffiedine vs. Tyler Stinson
The first fight was fairly entertaining and a little controversial when the decision was given as a split one for Saffiedine. A look at the stats makes one wonder how judge Lester Griffin gave two rounds to Stinson (the other two scores were 30-27 and 29-28 for Saffiedine).
The first round was very close as both landed 17 significant strikes (Sig Str) — Saffiedine at a 41 per cent rate, Stinson 34 (Str%). Not much difference there, so Stinson could have gotten the nod due to a submission attempt (Sub), overall aggression, his strikes being deemed stronger or any other factor).
But in the next two rounds, Saffiedine had the clear edge in striking as well as wrestling/grappling, with a takedown (TD) and a passed guard (Pass) in each frame. He had a ridiculous edge in total strikes (Tot Str) but they were padded by non-power strikes on the ground and in the clinch (which are not included in the significant strike total).
Tyron Woodley vs. Jordan Mein
The next fight on the night was even more displeasing to fans, especially Canadian supporters of the talented and up-and-coming Mein who hails from Lethbridge, Alta., as the latter fell by split decision in an uninspiring, wrestling-dominated affair.
The trouble is it’s hard to argue with the effectiveness of Woodley’s game plan and, despite what some have argued, he kept busy enough on the ground to keep it there and outpoint Mein. Woodley had a takedown in each round (Mein had none) and held a big edge in both striking categories in the first and third rounds.
You can easily argue for Mein to win the second round with the edge in all three columns of the striking stats (Tot Str, Sig Str, Str %) and the fact that he just kept busier. But with Mein going 1 of 17 and 2 of 7 in significant striking in the first and third rounds, respectively, there’s no way you can give him either of those (no matter how much you despise wrestling).
There were a couple times when Mein was looking for a submission, but it isn’t recorded statistically as an attempt unless you actually lock in place the hold.
Muhammed Lawal vs. Lorenz Larkin
Here we had a former champion vs. an undefeated but relatively inexperienced fighter, at least in terms of his past competition. And it didn’t take long for it to prove to be a mismatch.
While Lawal was able to use his wrestling to take Larkin down in the first and early in the second, it was the disparity in the striking department that was, well, striking. Lawal had a whopping 78-4 edge in total strikes landed (39-3 significant).
And it got really ugly at the end, when from top position on the mat, Lawal landed a couple punches and hammerfists before pinning Larkin’s right arm and then was allowed to land 17 consecutive unblocked punches to his face before referee Kim Winslow finally stopped it (and this was after she had stood the two fighters up in the first round even though Lawal was doing damage with some effective ground and pound.)
Lawal felt terrible for his opponent for taking so many needless blows and criticized Winslow for not jumping in sooner. He later said Winslow’s response was that she wanted to give Larkin every chance to fight through it.
Apparently the Nevada State Athletic Commission backs her decision, as executive director Keith Kizer told MMAmania on Tuesday it has “no issue” with her handling of the stoppage. I’m sorry but her job is to protect fighters who are no longer intelligently defending themselves, and Larkin wasn’t doing that about a dozen punches earlier. That only inflated what were some already utterly one-sided stats for Lawal.
Robbie Lawler vs. Adlan Amagov
The co-main event featured yet another veteran (and former EliteXC champion) vs. a young and explosive fighter on a long winning streak. Unfortunately, the relative newcomer seemed to show some inexperience.
After going 2-for-2 on takedown attempts early, passing Lawler’s guard and controlling the flow of the bout from the get-go, Amagov fired a knee that clipped Lawler while he was still grounded. Referee Steve Mazzagatti saw it right away, stood them back up and penalized the Russian, who appeared not to realize what he had done wrong.
Only a short time after the restart, Lawler launched himself at Amagov in spectacular fashion. It at first looked like Lawler had jumped right over his head but on replay showed his flying knee grazed it enough to snap it back slightly and put Amagov on the mat. Lawler finished him off with quick strikes on the ground.
Lawler was credited with one knockdown (KD) and was 6 of 11 in striking for 67%, which was more than enough to counter Amagov’s 2 of 4.
Luke Rockhold vs. Keith Jardine
The thinking in giving Jardine the title shot must have been that he’s a veteran and a big name and could be a dangerous opponent on the feet for the middleweight title-holder. But clearly the former UFC slugger cannot take a punch like he used to, and he took plenty of them in this bout from a young and hungry champion.
Rockhold landed twice as many strikes as Jardine (34 vs. 17) and at a much higher rate (62% vs. 40%). Almost as significant was that Rockhold had two pure knockdowns. That’s actually a big number; it’s relatively rare that a fighter gets one knockdown, let alone multiple in a single fight.
And as was a theme throughout the night, the referee took a little longer than I would have liked to step in to stop it. When even a veteran like Herb Dean can’t save a fighter soon enough, it’s a bad night.
Then afterward, Rockhold suggested that the talent in Strikeforce was not good enough when asked in the post-fight interview if he wanted to take on Tim Kennedy next.
“I like fighting, I like getting paid, but I love competition and striving to be the best,” Rockhold said. “All the best guys are in the UFC … Those are the guys I want. I think they should bring over some top contenders. Let’s find out who the top contenders are because I believe I am and I’d love a chance to prove it.”
Unfortunately, he may have to wait a while now for that opportunity, as he could be out up to six months under medical suspension due to a possible broken hand (though he could be cleared earlier by a doctor).
Overall, it was not a great opening night of the 2012 calendar for Strikeforce.