· Rockhold Dominant In Title Defense Over Jardine

· Article author: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Posted on 01/09 at 11:10 AM

Saturday night’s “Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine” kicked off Strikeforce’s new year, along with their new contract with Showtime. The card was heavily loaded with up-and-comers facing off against established veterans. By the time the event had concluded the direction of Strikeforce, at least for the foreseeable future, had been plotted. The main event featured Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold facing former UFC star Keith Jardine. Jardine was making the move down to middleweight after fighting the majority of his career at light heavyweight. The card also featured “King Mo” Lawal, Robbie Lawler, and Tyron Woodley taking on fast-rising stars Lorenz Larkin, Adlan Amagov, and Jordan Mein.

Although a longshot to win, many expected Keith Jardine to give Luke Rockhold a stiff challenge as their styles had potential to clash. However, the champion, Rockhold, proved that he is not a fly-by-night star or ready to give way to anyone that Strikeforce can throw at him. Rockhold met Jardine at the point of attack in every exchange. Jardine would throw a punch, and Rockhold would either land his counter first or simultaneously. The clear difference in the two fighters was evident once Rockhold landed a series of spinning back kicks to Jardine’s midsection. The blows took an obvious toll on Jardine, who slowed and bent over with each strike.

The end came when Jardine loaded up for a haymaker, but before connecting, Rockhold landed his own stiff punch. Jardine hit the canvas. Although stunned, Jardine made it back to his feet quickly, but was hammered and backed into the cage. Rockhold released several unanswered punches, and although clearly out on his feet, the referee did not step in until Jardine had crumbled and hit the mat for the final time, giving Luke Rockhold a dominant first round finish in his first title defense.

Following the knockout of Jardine Mauro Rinallo asked Rockhold about potentially facing his original opponent for this bout, Tim Kennedy. However, Rockhold took the opportunity to make it known that he was looking up the ladder toward some of the contenders in the UFC, rather than commenting on fighters currently on the Strikeforce roster.

Robbie Lawler continued his up-and-down career by knocking out undefeated challenger Adlan Amagov. While Amagov showed he was prepared for the notorious power puncher by keeping his distance and looking to keep the fight on the ground, he did show his inexperience. With Lawler on the floor against the cage Amagov landed a flush illegal knee to the head of his opponent. Once Lawler had recovered from the strike the action resumed on the feet. Lawler leaped for a flying knee, grazing the head of Amagov and flying over his back. With his opponent dazed and face down on the floor, Lawler pounded away with heavy lefts from the back. The referee had no choice to waive off the contest. The win puts Lawler back into the contender’s picture again and with a new training regimen and health issues seemingly resolved, the 29 year-old may be ready to once again rise to the top of the middleweight ladder.

With the light heavyweight title open and up for grabs, Strikeforce has a handful of fighters jockeying for position in order to fill the vacancy left when Dan Henderson returned to the UFC. Enter Lorenz Larkin and “King Mo” Lawal. Larkin an undefeated prospect with an exciting style has sparked fans with his striking ability, while Lawal’s personality and dominating wrestling made the fight a classic matchup for fans to enjoy.

Larkin looked good in the early moments of the contest. He avoided a takedown and showed some of his striking prowess. However, like many dynamic strikers that have faced dominating wrestlers, Larkin was unable to keep himself off of the mat. Once Lawal got the fight to the ground, his ground-and-pound skills shined through. He landed thunderous right hands over and over again that hurt Larkin and eventually led to the stopping of the fight. Following the contest Lawal seemed a bit upset about the amount of punishment he was allowed to inflict, but was certainly satisfied to have walked away with a victory.

Seemingly on the verge of a title shot for two years now, Tyron Woodley again showed why he is deserving of the number one contender slot. While the fight was not an exciting slugfest that fans have wanted to see from Woodley, and have come to expect from Jordan Mein, there was a clear winner in the bout—despite an odd split decision victory. The first round was close with Mein taking a slight edge on the feet, but Woodley’s wrestling was too much to overcome as Mein was unable to get the fight back to the feet once on his back. The second and third rounds were much of the same. Woodley scored an early takedown and although Mein was able to avoid much damage he could not get back to his base. Mein did do a good job to damaging Woodley with elbows from the bottom, but their effectiveness was obviously limited due to being pinned to the mat.