Strikeforce held its most important fighting event to date on CBS. Three championship fights were contested with the light heavyweight belt exchanging hands.
But it was the melee that happened after a fight that's making headlines. Middleweight champion Jake Shields had just fought veteran Dan Henderson for five rounds. As Shields was being interviewed in the ring by ringside announcer Gus Johnson after, Jason "Mayhem" Miller, who fought earlier on the card, came into the ring and interrupted the interview.
Mller said to the champion Shields, "Where is my, rematch buddy?" Shields pushed Miller away and the fighting began with Shields' entourage swinging punches at Miller. In the middle of the melee was Nick Diaz, who trained with Shields. Diaz, who has the shortest fuse of any fighters in MMA, once fought at the hospital after seeing an opponent he had just fought in the ring.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White twittered a smiley face :) on his twitter account after the brawl. It's just like White to sink to the level of the competition. Jason Miller wrote on his twitter account "whoops," Clearly realizing this was a huge mistake to enter the ring uninvited.
As for the fights, Shields' win over Henderson had one exciting round and that was the first round. Henderson looked as if he would win by knockout over Shields. But, the champion Shields kept his composure and won the next four rounds for a unanimous decision as he retains his Strikeforce middleweight championship. Henderson said on Bleachreport.com, "Thanks to all the fans for tuning in and watching. I had a good round and a half. I got tired for whatever reason, and Jake did a good job."
Shields' training partner and Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Menlendez retain his belt with a five-round unanimous decision over Japan's Dream champion Shinya Aoki.
Aoki is considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in Japan. He said on mmabay.co.uk before the fight, “If I lose this fight, MMA in Japan is over. Japan will become a colony of the USA. He thought the future of Japanese MMA was on his shoulders. And he had to perform well to show the world that Japan has some of the best fighters in MMA. He is the second highly regarded Japanese fighter to fight in America in the last month. Japan's veteran Takanori Gomi loss to American Kenny Florian in Charlotte, N.C., in last month's UFC card on Strike TV.
Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal was a huge underdog to the champion Gegard Mousasi for the light heavyweight title. Lawal has just six professional MMA fights compared to 31 fights for Mousasi. At the end of the fight you would have thought Mousasi had won, because Lawal's left eye had swollen shut and his face was heavily bruised. But fights aren't won on appearances. Lawal won 49-46 as he displayed a masterful ground-and-pound game to win four of the five rounds.
Other fights on the card, but not televised on CBS: Ovince St. Preux won by TKO on Chris Hawk, Andy Uhrich won by submission (rear-naked choke) over Dustin West, Jason "Mayhem" Miller won by TKO over Tim Stout, Cale Yarbrough won by TKO over Josh Schockman, Zach Underwood won by decision over Hunter Worsham, Dustin Ortiz won by submission (rear-naked choke) over Justin Pennington and Cody Floyd won by KO (knee) over Thomas Campell.
Who is at fault in the Jason Miller brawl? Strikeforce security, Jake Shields' corner, Miller or someone else? Give me your take.