Jake Shields retained his Strikeforce middleweight championship this evening against Dan Henderson in a thoroughly convincing unanimous decision victory. Although it was Henderson who brought a wrestling advantage to the table on paper, it was Shields who had his way with the Greco-Roman grappler in the takedown department on his way to the first defense of his middleweight crown.
A worst case scenario unfolded following the bout as Jason “Mayhem” Miller entered the ring to call out Shields before being shoved by Jake and Gilbert Melendez, and ultimately going to the floor in a heap with Nick Diaz and others. The antics of all involved caused the sport to take a small step back due to the exposure of the event being aired live on CBS. It would come as a surprise if no fines were handed out in the aftermath of the melee. Stay tuned…
Gilbert Melendez took DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki out of his comfort zone for a solid twenty five minutes en route to a one-sided unanimous decision ruled to be a shutout (50-45) by all three judges scoring the bout ringside. “El Nino” chose to keep the bout between champions standing for the bulk of the contest and dominated the fight from the top position while peppering the Japanese sumbission specialist when the action went to the ground on the way to the first defense of his newly obtained Strikeforce lightweight title.
The pair of title fights took place from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee while airing live on CBS.
Also seeing action was Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal, who out-hustled Gegard Mousasi while putting on a wrestling clinic to claim the Strikeforce light heavyweight championship, along with Jason “Mayhem” Miller, who TKO’d Tim Stout in the first round.
A full list of results from the event are below:
Cody Floyd def. Thomas Campbell via KO – Round 3
Dustin Ortiz def. Justin Pennington via submission (rear naked choke) – Round 1
Zach Underwood def. Hunter Worsham via unanimous decision
Cale Yarbrough def. Josh Schockman via TKO – Round 2
Jason “Mayhem” Miller def. Tim Stout via TKO – Round 1
Andrew Uhrich def. Dustin West via submission (rear naked choke) – Round 1
Ovince St. Preaux def. Chris Hawk via TKO – Round 1
Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal def. Gegard Mousasi via unanimous decision (49-45, 49-45, 49-45)
Gilbert Melendez def. Shinya Aoki via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45)
Jake Shields def. Dan Henderson via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-45, 48-45)
