Strikeforce: "Diaz vs Daley" Live Play-By-Play & ResultsStrikeforce came to the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego, California tonight for Strikeforce: “Diaz vs Daley.” The stacked card was headlined by a Strikeforce Welterweight Championship bout between reigning champion Nick Diaz and hard-hitting British challenger Paul “Semtex” Daley.

In the co-main event, Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert “El Niño” Melendez put his title on the line in a rematch with rival Tatsuya “Crusher” Kawajiri, while Gegard “The Dreamcatcher” Mousasi faced “The Dean of Mean” Keith Jardine. MMARising.com has live play-by-play for the card.

 

Strikeforce Welterweight Championship

Nick Diaz vs Paul “Semtex” Daley

Round 1:
Diaz taunted and pushed forward with punches early on. Daley landed a knee and dropped Diaz with a hook. Diaz survived a follow-up barrage and got back to his feet. He immediately recovered and shrugged off another knee. Diaz jabbed as Daley continued to fire big punches. Diaz closed the distance and staggered Daley badly with a flurry of punches. Daley stumbled and fell, but fought out of a guillotine choke and wound up on top.

The fighters returned to their feet and exchanged punches. Diaz backed Daley up with a flurry and Daley responded with a knee. More punches landed for Diaz, but Daley dropped him like a rock with a left hook. He was unable to finish, however, and Diaz somehow survived. Daley punched from Diaz’s guard against the cage, but Diaz pushed him off and got back to his feet. Diaz turned it on again with punches and backed Daley up. Daley stumbled and fell awkwardly to the ground.

Diaz finished the fight with a final flurry on the ground. Incredible back-and-forth battle, where both fighters were seconds away from being finished.

Winner: Nick Diaz by TKO (Punches) at 4:57 of round one. He improves to 25-7-0, 1 ND and remains the Strikeforce Welterweight Champion.

 

Strikeforce Lightweight Championship

Gilbert “El Niño” Melendez vs Tatsuya “Crusher” Kawajiri

Round 1:
Melendez dropped Kawajiri with a right hook early on, but Kawajiri quickly returned to his feet. Melendez kept the pressure on with knees and both fighters landed punches. Melendez rocked Kawajiri with more hard punches and Kawajiri fell to his knees near the cage. Melendez continued to punch away, then took Kawajiri’s back and attempted a rear-naked choke.

Kawajiri scrambled to his feet, but ate a series of powerful left hands in close. He managed to break free of a clinch, but Melendez tagged him with two more right hooks. Melendez sprawled out of a takedown and unleashed a succession of rapid-fire lefts. Kawajiri fell to his back and Melendez absolutely unloaded with elbows until the fight was stopped. Extremely impressive performance from Melendez.

Winner: Gilbert Melendez by TKO (Elbows) at 3:14 of round one. He improves to 19-2-0 and remains the Strikeforce Lightweight Champion.

 

Gegard “The Dreamcatcher” Mousasi vs “The Dean of Mean” Keith Jardine

Round 1:
Jardine shot in for a takedown early on, but the fight quickly returned to the feet. Both landed short punches and Jardine scored with a leg kick. Mousasi backed Jardine up to the cage and Jardine circled out with a kick. He took Mousasi down against the cage and worked from the top, but Mousasi battled back to his feet and clipped Jardine with punches.

Jardine retreated after a right hook and was hit by a flurry of follow-up punches. He recovered and took Mousasi down. Jardine struck from the top, but time was called after an illegal upkick from Mousasi. The referee deducted one point from Mousasi and the fight continued. Mousasi landed left hooks and Jardine countered with a leg kick. Mousasi pushed forward with punches, but Jardine landed a nice knee. 9-9.

Round 2:
Mousasi countered an early takedown attempt from Jardine with a standing guillotine choke, but Jardine backed away and the fighters traded punches. Jardine stayed on the outside and threw leg kicks, but Mousasi cut him badly with stiff jabs and crosses. Jardine began to bleed all over the place from his face, but threw more leg kicks and clinched for a takedown.

Jardine took Mousasi down near the cage and punched from the top as Mousasi struck from his back. The fight returned to the feet and Mousasi scored with more punches and a head kick. A bloodied Jardine clinched and managed to get Mousasi down again. Mousasi quickly scrambled to his feet and both fighters landed right hands. 10-9 Mousasi by a small margin.

Round 3:
Mousasi rushed right in with punches in the final round, but time was called after Jardine was kicked in the groin. Action resumed and Jardine landed a one-two. Mousasi countered with two flurries of punches, but Jardine ducked under and clinched against the cage. He tried to take Mousasi down, but backed away after a series of Mousasi elbows. Mousasi took Jardine down and secured a very tight power guillotine choke.

Jardine managed to fight out and stood up, but Mousasi took him back down. Mousasi punched and elbowed from the top and moved to mount. Jardine scrambled out and looked for a double-leg takedown. He stood up and ate a trio of powerful hooks from Mousasi. Time was called to replace Jardine’s mouthpiece. After the restart, Mousasi landed a right hook and Jardine backed up.

Mousasi took Jardine down against the cage and worked for a Kimura on Jardine’s left arm. He moved to half-guard and landed elbows to Jardine’s forehead. Jardine regained full guard very briefly, but Mousasi moved back to half-guard and punched from the top. He fought off a last-second armbar from Jardine at the bell. 10-9 Mousasi.

Result: Majority Draw (29-27 [Mousasi], 28-28, 28-28) after three rounds. Mousasi moves to 30-3-2, while Jardine is now 17-10-2.

 

Shinya “Tobikan Judan” Aoki vs Lyle “Fancy Pants” Beerbohm

Round 1:
Beerbohm clinched early on and backed Aoki up to the cage. Aoki tripped him to the mat and looked to take Beerbohm’s back. He did so and tried to set up a rear-naked choke. Aoki switched to a neck crank and Beerbohm was forced to submit.

Winner: Shinya Aoki by Submission (Neck Crank) at 1:33 of round one. He improves to 27-5-0, 1 NC.