So after all is said and done Strikeforce Nashville a night that ended with a post fight brawl in the middle of champion Jake Shields interview on national television, and saw all three of its title fights go all five rounds to the judges decision. All three fights were one sided the evening definitely didn't lack excitement by no means if you like great technical fighting and game planning this was the night of fights for you, most of the time saw one if not both of the fighters on the met.
The evening started off with five rounds for the Strikeforce Light-heavyweight title with defending champion Gegard Mousasi defending against Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal
The fight started off with Lawal being the aggressor, shooting relentless double and single leg take downs at Mousasi, Lawal was pounding the champion from his guard although Mousasi showed no sense of urgency and seemed to be comfortable on his back waiting for Lawal to gas out. Which looked as if it was going to happen in round 2 when it seemed Mousasi gained momentum and looked as if the fight turned after the champion connected with punches and knees. But the 3rd round was a image of what happened in round 1 Lawal with just relentless single leg take downs, and controlled the champion on the ground. Mousasi out struck the challenger landing 177 of his 250 total punches compared to Lawal's 93 landed of 238. The difference in the fight however was take non stop take downs of the challenger as Lawal succeed with 9 of his 12 take down attempts which was the difference to the fight. After five rounds the judges scored the fight (49-46, 49-45, 48-45) crowning "King Mo" Lawal the new Strikefroce Light-heavyweight champion.
The second fight of the night saw Japanese superstar Shinya Aoki, make his American debut for the Strikeforce Lightweight chmapionship against champion Gilbert Melezdez.
The fight started off with Melendez as the aggressor and not much changed threw out the fight and Melendez with a beautiful display of boxing, and strategy on the ground, as he controlled the Japanese star. Aoki never looked comfortable with the cage in his first ever bout inside of a cage in his career, and Melendez took complete advantage of it landing punch after punch from body shots, to straight in the nose. After round 2 Aoki was bleeding from his nose. It seemed his only chance was to shot for the take down grab hold of Melendez and pull guard, which never happened as the champion completely overwhelmed the challenger. inside of the stats Melendez landed 132 of his 253 punches which saw 80 of those landed on the ground were he landed 80 of 114. Not much happened from Aoki's standpoint as he landed only 18 of 51 punches and the big stat he was 0 for 18 on his take downs, and just 1 submission attempted from the Japanese star known for his submission skills. after all 5 rounds the judges scored the fight ( 50-45, 50-45, 50-45,) as Melendez retained his title.
The evening ended with the main event for the Strikeforce Middleweight title with champion Jake Shields defending against mma legend Dan Henderson, in his first fight for the company.
As the fight started it didn't look like it would last long as Henderson had his right hand cocked and loaded the same way he back at UFC 100 against Micheal Bisping, which saw Henderson win by a clean knockout. Henderson quickly landed that right hand minutes into the first round and it didn't look good for Shields as he tried to control the challenge, Henderson seem unstoppable in round one. However the rest of the fight was all Shields and he displayed a dazzling performance with relentless take downs of the challenger. and seemed unstoppable on the mat Shields completely outclassed Henderson with mount after mount on the mma legend making Henderson look either old, or as a rookie of the sport. as the challenger could never find a way up off the mat. It seemed as his only weapon was waiting to land the right hand which only happened once and the rest was all Shields. Although Henderson would survive a a few close calls of the fight being stop as he made it all five rounds. But overall just a beautiful performance from the champion Jake Sheilds as he would win he fight by the judges scores of ( 49-46, 49-45, 48-45)
At the end of the night as commentator Gus Johnson was in the cage interviewing Shields after his victory. Middleweight and top contender Jason "Mayhem" Miller entered the cage asking for his rematch, Shields responded by pushing Miller and a brawl started between Miller and Shields, teammate Nick Diaz a very embarrassing moment for the company as the broadcast was being shown live on CBS, and to many of whom maybe first time viewers of the sport. which was a disappointing way to a very entertaining night of fights.
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