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Diaz, Santos win Strikeforce gold

This week in MMA

By David McKinney

Somebody remind me to never go nearly three weeks without watching a live mixed martial arts event again. With the UFC on a temporary hiatus in order to set their 2010 schedule and the WEC focusing on putting on a major show in Columbus before heading to Pay-Per-View in May, California-based Strikeforce had to be the one to break the MMA drought. And break the drought they did.

"Strikeforce: Miami" was one of the best offerings from Strikeforce in years, as three of their headliners took on three fighters who were relatively unknown in the U.S., but who had made names for themselves on the international level.

Veteran MMA bad boy and trash talker Nick Diaz (who is still in his 20's but feels like he has been fighting for 20 years) earned his first championship in a major promotion when he took out Marius Zaromskis to earn the inaugural Strikeforce welterweight title. Zaromskis, a striking specialist who holds the welterweight title in the Dream organization, was outclassed by the lanky Diaz, who decided to prove a point by striking with Zaromskis, despite his clear advantage in grappling. Diaz took out Zaromskis with has patented aggressive striking style, as he landed nearly 81 percent of more than 100 strikes and caught Zaromskis with a straight right that sent him to the mat and earned the surprisingly mature Diaz his first trip to the top of the mountain.

Also on the card was a women's lightweight championship fight between aggressive champion Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos and international women's MMA star Marloes Coenen. Despite being a substantial underdog, the submission specialist Coenen was willing to strike with the champion and even held her own for the better part of three rounds before the referee stopped the fight and declared Santos the winner via TKO. StrikeForce CEO has already hinted that tough striker Erin Toughill could be up next for Cyborg.

Also impressive on the Strikeforce card were debuting heavyweights Bobby Lashley (yes, the former pro wrestler) and Herschel Walker (yes, the Heisman Trophy winner and former Olympic bobsledder). Lashley, who came into the fight at 4-0, defeated an out-of-shape Wes Sims, a native of Columbus, easily in the first round. Walker, who was making his MMA debut, dominated 1-1 Hungarian fighter Greg Nagy to earn a TKO in the third round. Former EliteXC middleweight champion Robbie Lawler also turned in an exciting performance, as he defeated Dutch kickboxer Melvin Manhoef with a looping right after being hobbled by a series of devastating leg kicks.

Two MMA fighters made BusinessWeek Magazine's "Top 100 Most Powerful Athletes in Sports" list, which combined sporting success with appeal to sponsors and advertisers. Fedor Emelianenko was ranked No. 83, ahead of race card driver Danica Patrick and boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar was ranked No. 96.

Quick Hits: The UFC finalized its UFC 112 mega-card for Abu Dhabi ... The card, which will be headlined by title fights between lightweight champion B.J. Penn and Frankie Edgar, and middleweight champion Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort, will the promotion's first outdoor event ... Japanese promotion Dream outlined tentative plans for their 2010, which include a first-ever show outside of Japan - in South Korea - and an event where the fights will be held in their trademark white cage ... Upstart promotion Bellator Fighting Championships also announced plans to make Hollywood, Florida their home base, as the premieres and finales of their next two seasons will both be held at the Seminole Hard Rock ... Future UFC events will be broadcast live in China on Sohu.com.

What to watch for: UFC 109. After nearly three weeks without a major event, having UFC 109 a week after a solid card from StrikeForce is a welcome late Christmas gift. Two current UFC Hall of Famers will square off for the first time in history, as Columbus native and former OSU national champion wrestler Mark "The Hammer" Coleman takes on five-time UFC champion Randy "The Natural" Couture in a match where the combined age of the participants (91 - 46 for Couture and 45 for Coleman) is likely the highest ever. Also on the card is a middleweight contest between Nate Marquardt and Chael Sonnen that could determine the next challenger for the winner of April's middleweight title fight between Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort, and a welterweight showdown between Mike Swick and Paulo Thiago that will also catapult one fighter into the championship discussion at 170 pounds.

Originally Published: February 3, 2010

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