December 6th 2010

Strikeforce commentator Mauro Ranallo christened Dan Henderson’s right hand as ‘The H-Bomb’ last night. Renato ‘Babalu’ Sobral knows why.

Babalu failed to land anything of note - excepting perhaps a left head kick - on Henderson as they stood and circled in the opening period of their fight. Henderson stalked and pressed forward, right hand cocked ready for detonation.

When Henderson picked his moment to surge forward he flurried punches that backed Babalu up against the fence and forced him to dive for a single. But Babalu ended up pulling Henderson into mount, prompting a hurried scramble to recover his guard.

While he was doing this, Henderson got his base and posture sorted and his right hand was already beginning its countdown to launch. If that was the H-Bomb, Babalu’s chin was about to become Bikini Atoll as Henderson let go a fearsomely powerful punch.

That one was enough to put sparkles in front of Babalu’s eyes and his guard posture visibly stiffened in a way that suggested he was already out. But number two was on the way and this one was no less powerful; it left Babalu’s eyes glazed.

The referee was nowhere to be seen yet so Henderson added another two for good measure; the lights were out for Babalu but inside his head there were probably more white flashes and bangs than a July 4th fireworks show.

Henderson climbed the cage, exultant. He managed to wander the cage clambering up nearly each panel and Babalu had still not woken up. It took the Brazilian light-heavyweight a long time to recover his senses and get up onto the stool provided for him.

Henderson hits hard. We already knew that, but its always nice to be reminded. His next outing is likely to be a shot at the Strikeforce light-heavyweight title currently held by Rafael Feijao.

“Whoever Strikeforce comes up with, I’ll fight,” said Henderson. “But I prefer 205. I’m ready to fight at 185 but there are plenty of good fights for me at 205. My body felt better for this fight. I appreciate all the support from the fans in St. Louis.”


Robbie Lawler might be ‘Ruthless’, but he knows when enough is enough.

After flattening Matt Lindland in their middleweight Strikeforce fight he had a moment of opportunity to land more blows before the referee stepped in. He had dropped down into Lindland’s guard after felling him, with the intention of finishing him off.

But he could see that Lindland was out for the count and so he held back, allowed the referee to wave the fight off and stood up. As he did so he gently and carefully laid Lindland’s legs together, an unusually considerate measure from a fighter such as Lawler.

“For some reason I thought he'd try to stand with me,” said Lawler, who was sporting a beard and a thick head of hair in stark contrast to his usual appearance.

“He probably shouldn't have. I knew I was in good enough shape to fight my fight and not worry about take downs. I’ll take a one-day break and talk to managers and then we’ll go from there.”

When asked if he knew the fight was over before the referee stepped in, Lawler said, “I always know when the fight is over.’’


Semtex drops a bomb on Strikeforce debut

Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley demonstrated the frightening power of his left hook once again in his Strikeforce clash with Scott Smith in St. Louis, Missouri last night.

Daley, who had been comfortably flicking out a jab and finding his range, was suddenly forced to backpedal by a Smith flurry. As he stepped back, Smith pressed forward with his guard wide open and Daley let go a left hook - while moving backwards - that flattened him.

Smith hit the floor as if he had been taken out by a sniper in the stands. His whole body tensed and he faceplanted into the canvas without any softening buckle of the knees or bend of the waist. Daley walked away immediately; Smith could not have looked any more incapacitated.

“I’m very happy with this fight and for the opportunity Strikeforceis giving me,’’ said Daley, who delivered a perfectly-placed left look that sent Smith crashing head-first to the canvas.

The fight was Daley’s Strikeforce debut. Company CEO Scott Coker says he will be talking to Scott Smith’s management about his future direction, presumably with a view to him staying at middleweight.

Antonio Silva survives scare, shuts out Kyle

The Silva-Kyle fight looked like it might be over in the first round, a five-minute session dominated by Kyle, who dropped Silva with a booming right hand in the opening seconds and spent the remainder of the round in the top position pounding the Brazilian with both hands.

But Silva, who outweighed Kyle by 44 pounds, rebounded strongly to triumph for the eighth time in nine starts.

“He surprised me at the beginning,’’ Silva said. ‘But I never felt I was in danger of losing or that the referee would stop the fight.’’

Kyle, who took the fight on a week’s notice after Valentijn Overeem withdrew with an injury, came close to scoring a major upset.

“I thought they were going to stop the fight,’’ said Kyle, who entered the cage having gone 5-0 with one No Contest since losing to Fedor conqueror, Fabricio Wedum, on Aug. 15, 2009. “I was really excited but they didn't and then I realized I broke my hand and I was out of the fight mentally’’

Main card:

Former PRIDE FC double-champion Dan Henderson, 41, defeats former Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion Renato ’Babalu’ Sobral by TKO, 1:53 R1

Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley (26-9-2) of Nottingham, England, knocked out Scott “Hands Of Steel” Smith (18-8, 1 NC), of Elk Grove, Calif., with a counter left hook at 2:09 R1

Robbie Lawler (18-6, 1 NC), of Granite City, Ill. Scored an 0:50 R1 knockout over Matt “The Law” Lindland (22-8), of Oregon City, Ore., in a middleweight match;

Antonio “Big Foot’’ Silva (15-2), of Coconut Creek, Fla., by way of Brazil, rallied to register a second-round TKO (punches) over Mike “Mak’’ Kyle (18-8), of San Jose, Calif., in a heavyweight bout.

Former University of Tennessee linebacker Ovince St. Preux (9-4) of Knoxville, Tenn., won his sixth in a row and second in two weeks with a dominant three-round unanimous decision over Benji “Razor’’ Radach (19-6, 1 NC), of Laguna Beach, Calif., at light heavyweight (205 pounds).
 
Non-televised prelim results:

Fernando Bettega (7-4), Cerritos, Calif., split decision over Wayne Phillips (4-4), San Jose, at 170 pounds;

Justin Lawrence (1-0), St. Louis, unanimous (technical) decision over Max Martynuk (0-1), Los Angeles, at 155 pounds;

Pat Cummins (1-0), Carlsbad, Calif.,  TKO 1 (strikes) over Terrell Brown (2-1), O’Fallon, Mo., at 205 pounds;

Matt Ricehouse (4-0), St. Peters, Mo., unanimous decision over Tom Aaron (8-2), Troy, Mo.;  

Booker DeRousse (4-4), St. Louis, TKO 2 (strikes) Coltin Cole (1-1) of Duquion, Ill., at 185 pounds;

Cortez  Coleman (6-1), Granite, City, Ill., submitted (guillotine choke) Lucas Lopes (19-11), St. Louis, in the first round (2:04) at 185 pounds;

Mike Glenn (7-4), Springfield, Mo., first-round TKO over Lee Brousseau (7-3), of River Wood, Mo., at 205 pounds;

J.W. Wright (1-0), St. Louis, submitted (guillotine choke) Josh “The Loose Cannon’’ Epps (2-3), St. Louis, in the first round (1:29) at 130 pounds.