Gessner's Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson Coverage: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Dan Henderson, Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Champion Marloes Coenen vs. Miesha Tate, and more


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Gessner's Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson Coverage: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Dan Henderson, Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Champion Marloes Coenen vs. Miesha Tate, and more
Aug 1, 2011 - 01:28 AM


By Mark Gessner

Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson
Aired Live on Showtime from the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, IL


1. Terec Saffiedine vs. Scott Smith (Welterweight Division)

Round One: 10-9 Saffiedine. Saffiedine worked legs kicks early and then began to open up his offense. He displayed good dirty boxing against the cage midway through the round. Closed out the round with a big head kick and landed some big uppercuts. Saffiedine out landed Smith with thirty-seven strikes to eight.

Round Two: 10-8 Saffiedine. Rocked Smith three different times throughout the round. Dropped him with a head kick around 2:30 and followed up with ground and pound. Smith was able to get back to his feet late in the round but Saffiedine landed numerous short elbows in the clinch against the cage. Complete dominance by Saffiedine for the entire ten minutes.

Round Three: 10-9 Saffiedine. Saffiedine continued to use Smith as a human punching bag. He continued to pepper Smith with punches and kicks for the final five minutes. 30-26 Saffiedine on my scorecard.

Official Decision: Tarec Saffiedine defeated Scott Smith via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)

Gessner's Glance: In the three rounds combined, Saffiedine landed with one hundred and thirty-seven strike, sixty-seven of which were power strikes. Smith landed a paltry twenty-four strikes, with only fourteen being deemed power strikes. Complete and utter dominance by Saffiedine, who put his name in the hat as a potential challenger for the vacated Strikeforce Welterweight Championship with his excellent performance.

2. Tyron Woodley vs. Paul Daley (Welterweight Division)

Round One: 10-9 Woodley. Clinched Daley up against the cage for the majority of the round, leaned on him, and landed numerous knees to the thighs and hooks to the body. Woodley threw and landed twice as many strikes as Daley in the opening five minutes.

Round Two: 10-9 Woodley. After working for the takedown in the opening minute, Woodley finally took Daley to the mat with a single leg at 1:15. He grounded Daley for over three minutes working shots to the head and the body. Referee "Big" John McCarthy stood both fighters back up with :22 remaining. Woodley immediately shot for a takedown which Daley was able to sprawl and land a few shots before the round ended.

Round Three: 10-9 Daley. Woodley took Daley to the ground :25 seconds into the round and continued to ground him until the midway point of the final round. Daley was able to sprawl numerous takedowns and landed with big shots to the head and body of Woodley. With :33 seconds remaining in the fight, Daley tried for an omoplata out of no where. He was unable to secure the arm submission before the round ended. 29-28 Woodley on my card.

Official Decision: Tyron Woodley defeated Paul Daley via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Gessner's Glance: Paul Daley's weakness is his wrestling. Josh Koscheck blatantly exposed that in Daley's final fight with the UFC. While he showed improvement in sprawling and stuffing eight of Woodley's ten takedown attempts, he still was not able to sustain any real offense until the final two minutes of the fight. Daley's best shot to win was his standup striking and Woodley game-planned perfectly by not letting the fight stay on their feet.

3. Robbie Lawler vs. Tim Kennedy (Middleweight Division)

Round One: 10-9 Kennedy. Kennedy scored numerous takedowns in the final three minutes. Lawler was able to scramble free though from all of them until a take down with :56 remaining. Kennedy was able to mount him for the remainder of the round and while not able to sustain much, if any damage, the handful of takedowns won him the round as Lawler was unable to really sustain any offense.

Round Two: 10-9 Kennedy. Lawler bust open the bridge of the nose of Kennedy 1:50 into the round but Kennedy immediately shot in, took him down, and began to work Lawler with strikes from half guard. Kennedy ground and pounded Lawler for the final three minutes of the round, utilizing hammerfists to the body.

Round Three: 10-9 Kennedy. Lawler put together a bunch of one hit wonders with hooks and uppercuts but did not put together any combinations whatsoever. Kennedy took him down with a minute to go and landed more punches in top position in the final minute, than Lawler landed standing up for the opening four minutes of the round. 30-27 Kennedy on my card.

Official Decision: Tim Kennedy defeated Robbie Lawler via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Gessner's Glance: Kennedy has put himself in-line for a shot at the Middleweight Championship. He dominated a former champion in Lawler tonight and in all honestly should already be champion, but lost due to a poor judging decision (shocking, I know) in his prior fight with Jacare.

4. Marloes Coenen (Champion) vs. Meisha Tate for the Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Championship

Round One: 10-9 Tate. Tate scored a takedown but was almost immediately put in a guillotine choke by Coenen. Tate was able to free herself and move into a dominant side control. She landed shots to the body and head of Coenen to close out the final minutes of the round. Very close round that Coenen may have stolen with the guillotine that she had locked in deep.

Round Two: 10-9 Coenen.Tate pressed Coenen up against the cage early and started working for another takedown. Coenen was able to push off the cage, take Tate to the ground, and take her back at 1:22. Coenen locked in a body triangle. Coenen softened up Tate's body with punches, attempting to get Tate's hands up to lock in a rear naked choke. Tate was able to survive the attack for the remaining 3:30 as the round ended.

Round Three: 10-9 Tate. Tate caught a leg kick from Coenen at :49 and took Coenen to the ground. Tate was able to keep Coenen grounded for two minutes but was unable to advance position and was stood up by McCarthy.

Back on their feet, Tate almost immediately shot in and scored another takedown with just over 1:30 remaining in the third round. Tate worked over Coenen's body with punches to close out the round.

Round Four: Tate took down Coenen at 1:19 but Coenen immediately locked in another guillotine. Tate escaped the submission with relative ease tho. Tate moved to half guard and then took side control on Coenen.

Tate threw a knee to the midsection and the jumped to the other side of Coenen's body, locking in an arm triangle choke in the process. Coenen tapped out.

Official Decision: Meisha Tate defeated Marloes Coenen via submission due to arm triangle choke at 3:03 of the fourth round to win the Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Championship

Gessner's Glance: Great fight and far-and-away the best fight on the show so far. Coenen landed thirty-six power strikes as opposed to Tate's six, but Tate was five-for-six in takedowns and secured the dominant positions. The arm triangle was locked in beautifully off the knee and transition. An absolute huge win for Tate.

5. Fedor Emelianenko vs. Dan Henderson (220 pound catchweight fight)

Round One: Both fighters came out throwing early with wild hooks and uppercuts. Hendo busted open Fedor's right eye within the opening :40. Hendo clinched Fedor up against the cage and began throwing knees to the legs and body of Fedor. With 2:00 left, Hendo released the clinch and just missed with a lethal left hook.

At 4:01, Fedor rocked and dropped Hendo with a flurry of punches. Fedor dropped to the ground and began throwing bombs with his right hand to the head of the grounded Hendo. Out of nowhere, Hendo scrambled, took Fedor's back, and knocked him out cold with a left uppercut. Hendo continued to land unanswered punch, after unanswered punch before referee Herb Dean jumped in and ended the fight.

Official Decision: Dan Henderson defeated Fedor Emelianenko via TKO at 4:12 of the first round

Gessner's Glance: HOLY SHIT!!! That was without a doubt one of the most insane finishes I have ever seen. I give the finish of this fight the edge over Pat Berry vs. Cheick Kongo at UFC's last show on Versus this past June. Great win and great finish to the show.

Overall Show Thoughts: Slow start to the show with the opening three fights, but was saved by the co and main event. Saffiedine clearly dominated Smith for fifteen minutes. Woodley executed his game plan and kept Daley on his back for the final eighty percent of the fight. Kennedy and Lawler was closer than the opening two fights but was clearly in control for the first two rounds and was never in danger of losing in the third round.

Coenen versus Tate was a very closely contested fight. Tate had the edge in takedowns and ground positioning, while Coenen out struck her in both standup and on the ground. However, I beautifully timed submission won Tate the championship, submitting Coenen for the first time in her career.

Henderson versus Fedor was absolute fireworks from the get go. The opening and final minutes of the fight was a display of two fighters going balls to the wall and leaving nothing in the tank. Fedor appeared to be on the verge of winning before Hendo came out of nowhere with the escape followed by huge left hand that turned out Fedor's lights.

The main event left two big looming questions. One, what is next for Fedor and will this be the last time he steps foot inside the cage? In his post fight interview, he said that it is "God's will" on whether or not he will have another fight coming off his three fight losing streak. Fabricio Werdum locked in a lucky submission in Fedor's first fight in Strikeforce. Antonio Silva dominated Fedor in the second round this past February. Tonight, Fedor looked the best he has since coming to America. He was on the verge on finishing Henderson, but Hendo was able to somehow escape and land knockout blows. I think he should have one more fight.

The other question is, where does Dan Henderson go from here? This was the final fight on his Strikeforce contract. Will he resign with Strikeforce and defend his Light Heavyweight Championship that he won in March, or will he be brought back into the UFC? If he's looking to, I don't want to say "pad his legacy," but face a lower caliber of competition at 205 pounds, then he should resign and stay with Strikeforce. If he wants a bigger payday and a higher level of opponents then he should be brought into the UFC on a three fight deal. Have him fight two top ten light heavyweights, and if he defeats both opponents, challenge Jon "Bones" Jones for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

Thanks again very much for clicking the link that brought you to my coverage of Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson. If you have any thoughts, questions, comments, or critiques, feel free to email me at kliq4life28@gmail.com or tweet me at @MarkGessner. I will be back later this week with my preview and predictions for UFC 133: Evans vs. Ortiz.

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