Josh Thomson Shuts Out Gilbert Melendez For Strikeforce Title

by Kid Nate on Jun 28, 2008 10:44 AM EDT in News Comment 12 comments

Underdog Josh Thomson dominated all five rounds at last night's Strikeforce event. From the San Jose Mercury News report:

The action exploded early in the second round, as Thomson landed some brutal knees while taking some vicious overhand rights to the face from Melendez. Thomson continued a barrage of powerful strikes and knees to Melendez's body, while Melendez continued to fight with his hands.

Both fighters traded straight-forward punches and body strikes for the majority of the third round.

Thomson continued to keep Melendez at a distance with a variety of left- and right-footed strikes to the stomach and ribs early in the fourth. By that time, the damage had been done. Melendez never backed down, but was too far behind on points.

After the fight Thomson had praise for the former champ:

"Every interview I did before this, they asked me if Gilbert was going to be the toughest fight I ever had, and I told them I didn't think so," he said. "I take that [expletive] back. He's the toughest mother [expletive] I've ever fought."

And for anyone wondering, no Raymond Daniels isn't the second coming of Cung Le. And kickboxing ain't San shou kung fu:

Also on the undercard, Raymond Daniels made his heavily anticipated MMA debut following a pedigree that includes an 18-0 record over the past three years of Chuck Norris' World Combat League and a 16-0 record in pro kickboxing.

However, his slender physique was taken advantage of early and often by the strength of Jeremiah Metcalf (9-4). Metcalf worked Daniels over on the ground until forcing a choke-hold submission midway through the second round.

Full results at Sherdog. Watch the fight in the extended entry.

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

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Comments

Why anyone would have consider Josh Thompson an underdog in this fight is beyond me. I know that he said he wasnt feeling like he was 100%, but obviously, he was fibbing just a little when he said that.

by Cmad77 on Jun 28, 2008 8:01 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

oh come on

No one expected Thomson to dominate on the feet AND get all the takedowns in the fight. The consensus wisdom was that Melendez would outbox and outwrestle him, leaving Thomson with only an outside chance of getting a sub off his back.
Instead, Thomson did a great job of determining the range of the fight—using kicks and knees to keep Gilbert back and out of punching range.
The few times Melendez did back him up against the fence and start throwing punches in bunches, Thomson spun away quickly and answered with knees. And once Melendez was behind on points he started headhunting and stopped going for takedowns, allowing Thomson to do all the shooting in later rounds. Great strategy by Thomson and IMO a classic example of how, if the wrestling skills are evenly matched, a fighter with good kickboxing with beat a fighter relying solely on punches everytime.
Mark my words, when B.J. Penn gets beat by a lightweight, it will be a lightweight with great kicks.

by Kid Nate on Jun 28, 2008 8:48 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I disagree.

There is a big difference between BJ Penn and Melendez. BJ Penn has some serious punching power and would be a lot more difficult to takedown. I feel that Josh took advantage of a weakness Gilbert displayed in his fight with Ishida and I dont think Gilbert is the same caliber boxer either.

by zeroword on Jun 28, 2008 2:39 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

oh i never said

That Josh Thomson could beat B.J. Penn—not in a zillion years.
I’m just saying that when a lightweight comes along who can beat B.J., that that fighter will employ effective kicks as well as having great wrestling and BJJ. Not using kicks at all is the only gap in B.J.’s game.

by Kid Nate on Jun 28, 2008 3:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sherdog’s Bobby Southworth vs. Anthony Ruiz play by play is hilarious.

by Nick Thomas on Jun 28, 2008 10:38 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

that's one fight

I’m glad I missed.

by Kid Nate on Jun 28, 2008 11:22 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I was at HP Pavillion for the fight. The crowd started booing the non-action in round 1. Total nightmare that it went 5 ROUNDS. Southwerth was almost booed out of the cage during his post-fight interview. Brutul.

by steak_knife on Jun 28, 2008 12:21 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I wish BE had a 24 hour grace period where the results of main events weren’t posted in the titles.
But I guess it’s also my fault that this is the second site I check when I wake up, out of habit.

by Simco on Jun 28, 2008 11:44 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

good feedback

won’t do that again.

by Kid Nate on Jun 28, 2008 3:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Very appreciated. I haven’t even had time to finish downloading it yet.

by Simco on Jun 28, 2008 4:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Simco - what's the first site you check?

Also – I read the headline before I had a chance to watch the DVR’d fight. Doh!

by !claw on Jun 29, 2008 11:35 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I DVR’d the fight card and DirectTV is not intuitive enough to stop when the actual programming is over. Rather, it stopped right after the decision in the Nam Phan fight…I have since adjusted the time to record extra.
As far as the fights go it was a decent card. I was impressed that Bobby (Mr Sauna) Southworth made it through all 5 rounds. I actually kind of liked what he said in his post fight interview. He showed some class.

by Kel on Jun 30, 2008 8:31 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs