Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Zaromskis, Jan. 30, 2010

**Conde Koma** · Posted On: 1/31/2010 2:14am

I'm a little surprised that I couldn't find a thread for this, ads for it have been all over the place.

I didn't catch all of it, I'll be getting caught up tomorrow. Here's what I did see though (taken from http://countcombat.blogspot.com):

Herschel Walker, athletic Messiah of the United States, looked amazing in his debut against his mediocre opponent, Greg Nagy. I'm not sure if Nagy/Nudge/Nooge was supposed to be a tomato can to make Walker look good, but whatever the case, Walker definitely demonstrated a well-rounded set of skills in the cage. It remains to be seen, however, if he can put these skills to use against an opponent of higher caliber.

An absolutely dominating victory for Cris Cyborg over Marloes Coenen. Coenen showed tremendous heart throughout the match, but just couldn't handle the pressure and strength from the Brazilian brawler. Cyborg shucked off all the attempted takedowns, submissions, and power punches that Coenen threw at her, and marched forward in typical and terrifying Chute Boxe fashion.

I'm not sure how he did it, but Nick Diaz put on another display of his awkward, yet frighteningly effective, boxing skills against Marius Zaromskis. After brutalizing the Lithuanian's leg early in the fight with knees, Nick went to work on the head with an onslaught of punches from all angles. Marius had Diaz in trouble a couple times with hard punches of his own, but just couldn't hold him down in the end.

Full Results:
John Kelly def. Sabah Homasi (Rear-naked Choke, 2:48 of Rd 2)
Hayder Hassan def. Ryan Keenan (KO, 2:42 of Rd 2)
Pablo Alfonso def. Marcos da Matta (Armbar, 1:47 of Rd 1)
David Gomez def. Craig Oxley (Unanimous Decision)
Joe Ray def. John Clarke (TKO, 3:14 of Rd 1)
Jay Hieron def. Joe Riggs (Unanimous Decision)
Bobby Lashley def. Wes Sims (TKO, 2:06 of Rd 1)
Robbie Lawler def. Melvin Manhoef (KO, 3:33 of Rd 1)
Herschel Walker def. Greg Nagy (TKO, 2:17 of Rd 3)
Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos def. Marloes Coenen (TKO, 3:40 of Rd 3)
Nick Diaz def. Marius Zaromskis (TKO, 4:38 of Rd 1)

**maxthegeek1** · Posted On: 1/31/2010 4:19am

The Lawler Manhoef fight kind of upset me. Manhoef displayed superior technique the whole fight, and to be knocked out in one punch just seems unfair.

**SCInferno** · Posted On: 1/31/2010 7:07am

I was pretty disappointed in Zaromskis's performance. His defense was non-existent, and I know Diaz is tall, but he didn't even attempt a head kick. But I guess that's what I get for falling in love with YouTube highlights rather than closely analyzing his fighting style.

Herschel Walker, regardless of how his MMA career transpires, will always be one of the biggest badasses on the planet to me.

**Nefron** · Posted On: 1/31/2010 8:45am

Zaromskis needs to clean up his standup a little.

I was holding my breath though, expecting a high kick out of the exchanges.

**Hiro Protagonist** · Posted On: 1/31/2010 10:36am

Good card.

VERY good card.

**sambosteve** · Posted On: 1/31/2010 11:46am

Good fights all around. But, I must say that I am upset that Strikeforce put that guy against Walker. It was sad to watch. I understand Walker is new to MMA and older, but the guy is an athletic specimen. Nagy clearly had zero stand up and looked so disinterested and unskilled. His ground was a bit better. But in general, I thought that fight fight was a freakshow. Not Walker's fault, he does not pick his opponents, but Strikeforce should be ashamed. They could have at least put a noob in there who had some semblance of athleticism.

I recall training with Dhani Jones and thinking "****, this guys football and athleticism alone would be hard to overcome". And Dhani is not a 5th Dan in TKD and the football and sports legend that Walker is.

Shame on Strikeforce.

I also thought Mauro's commentary bordered on idiotic last night. The female fighters fighting over nail polish? WTF? And his comment about Nagy being nothing more than the answer to a trivia question after his loss to walker was just plain rude. Give the guy some props for fighting at least...a fight I suspect he was meant to lose.

**Conde Koma** · Posted On: 1/31/2010 11:51am

I wonder if Zaromskis was trying to wait until Nick got tired and brought his hands down for the head kick. In a post-fight interview, Nick says that it seemed like Zaromskis's game plan was to wait for Nick to make a mistake.

Still really pissed that EAsports couldn't get their **** together for Hieron's fight. Hieron/Diaz needs to happen, like, yesterday.

**hpr** · Posted On: 1/31/2010 12:35pm

Lawler.. If getting beat up all the way to the point where Manhoef gets too excited and drops his hands was really his game plan from the start then he's one ballsy dude. I would have thought that training with Matt Hughes all those years would have taught him enough wrestling to come up with of something better than that.

About the Walker match. I don't know the dude, don't know jack **** about your ball carrying football variant but that guy was in awesome shape for a 47-year-old. I totally agree with sambosteve, shame on Strikeforce for not even trying to come up with a real opponent. And yay for Walker since he apparently donated his whole purse away.

How the **** can Nick Diaz keep winning with a style like that is beyond me. His defence is built up on the foundation of blocking with his face?