3 Title Fights, 3 Upsets

Strikeforce: Nashville was held last night and aired on CBS.  Three titles were on the line and all three fights were exciting examples of an underdog going into a fight well prepared, with a plan that he stuck to that led to a win.

Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal vs Gegard Mousasi.  In just his seventh fight, King Mo was a huge underdog going in against Mousasi, who held the title.  From the first round on, King Mo was able to take down Mousasi at will.  Early in the fight it appeared that King Mo was going to gas out.  At the end of the second round, Mo appeared to have trouble standing and walking back to his corner — he was that tired.  Yet, Mo continued to score takedown after takedown and ended up winning the decision.

Gil Melendez [Strikeforce Champion] was the underdog when he entered the octogan against Shinya Aoki.  Most experts thought that once the fight went to the ground Aoki would submit Melendez.  It seemed that even Melendez thought that a possibility when the fight started — so his plan was to make this a standup war.  And he did.  Each time Aoki attempted to take Melendez down, Melendez punished him with hard punches.  Melendez had a beautiful fight plan, stuck to it, and won a unanimous decision.

The biggest upset of the night was Strikeforce Champion Jake Shields scoring a unanimous decision against Dan Henderson.  Early in the first round it looked to be lights out for Shields when Henderson rocked him with a punch that dropped him.  Shields recovered enough to keep the fight going, but was dropped again in the first.  Again it looked to be an early night for Henderson.  Shields didn’t see it that way.  From the second round on, he scored takedown after takedown and dominated Henderson.  Several times Shields even achieved a full mount to rain down punches on Henderson, who to his credit, each time was able to avoid a ref stoppage.  Shields earned a well deserved unanimous decision.