Jacare Souza vs Luke Rockhold
This fight is for the Strikeforce middleweight championship. Luke Rockhold (right) has a 7-1 record against a bunch of no name chumps. Apparently that’s enough for a title shot in this organization. What a joke.
Ms. Octagon just asked me why a dude the commentators say is inexperienced has a title shot. Good question. I’m not too convinced of Jacare Souza’s skills and would like to see this kid put up a good fight. Round-by-round updates after the jump:
Round 1-Jacare shoots, Rockhold sprawls, but then Jacare lands a right hand and chases Rockhold across the cage. Jacare able to land some shots up against the cage as Rockhold stands up, but Jacare throws him back down again. Jacare still landing a ton of shots to the face against the cage.
Rockhold back up to his feet again. Rockhold is throwing some nice body kicks, but Jacare just keeps coming forward. Rockhold has some flashy karate, goes for a jump kick. Jacare goes for the takedown.
10-9 for the Champ. Rockhold looking pretty good so far.
Round 2-Spinning back-kick by Rockhold. Lots of big kicks from Rockhold. Jacare caught him right there, but Rockhold recovers. Jacare lands a big elbow. Rockhold throwing more kicks, but they are blocked. The fighters clinch against the fence. Rockhold throwing knees to the thighs of the champ. Rockhold goes for the Thai clinch, but isn’t able to do anything with it. Rockhold throwing combinations.
10-9 for Rockhold
Round 3-Rockhold still throwing big kicks. If one of thos gets through unblocked Jacare will be in trouble. Jacare says he got hit in the testicles and Big Dans slowly decides to stop the fight and let Jacare catch his breath.
Jacare gets a hold of Rockhold’s leg, Rockhold gets in a few punches before Jacare drags him to the ground by his leg. Jacare fails to get kimura and they’re back on the feet. The champ looks gassed. Rockhold is chasing the champ around the cage. Souza looks really uncomfortable on the feet. Jacare is just backing away now. Maybe he’ll be more aggressive next round after he catches his breath.
10-9 for Rockhold - he’s just way more active. The champ needs to become the aggressor next round.
Round 4-On to the championship rounds. Rockhold still the aggressor here. Chasing Jacare around the ring. Rockhold has the champ up against the cage. Champ moving forward. Jacare drops to the ground and Rockhold stuff him. They clinch up. Jacare lands a nice straight left. Souza’s hands are really low now. He had better watch out for headkicks. Rockhold stuffs another Souza takedown. Rockhold lands a high knee against the cage.
Round 5-This is a close fight. The winner of this round probably takes the fight. Miletich has Rockhold ahead for every round. Frank has them tied. I think that’s probably closer to what the judges have. Rockhold is just more active and activity wins fights, as we’ve seen from watching Leonard Garcia win a ton of decisions. While Rockhold’s has without a doubt landed more shots, Jacare’s seem to be heavier when they get through.
Jacare seems to have a little more skip in his step this round. Goes for the takedown, but Rockhold pops back up. Jacare with a nice takedown. Rockhold back up again, but he needs to score some points. Rockhold comes forward and lands some solid shots. Souza can really take a shot. He is really getting popped and staying on his feet. Total slugfest in the final minute as both fighters seem to know how close this fight is.
Judges have it 50-45 and 48-47 (twice) for Luke Rockhold. Jesus Christ. Not sure how he got a unanimous decision on one of those cards. That is going to be controversial.
Rockhold looked good. Not sure whether that’s because Souza really isn’t that great or because Rockhold is better than this. I think it is the former. The non-heavyweight divisions in Strikeforce are really soft. Nice to see Rockhold win though, everyone on the Web was talking about how he didn’t have a chance. Damn it’s fucking late. Get the next fight going before I pass out.