(Noons gave Heun matching gifts. Check out the full gallery here.)
It was a weird card – a midweek show in a theater – but Strikeforce Live delivered entertaining fights that set up interesting match ups down the road. You’ll find full results below along with press conference notes, an analysis of how the fights effected our rankings and more.
Renato Sobral def. Robbie Lawler by unanimous decision.
Evangelista Santos def. Marius Zaromskis by knockout at 2:38 of Round 1.
Tim Kennedy def. Trevor Prangley by submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:35 of Round 1.
KJ Noons def. Conor Huen by split decision.
Jeremy Umphries def. RJ Clifford by submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:27 of Round 2.
Hugo Sandoval def. Marcus Kowal by TKO (punches) at 0:43 seconds of Round 2.
The special Wednesday night attraction, Strikeforce Live, drew 5,259 for a $418,000 gate according to Strikeforce and Showtime officials.
(Goldberg manhandles Frank Shamrock. Check out the full gallery here.)
Renato Sobral outlasted Robbie Lawler in the night’s main event, climbing to #6 in our Light Heavyweight Rankings after the 195-pound catchweight affair. Lawler drops from #12 to #25 in our Middleweight Rankings with the loss. Both fighters will be reassigned if they continue to fight outside of their respective divisions.
Evangelista Santos may have lost his nickname to his wife, Cris Cyborg, but he regained some credibility after dropping to welterweight and dropping Marius Zaromskis. Santos climbed from #58 to #35 in our Middleweight Rankings while Zaromskis fell from #22 to #50 in our Welterweight Rankings. Santos will be reassigned if he continues to fight at 170 pounds.
Before his fight, Tim Kennedy made the case for fighting bigger names on bigger cards. He has a point – he finished Prangley easily but stayed put at #31 in our Middleweight Rankings after besting the lower-ranked fighter. Prangley drops just two spots, from #64 to #66.
KJ Noons won his fight but lost his ranking, falling hard from #25 to #51 in our Lightweight Rankings after eeking out a split decision against the much lower-ranked Conor Heun, who actually jumped from #88 to #66 after the loss.
(Cris gets to pick up Evangelista for a change. Check out the full gallery here.)
We’re now 58-31 with our picks in 2010.
Renato Sobral (+125) vs Robbie Lawler (-155)
FIGHT! Pick: Sobral Resulting Outcome: CORRECT
Tim Kennedy (-125) vs. Trevor Prangley (-105)
FIGHT! Pick: Kennedy Resulting Outcome: CORRECT
KJ Noons (-450) vs. Conor Heun (+300)
FIGHT! Pick: Noons Resulting Outcome: CORRECT
Evangelista Santos (+230) vs. Marius Zaromskis (-290)
FIGHT! Pick: Zaromskis Resulting Outcome: INCORRECT
After beating Robbie Lawler, Renato “Babalu” Sobral asked to fight former PRIDE 205-pound and 183-pound champion Dan Henderson, who defeated the Brazilian ten years ago via decision in the Japanese organization Rings.
KJ Noons broke a rib in the first round of his split decision win over Conor Huen.
Evangelista Cyborg broke his hand in his two-minute-plus affair with Marius Zaromskis.
Tim Kennedy was medically suspended for seven days after submitting Trevor Prangley.
Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker expressed interest in a KJ Noons-Nick Diaz fight at the post-fight press conference.
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