Roger during training in NY / Photo: GRACIEMAG.com archives
It was a good night for the Jiu-Jitsu aces, but it was a good one for the fans in Ohio. First, Roger Gracie perdeu no MMA
Roger Gracie lost an MMA fight for the first time, getting nailed behind the ear by a super confident King Mo, who fought with his guard down the whole time. The Gracie fell at 4:37 minutes of the first round, having played it safe until then.
Now Ronaldo Jacaré fought a safe fight, despite a feisty Luke Rockhold coming at him standing the whole time. Jacaré took Luke to the ground a dozen times but couldn’t keep him there. That would cost him dearly in the end. Although none of Luke’s strikes had the Brazilian fazed, the judges went for quantity and decided the belt should change owners: handing Luke the unanimous decision.
In the heavyweight GP semifinals, Antonio “Bigfoot” took some heavy fire from Daniel Cormier (8w), King Mo’s wrestling partner. The stout Cormier brought on the heat and threw a spot-on hook that took the giant Brazilian out. Cormier will be in the GP final with Josh Barnett, who displayed the best grappling of the day: mounting, getting back mount and ending with an arm-and-neck choke at the tail end of the first round.
Now former champ Rafael Feijão was some consolation for Brazil on the day, even though he did take some heavy shots from Cuba’s Yoel Palacio. In the end, though, Feijão’s heavy hands reigned, getting the knockout in round 2. Check out the rest of the results from the event:
Strikeforce 36
US Bank Arena, Cincinnati, Ohio
September 10, 2011
GP: Josh Barnett submitted Sergei Kharitonov via arm-and-neck choke;
GP: Daniel Cormier defeated Antonio Silva via knockout (hook) at 3:56 minutes of R1;
Luke Rockhold defeated Ronaldo “Jacaré” Souza via unanimous decision;
Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal knocked out Roger Gracie at 4:37 minutes of R1;
Pat Healy submitted Maximo Blanco via rear-naed choke at 4:27 minutes of R2;
Mike Kyle defeated Marcos Rogerio “Pezão” Lima via unanimous decision;
Rafael “Feijão” Cavalcante knocked out Yoel Romero Palacio at 4:51 min of R2;
Jordan Mein defeated Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos via technical knockout (elbows) at 3:18 min of R3;
Alexis Davis defeated Amanda Nunes via TKO at 4:53 min of R2;
Dominique Steele defeated Chris Mierzwiak via unanimous decision.