STRIKEFORCE: MIAMI - 1/30/10 Fight Card

STRIKEFORCE: MIAMI -- January 30, 2010

Location: BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida

Broadcast: Showtime

MAIN CARD

{Welterweight Championship}
Nick Diaz (20-7) vs. Marius Zaromskis (13-3)

{Women's Lightweight Championship}
Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos (8-1) vs. Marloes Coenen (17-3)

Greg Nagy (1-1) vs. Herschel Walker (0-0)

Robbie Lawler (16-5) vs. Melvin Manhoef (24-6)

Bobby Lashley (4-0) vs. Wes Sims (22-12)

PRELIMINARY BOUTS

Jay Hieron (18-4) vs. Joe Riggs (32-10)

Pablo Alfonso (5-2) vs. Marcos Da Matta (7-0)

Hayder Hassan (2-1) vs. Ryan Keenan (3-0)

Sabah Homasi (1-0) vs. John Kelly (3-0)

Michael Byrnes (0-2) vs. David Zitanik (4-6)

David Gomez (0-2) vs. Craig Oxley (0-2)

John Clarke (8-2) vs. Joe Ray (0-0)

STRIKEFORCE: MIAMI RESULTS

Press Release After the Break

Roy Nelson and His Big Belly to Fight the Tall Skinny Kid, Stefan Struve, at UFC Fight Night 21, Leading Into TUF 11 Premiere

In a match-up of incredibly diverse body styles, heavyweights Roy "Big Country" Nelson and Stefan "Skyscraper" Struve are set to square off at UFC FIGHT NIGHT 21. The March 31, 2010 event will serve as the lead-in for the eleventh season premiere of The Ultimate Fighter.

Roy Nelson (14-4) was featured in the previous season of The Ultimate Fighter, where he was crowned the TUF 10 champion with a KO victory over Brendan Schaub in the tournament final. Nelson defeated Kimbo Slice, Justin Wren and James McSweeney to make it to the live finale.

Stefan Struve (19-3) has won 3 straight fights in the UFC, after losing in his UFC debut in less than a minute by TKO to Junior Dos Santos. All 4 of Struve's UFC fights were held in the 2009 calendar year, making him the most active UFC heavyweight last year. After the Dos Santos loss, Struve pulled off a come-from-behind victory against Denis Stojnic, which saw him bleed like a stuck pig as he worked for a rear-naked choke, trying to avoid the fight being stopped early due to a pretty nasty cut opened up on his forehead by Stojnic. Struve continued his winning ways by submitting Chase Gormley, and outpointing Paul Buentello for a majority decision in his last fight at UFC 107 in December.

Don't let the GIF below fool you, Roy Nelson may be a fat bastard, but he's also a black belt in BJJ under Renzo Gracie. He's one of the most talented fighters on the planet, and uses his ginormous belly to his advantage. The question will be if Stefan Struve is able to use his height and reach advantage to offset the big fight experience of Nelson, who was the one and only IFL Heavyweight Champion before the promotion folded, and has been in the ring with the likes of Ben Rothwell, Andrei Arlovski and Jeff Monson. Nelson will be Struve's biggest fight yet.

COMPLETE UFC FIGHT NIGHT 21 FIGHT CARD

VIDEO - UFC 109: Relentless Preview, First Fight Between Active UFC Hall of Famers - Randy Couture vs Mark Coleman

PAYDAY - UFC Fight Night 20 Fighter Salaries - Purse Amounts and Bonus Earnings

THE VDPOR (Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation) has released the following purse amounts for UFC FIGHT NIGHT 20: MAYNARD VS. DIAZ, held Monday January 11, 2010 at the Patriot Center on George Mason University in Fairfax, as reported to them by the UFC. Winning fighters in RED. Chris Leben, whose fight was not even featured in the Spike TV telecast, was the top earner of the night.

These salaries do not include any individual endorsement earnings for this event, nor do they include any possible undisclosed bonuses or percentages of revenue. Fighters pay out of pocket for licensing fees and related expenses, and spend months training in preparation for these fights.

Gray Maynard made $40,000 ($20K base salary + $20K win bonus) for 15:00 split decision win.

Nate Diaz made $24,000 for 15:00 split decision loss.

Evan Dunham made $48,000 ($9K base + $9K win + $30K SUB bonus) for 11:59 submission win.

Efrain Escudero made $15,000 for 11:59 submission loss.

UFC FIGHT NIGHT 20 RESULTS: Recap and Madman Awards

UFC FIGHT NIGHT 20: MAYNARD VS. DIAZ was held Monday January 11, 2010 at the Patriot Center on George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. The main card aired live on Spike TV. Much like the previous night's WEC 46 event, most of the fights ended up going the distance. Eight of out eleven of the fights went to a decision. Only one fight on the entire card ended in the first round, and even that one went four and a half minutes. The night was not without controversy, as three fights ended in split decisions and one ended in a majority draw.

The main event featured bad blood between Gray "The Bully" Maynard and Nate Diaz. The two had fought before, on The Ultimate Fighter 5, with Diaz winning by submission the first go-round. This time, the two exchanged strikes and taunting banter for three rounds, with Maynard being awarded the split decision victory.

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The co-main event saw Efrain "Hecho en Mexico" Escudero hurt Evan Dunham in the first round, but Dunham was able to survive and came back to win the second round. Escudero got caught in a bad spot in the third round, and was forced to tap out to an armbar. Escudero, in a likely attempt to protect his undefeated record, gutted out Dunham's submission for a little too long, allowing his arm to be injured before tapping out.

The Escudero-Dunham bout was déjà vu after Aaron "A-Train" Simpson vs "Filthy" Tom Lawlor. In the first round of their fight, Lawlor had Simpson on the ropes, landing precise strikes that had Simpson on spaghetti legs. Lawlor was unable to finish, which allowed Simpson to come back in the second round. By the third round, Lawlor was completely gassed, and Simpson was able to close strong. The second round was close. The Madman scorecard had Lawlor up two rounds to none going into the third, so Lawlor's survival should've been enough for the victory, however, two judges saw it differently and Simpson was awarded the split decision victory. The crowd relentlessly booed the decision, even during Simpson's post-fight comments, much to the chagrin of Joe Rogan, who attempted to quell the booing by establishing that Simpson had no control over the judging. The crowd would have none of it, however, as Lawlor walked away with a moral victory, but a loss on the record books nonetheless.

The opening televised bout saw Amir Sadollah establish himself in the UFC with a dominating victory over the much more experienced "Bad" Brad Blackburn. Sadollah had Blackburn stunned several times in the fight, and his striking proved to be far superior to Blackburn's. Although he only has less than a handful of professional MMA bouts under his belt, Sadollah is quickly becoming a significant player in the UFC welterweight division.

In unaired preliminary card action, Chris "The Crippler" Leben outpointed Jay Silva for a unanimous decision victory, as did Rick "The Horror" Story over Jesse "The Ox" Lennox. Thiago Tavares and Nik "The Carny" Lentz fought to a majority draw in their contest, with one judge scoring the fight for Lentz and two judges scoring the fight a draw. Tavares was deducted a point for a low blow, which ended up costing him the win. In a bout of UFC newcomers, Rory "The Water Boy" MacDonald caught Mike "The Joker" Guymon in armbar with thirty seconds left in the first round for the submission victory. Rafael Dos Anjos dominated Kyle Bradley for three rounds and was awarded a unanimous decision win. Gerald "Hurricane" Harris and John Salter also went three rounds, but Harris was able to finish Salter by TKO before the final bell. In the night's opening bout, Nick "The Jersey Devil" Catone scored the card's first split decision win over Jesse "Kid Hercules" Forbes.

Complete Results and Madman Awards after the Break

PAYDAY - WEC 46 Fighter Salaries - Purse Amounts and Bonus Earnings

CLICK HERE FOR MOST RECENT PAYDAY ARTICLES

THE CSAC (California State Athletic Commission) has released the following purse amounts for WEC 46: VARNER VS. HENDERSON, held Sunday January 10, 2010 at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, as reported to them by the WEC. Winning fighters in RED. Urijah Faber was the top earner of the night.

The salaries do not include any individual endorsement earnings for fighters for this event, nor do they include any undisclosed bonuses. Fighters pay out of pocket for licensing fees and related expenses, and spend months training in preparation for these fights.

Ben Henderson made $22,000 ($11K base salary + $11K win bonus) for 12:41 submission win.

Jamie Varner made $18,000 for 12:41 submission loss.

Urijah Faber made $62,000 ($26K base + $26K win + $10K SUB bonus) for 13:49 submission win.

Raphael Assuncao made $13,000 for 13:49 submission loss.

WEC 46 RESULTS: Complete Recap and Madman Awards for 1/10/10 in Sacramento

WEC 46: VARNER VS. HENDERSON was held Sunday January 10, 2010 at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, California. Six out of ten of the fights went the distance, and only two fights ended in less than twelve minutes.

The main event was to declare an undisputed WEC Lightweight Champion. Current champion Jamie "C-4" Varner, who had been out of action for over a year, squared off against interim champion Ben "Smooth" Henderson. Varner won the first two rounds of the fight, however, in the third round, Henderson leapt up onto Varner with a jumping guillotine choke. Within seemingly milliseconds, Varner was tapping out while remaining standing. Without attempting any sort of slam or maneuvering whatsoever, Varner tapped away the lightweight title in a flash after he had been winning the fight.

In his post-fight comments, Varner continued to embarrass himself, receiving boos from the crowd as he postured with defensive bravado, saying, "I came to fight. Ben came to grapple." This, of course, makes little sense since grappling is part of fighting. Furthermore, whatever Varner intended to do, reality is he tapped out standing up and Ben Henderson is now the undisputed WEC Lightweight Champion. Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone will be first up for a shot at Henderson's title. Henderson won a controversial decision over Cerrone in his previous fight.

The co-main event featured hometown fighter Urijah "California Kid" Faber against BJJ expert Raphael Assuncao. Likely sensing he was behind in the fight, Assuncao went for broke towards the end of the third round and got caught in a rear naked choke for the submission loss. With this win, Faber set himself up for a WEC Featherweight Championship fight against Jose Aldo, who was brought into the cage after Faber's win. Faber said he believed in his own mind that Aldo's belt was his, while the Brazilian Aldo said in English, "No one will take my belt." And I'm pretty sure he meant it.

Kamal "The Prince of Persia" Shalorus used his Olympic wrestling skills to fend off Dave "The Fugitive" Jansen's repeated takedown attempts throughout their 15-minute bout. Shalorus also used his wild and crazy striking to bloody up Jansen's face. In the end Jansen had no answers to combat Shalorus' aggressive bully style and rock solid defense, and Shalorus was awarded the unanimous decision victory.

Mike Brown made relatively short work of Anthony "Cheesesteak" Morrison. In just less than two minutes, Brown sunk in a rear naked choke for the submission victory. A tougher test will hopefully be in store for Brown next, as he makes his way back up the featherweight ranks after being demolished by Jose Aldo.

In the opening televised bout, Devidias Taurosevicius outmuscled and outpointed Mackens "Da Menace" Semerzier in their 3-round fight. Taurosevicius gassed in the third round, as he had previously done against Javier Vazquez, but he managed to survive. While he lost the third round, Taurosevicius had done enough in the first two rounds to be declared the winner by unanimous decision.

In the only preliminary bout that was aired during the Versus telecast, striker Mark "The Machine" Hominick turned the tables on submission grappler Bryan "Kid Lightning" Caraway. Caraway had been dominating the fight, but got sloppy in his defense, likely underestimating Hominick's submission abilities, and was forced to tap out after he got caught in an armbar. Caraway was visibly stunned after the loss, however, he's lucky enough to be dating the lovely Miesha Tate, so he shouldn't have much trouble finding his smile again after this missed opportunity. Meanwhile, Hominick, who had been 0-2 in the WEC, finally gets a win in the promotion and will not be banished out of Zuffaland just quite yet. Caraway should certainly get another chance in the WEC.

In unaired preliminary card action, Charlie Valencia scored a split decision win over Akitoshi "The Ironman" Tamura. Wagnney Fabiano, who was a heavy favorite, was unable to finish late replacement Clint Godfrey, but controlled the fight to win a unanimous decision. Eddie Wineland used his superior boxing ability to dominate former UFC fighter George Roop for a unanimous decision win of his own. As well, Will Campuzano tarred and feathered Coty "Ox" Wheeler for 3 rounds, scoring the night's first unanimous decision victory in the opening fight of the card.

Complete Results and Madman Awards after the Break