Diaz, Santos leave Florida as champions

SUNRISE, Fla. – Nick Diaz had what should have been the biggest moment of his career three years ago. As a heavy underdog, he submitted PRIDE lightweight champion Takanori Gomi, who was considered among the top fighters in the world at the time, with a gogoplata in Las Vegas.

It was a non-title match, but the victory was later ruled a no-contest when Diaz tested positive for marijuana.

On Saturday night at the BankAtlantic Center, Diaz (21-7 with one no contest) was once again put in with a Japanese promotion's champion, Dream welterweight title holder Marius Zaromskis (13-4).

Like with the Gomi match, Diaz survived an early knockdown but used his reach and hand speed to overwhelm his Lithuanian-born opponent and become Strikeforce’s first welterweight champion.

Diaz connected on 49 of his 70 punches and 46 of 47 kicks in a fight that only went 4:38 before Diaz’s barrage of head and body punches put Zaromskis down and out.

It had been a long road for the 26-year-old from Stockton, Calif., who made a name for himself in UFC at the age of 20 but lost several close decisions. Diaz left the organization after a big-money offer came from Elite XC.

When his contract was picked up by Strikeforce, Diaz headlined the first show of the new promotion on Showtime, stopping Frank Shamrock, and he followed that by finishing Scott Smith, both of whom normally fight at middleweight.

Diaz's win on Saturday capped off a show that had several curiosity fights, most notably the MMA debut of Herschel Walker and Strikeforce debut of Bobby Lashley, but it also exemplified a problem with Strikeforce booking international stars. A lot of the top fighters appeared to be unknown to the vast majority of the estimated 8,000 fans in attendance.

Zaromskis, Dutch fighters Marloes Coenen (who lost to Cris “Cyborg” Santos in the women’s championship match) and Melvin Manhoef (who was stopped by Robbie Lawler) have all been stars on the Japanese MMA scene for a number of years. But all were unknowns to the South Florida audience, making it the quietest crowd for a major MMA event in the U.S. in recent memory.

There’s clearly a learning curve between fighters hardcore fans would like to see, and the vast majority of viewers. In the building, the biggest name fighters were not those in the cage – Dan Henderson, who was recently signed from UFC, and UFC welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre.

Coenen gave Santos, the Strikeforce women’s lightweight champion (145 pounds), her toughest fight to date. But Santos’ superior strength seemed to be the difference in what was still mostly a one-sided fight that ended with Santos winning by stoppage after repeated punches on the ground at 3:40 of the third round.

Coenen didn’t shy away from punching and connected on some solid shots. But Coenen’s strategy was to take it to the ground and try and use her submission skills.

Every takedown attempt saw Santos (9-1) wind up on top, and Coenen (17-4) never seriously threatened her on the ground, taking punishment in all three rounds.

“The fight proved that I would be able to go the full five rounds,” said Santos, who didn’t appear to be tired at all in her longest fight on U.S. soil. “People thought I wouldn’t be able to go more than one round.”

Santos said she never felt threatened by Coenen on the ground, even though she had 12 wins by submissions in her career as one of the pioneers in women's MMA.

“My favorite is doing Muay Thai but I train hard for everything,” said Santos, who is expected to next face Erin Toughill for her championship.

But the jury remains somewhat out regarding women as headline fighters. While Santos vs. Gina Carano was one of the biggest fights of 2009, arguably the biggest MMA fight ever on Showtime, the question had been whether it was women’s fighting or simply the appeal of Carano that made it happen. On Saturday, the crowd was appreciative but largely quiet during the fight, partially because they didn’t know Santos' opponent.

They may not have known Melvin Manhoef, a middleweight with the reputation as being one of the best strikers in MMA, but he made an impression in losing to Robbie Lawler.

Manhoef (24-7-2) was a leg-kicking machine for much of the first round, but Lawler (17-5 with one no contest) had scouted him well, knocking him out at 3:33 of the first round.

“When he’s trying to finish, he leaves his hands down,” Lawler said. “I knew when I punched him, I hit the sweet spot. I wanted to make sure and finish him because I didn’t want him getting up and kicking at my leg anymore.”

“He ripped through my leg,” added Lawler, who was limping heavily after the fight.

Lawler, whose wife is expecting a child in the next two weeks, blew off any questions about wanting a match with middleweight champion Jake Shields.

“I want to go home and rest. And then, more rest," Lawler said. "After that, even more rest.”

Lawler said his strategy was to take the fight to the ground as soon as possible, but the opportunity never came about as he was afraid to duck and get caught with a kick or knee to the head.

Pro wrestler Bobby Lashley (5-0), in his Strikeforce debut, steamrolled 6-foot-8 Wes Sims (22-13-1, two no contests) in 2:06.

Sims, who took the fight on late notice and didn’t appear to be in good physical shape, got up and complained about it being an early stoppage.

Hours after the match, when both were in front of the media, Sims was the one seemingly playing pro wrestler, shoving Lashley, making a scene, challenging him to fight again and complaining again about an early stoppage.

Finally, Sims was pulled out of the room.

“This is a sport where we are supposed to be respectful,” Lashley said. “We aren’t supposed to be out there acting like neanderthals."

Lashley said he felt he needed to win fast. “He was telling people he only had eight days or 10 days notice, so I thought I had to finish him quick so there weren’t any excuses."

Lashley said he’d like to fight again in two months, and was unhappy he didn’t get to show much stand-up. The former nationally ranked Greco-Roman wrestler, took Sims down and finished him with punches on the ground.

“I really wanted to show my stand-up, but the wrestling instincts in me take over and when I see an opening, I naturally take the guy down," Lashley said.

Lashley has wavered back-and-forth regarding whether he can continue pro wrestling while also training MMA. He was doing pro wrestling television tapings for Spike TV's "Total Nonstop Action" promotion as late as two weeks before the fight.

“They give me my schedule well in advance, so you just work around it," Lashley said. "If I need to be there on Saturday, I train like crazy until Friday and use the days there as my rest from MMA training.”