Strikeforce: Emelianenko proves his worth, Shields wins middlweight title

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Fedor Emelianenko is known to the most hardcore fans as one of the greatest fighters in all of mixed martial arts. Tonight, the entire CBS audience was given a glimpse at what Emelianenko has been doing his entire career.

While Rogers was able to last a first round in which he put up a good fight, the second round was a different story for Rogers. Emelianenko landed a hard strike that dropped Rogers. A series of quick ground and pound was all referee “Big” John McCarthy needed to call a technical knockout stoppage.

The loss was Rogers’ first, while the victory for Emelianenko was Fedor’s introduction to so many people watching who had previously never heard of the mixed martial arts legend.

In a middleweight title fight, Jason “Mayhem” Miller and Jake Shields went all five rounds in a battle that took place predominantly on the ground. Shields proved the better fighter this night, walking away with a 48-47 and a pair of 49-46’s.

The fight left the crowd without much to cheer for. The fans wanted a knockout, and instead they got a tactical ground battle for all 25 minutes; something that did not play over well for Miller.

However, while he may have lost the fight, “Mayhem” certainly won over the crowd. His walkout antics and general attitude earned over the crowd, who supported the Bully Beatdown host for all five rounds.

Perhaps the greatest proof that Miller was indeed the fan favorite was when Shields won the belt and headed to the locker rooms. On his trip out of the arena, Shields carried his new middleweight title as fans rained down boos on the jiu-jitsu master.

A light heavyweight fight featured light heavyweight sensation Gegard Mousasi, who entered the cage in his second fight on American soil with Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou standing on the opposite side. Sokoudjou was a huge underdog in the fight, which made his first round a rather excellent performance. He managed to take Mousasi down, strike with him, and simply keep up with the Strikeforce light heavyweight champion.

However, the second round saw a technical knockout stoppage as Mousasi ground and pounded his way to yet another victory. Sokoudjou looked good early, but, like so many times before, ended up short on the cardio end of things. However, he did prove a much greater challenge to Mousasi than anyone expected.

A heavyweight match up between Fabricio Werdum and Antonio Silva kicked off the televised portion of the event with three rounds of pretty good action.

Silva made the first big impression to the CBS viewers when he began throwing bombs down on Werdum. However, Werdum recovered and made it out of the first round.

The Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace went on to avenge his first round loss by winning the last two to gain a 29-28 unanimous decision.

The fight successfully kicked off a night of free fights on CBS and set the tone for the rest of the evening.

Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers sold 11,512 tickets, confirming Scott Coker’s belief that the event would indeed sell out. The night was certainly a success for the promotion.

The fight left the crowd without much to cheer for. The fans wanted a knockout, and instead they got a tactical ground battle for all 25 minutes; something that did not play over well for Miller.
However, while he may have lost the fight, “Mayhem” certainly won over the crowd. His walkout antics and general attitude earned over the crowd, who supported the Bully Beatdown host for all five rounds.
Perhaps the greatest proof that Miller was indeed the fan favorite was when Shields won the belt and headed to the locker rooms. On his trip out of the arena, Shields carried his new middleweight title as fans rained down boos on the jiu-jitsu master.
Gegard Mousasi entered the cage in his second fight on American soil with Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou standing on the opposite side. Sokoudjou was a huge underdog in the fight, which made his first round a rather excellent performance. He managed to take Mousasi down, strike with him, and simply keep up with the Strikeforce light heavyweight champion.
However, the second round saw a technical knockout stoppage as Mousasi ground and pounded his way to yet another victory. Sokoudjou looked good early, but, like so many times before, ended up short on the cardio end of things. However, he did prove a much greater challenge to Mousasi than anyone expected.
Fabricio Werdum and Antonio Silva kicked off the televised portion of the event with three rounds of pretty good fighting.
Silva made the first big impression to the CBS viewers when he began throwing bombs down on Werdum. However, Werdum recovered and made it out of the first round.
The Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace went on to avenge his first round loss by winning the last two to gain a 29-28 unanimous decision.
The fight successfully kicked off a night of free fights on CBS and set the tone for the rest of the evening.