Pre Fight Weigh In

Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley

April 9, 2011

 Preliminary Card

Middleweight: Casey Ryan vs. Paul Song

Manpreet Jhass: Paul Song

Tony Kwatra: Casey Ryan

Prab Jhass: Casey Ryan

Consensus: 2-1 Ryan

Featherweight: Rolando Perez vs. Edgar Cardenas

Manpreet Jhass: Edgar Cardenas

Tony Kwatra: Edgar Cardenas

Prab Jhass: Edgar Cardenas

Consensus: 3-0 Cardenas

Welterweight: Herman Terrado vs. AJ Matthews

Manpreet Jhass: AJ Matthews

Tony Kwatra: Herman Terrado

Prab Jhass: Herman Terrado

Consensus: 2-1 Terrado

Lightweight: Joe Duarte vs. Saad Awad

Manpreet Jhass: Saad Awad

Tony Kwatra: Joe Duarte

Prab Jhass: Saad Awad

Consensus: 2-1 Awad

Heavyweight: Brett Albee vs. Virgil Zwicker

Manpreet Jhass: Virgil Zwicker

Tony Kwatra: Virgil Zwicker

Prab Jhass: Virgil Zwicker

Consensus: 3-0 Zwicker

Featherweight: Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Robert Peralta

Manpreet Jhass: Hiroyuki Takaya

Tony Kwatra: Hiroyuki Takaya

Prab Jhass: Hiroyuki Takaya

Consensus: 3-0 Takaya

Main Card

Lightweight: Shinya Aoki vs. Lyle Beerbohm

Manpreet Jhass: December 31, 2010 Shinya Aoki got his head sent to another realm. After an entire 3 minute K-1 round, breaking rules by making a fool of the K-1 rules, Shinya Aoki thought he had the match in the bag against Yuichiro Nagashima. All it took was four seconds for Aoki to pay for his childish acts of the first round, going for a double leg take down he got hit with a flying knee and his night was over. Since it was an exhibition fight, it was not added to his professional record. He has not fought since then and I'm sure he has been doing a boat load of training since. After the ass whooping that Melendez laid on him, Aoki must have figured out a way to incorporate his stand up with his ability to take the fight to the ground, where he is by far the best ground technician in the 155 division in the world. He defeated a highly touted Kawajiri after his loss to Melendez, and I do not see him having problems at all against Beerbohm. I see Aoki having success with getting Beerbohm to the ground, and finishing it pretty quickly with a submission in the first round.

Pick: Shinya Aoki

Tony Kwatra: In all honesty, I’ve never seen Beerbohm fight but from what I hear, he isn’t the best at avoiding submissions and Aoki is a submission God (even though I still feel Aoki is overrated since that’s ALL he has).   Not to mention, Beerbohm is coming off a loss at a challengers event and as a reward gets a fight on the main card of a Strikeforce live event?  Yeah, doesn’t make sense to me either.  This fight is for Aoki to win in North America and look good while doing it.

Pick: Shinya Aoki

Prab Jhass: If Aoki wants to make a bigger name for himself, this fight is the time to do it.  Aoki is as big of an enigma in MMA as there is today, and he has left fans frustrated in big time showings.  His loss to Melendez made it seem like he wasn't even in the champ's league, and his last appearance at Dynamite!! 2010 was a joke.  Those two sandwich a three fight win streak which includes a win over title contender Tatsuya Kawajiri.  I think Beerbohm is a good fight for Aoki to have a good showing for the North American audience, and I fully expect him to come out with the win here.

Pick: Shinya Aoki

Consensus: 3-0 Aoki

Light Heavywight: Gegard Mousasi vs. Keith Jardine

Manpreet Jhass: Mousasi is on a 2 fight win streak since his loss to King Mo where he looked very lost when King Mo managed to control him with his wrestling. Speaking to Ariel Helwani, Mousasi says he's made the effort to improve his wrestling drastically to become a better fighter. He emphasized how much he has learned from that Lawal fight, saying it was all new to him with the trash talking and all that. Gegard, being the humble fighter he is, will look better tomorrow night and I can guarantee it. Jardine on the other hand claims that he over trained a lot during his 5 fight losing streak, which he credits to gassing due to the over training. I would love to see a new Jardine but I think a weeks training to fight an extremely dangerous Gegard Mousasi is not enough. Jardine is a grinder no doubt, but I think he'll fall once again, at 35 I do not know how much more he can give. Mousasi should take this at least in the 2nd round, if not the first by a KO/TKO.

Pick: Gegard Mousasi

Tony Kwatra: Man, I’m a big fan of Keith Jardine.  He’s such a likeable guy and always puts on a show in my opinion (even if it means getting KTFO) but even I have to admit Jardine is not a top level fighter.   The last fight Jardine looked good in was against Rampage and that was a while back.  He’s too old and his unorthodox style isn’t fooling anyone anymore.  It doesn’t help that he’s taking this fight on one week’s notice against someone like Gegard Mousasi.   As much as I love Jardine, I don’t see him winning this.  I just pray he doesn’t KTFO again and can at least be fairly competitive in this bout.

Pick: Gegard Mousasi

Prab Jhass: Anyone else want to jump on the "Jardine-title-shot" bandwagon? There's plenty of room! Seriously though, I'd love nothing more than Jardine to come out and go to war with Mousasi and push him to the limit.  However, the realist in me knows that it's highly unlikely.  Taking a fight on one week's notice against a guy of Mousasi's calibre is a tough task for any fighter, but kudos to The Dean of Mean.  As much as I'd go bananas if Jardine is announced the winner on Saturday night, I'm going to have to go with Gegard here.  Let's just hope that Mousasi at least LOOKS like he cares about the fight....

Pick: Gegard Mousasi

Consensus: 3-0 Mousasi

Lightweight Championship: Gilbert Melendez (c) vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri

Manpreet Jhass: Just over four years ago these two met and had a pretty good fight. The first round was great, the two exchanged strikes, rocking one another. The latter two rounds seemed a bit sloppy but in the end Melendez squeezed out the victory. Since then, Melendez and Kawajiri have gone 6-2 and 8-2 respectively. Melendez has had an entire year lay off since his lopsided victory over Aoki. This in no way will be a repeat of that disappointing fight, as Kawajiri has way better stand up and will not be scared to bang it out with El Nino. Kawajiri on the other hand is coming off an impressive win over Josh Thomson. If Kawajiri comes out with that Crusher instinct, I think he will pull off the upset. As little of a factor as it seems, training in a ring instead of a cage as Kawajiri did, it will be a new environment for Tatsuya and he will have to get used to the cage on the fly. Regardless, I think Kawajiri has improved enough to take this fight and break the curse of Japanese fighters fighting in North America.

Pick: Tatsuya Kawajiri

Tony Kwatra: Melendez is an animal.  He embarrassed Aoki last year and is either the #2 or #3 ranked lightweight in the world.  Kawajiri looked good against Thompson this past December at the DREAM event but Melendez is a different caliber of fighter now in my opinion.  Kawajiri also said he didn’t train in a cage for this fight which is stupid in my eyes because this gives Melendez an even bigger advantage in this fight.  I expect a fun fight that Melendez takes unquestionably.

Pick: Gilbert Melendez

Prab Jhass: Fight of the night right here.  I expect an all out war, and an action packed three rounds where the guy who comes out on top will be just as beat up as the guy who loses.  Great story here with Kawajiri having a nation on his side, especially during a time when they need something to root for.  I'd love to see him win here but he'll have his hands full with the champ Melendez.  Gilbert is coming off a full year lay-off, where he last bested Shinya Aoki.  One has to wonder if he'll show ring rust and how much the time off will affect him.  I'm actually going to go against my initial pick, and say that we will have a NEW Strikeforce Lightweight champion....but it won't be easy.

Pick: Tatsuya Kawajiri

 Consensus: 2-1 Kawajiri

Welterweight Championship: Nick Diaz (c) vs. Paul Daley

Manpreet Jhass: Many people may still dispute the decision to give Daley the title shot, just as I did previously. Looking at the welterweight division though, Diaz has no other real competition to face. Even though Daley has one power attribute, his stand up, it is still dangerous enough to spell the end of Diaz's run. We all know Diaz and his cocky personality. He loves to talk trash and it seems he talks way more than he fights in the cage. We also know that he loves to fight in favor of the opponents strength to show them he can still beat them at their own game. I really hope he fights a smart fight with Daley because even walking backwards, Daley has the power to put any man to sleep. This statement is clearly backed up by his last Strikeforce perfomance when he punched Scott Smith's head off his body. I do believe in Diaz and his boxing ability, so I see this fight being contested on the feet for some time, until Diaz decides to take this to the ground and tap out Mr. Daley. Then again, do not count out seeing a knock out from either man. It should be a great fight and a good challenge for Diaz, at least for being in the Strikeforce Welterweight division. Regardless, never count out Semtex. As much as I feel the urge to give into Daley winning this by knockout I can't bet against Diaz.

Pick: Nick Diaz

Tony Kwatra: This is a tough fight to call in my opinion.  Most people seem to be writing off Daley because of Diaz’s far superior ground game but you have to realize that Diaz loves to prove a point.  He stood with KJ Noons, a boxer, for five rounds when he probably could have easily taken the fight to the ground and submitted him.  If Diaz gets all cocky and decides to stand with Daley, I think he’s going to be humbled.  I have never seen a welterweight with as much power in his strikes as Paul Daley and I don’t care how amazing Diaz’s chin is, he won’t be able to eat too many of Daley’s punches before he goes out.   Ultimately, it comes down to if Diaz wants to prove a point and stand with Daley or whether he wants to fight smart, take Daley down, and take him out there.  This is a tough fight to call for me but I think Diaz will get this fight to the ground at some point in the fight and take Daley out although I won’t be surprised if Daley finishes Diaz with strikes.

Pick: Nick Diaz

Prab Jhass: There's a bunch of people jumping on the Daley bandwagon...and rightfully so.  The explosiveness and power in his hands is scary, and if one lands on the right spot on Diaz's mug, we could have a new champ.  But I like the view here on Team Diaz's side.  He's the champ for a reason, and his near three year unbeaten streak speaks for itself.  His experience and toughness give him an advantage over Daley, but it doesn't mean that Semtex is a pushover by any means.  The tough Brit can throw with the best of them, but I think that Diaz will capitalize on a mistake by the challenger, and just grind out a win here.

Pick: Nick Diaz

Consensus: 3-0 Diaz

Prediction Statistics (Since UFC 128)

1) Tony Kwatra: 18-6

2) Prab Jhass: 17-7

3) Manpreet Jhass: 16-8