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Nick Diaz survived a knockdown and a cut to comeback and knock DREAM Welterweight champion Marius Zaromskis out late in the first round of their scheduled five round title fight for the vacant Strikeforce Middleweight belt. Diaz pinned Marius against the cage early, landing repeated knees to Zaromski’s right thigh (when I say repeated, I mean continuous for probably thirty seconds) before Diaz scored a takedown. After losing top position, Diaz seemed to be in control of the stand-up, picking Zaromskis off from range with the variety of angles he often confuses his opponents with before the Lithuanian turned it around. Midway through the round Marius rocked Diaz with a two punch combination before dropping him with a right hook that looked to have ended the fight. Diaz took some shots from guard but recovered, transitioned to his knees where he took more shots before standing up. Once up Diaz re-took control of the fight, battering Zaromskis across the cage. Once again showing that he is undoubtably the best body puncher in MMA, Diaz softened up Marius with heavy rips to the midsection before finishing him off with a barrage of shots culminating with a right hook.
The win for Diaz clearly ranks him as the top non-UFC welterweight and surely as one of the top ten welterweights in the world. Sure he lost some fights when he was in the UFC, but he was in his early 20′s. He’s shown with his last few fights that he’s one of the better boxers in MMA and with an even better ground game he is a handful for anyone in the division. Jay Hieron (who defeated Joe Riggs by decision on the undercard) is probably next but I can’t see him handling Diaz’s versatility. With Hieron’s main weapon being his wrestling, he’ll basically pick his poison against the more polished fighter. As for Zaromskis, I think this proves that he isn’t the devastating striker that everyone thought he was. The run he had to win DREAM’s Grand Prix last year wasn’t that difficult and he needs to develop a more well-rounded game if he wants to compete with the top dogs at 170lbs.
On the undercard, Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Santos defended her Lightweight title over Marloes Coenen via third round stoppage in a competitive fight. The difference proved to be in strength as Cyborg powered out of submission attempts while delivering heavy ground and pound and punishing Coenen standing up. The end came in the third round when a fatigued and battered Coenen was finished off with punches from on top. Robbie Lawler withstood an assault of leg kicks and body kicks from feared striker Melvin Manhoef to score a one-punch come-from-behind knockout over the K-1 contender. Manhoef was sending Lawler’s right leg airborne with the force of his kicks and just as he seemed close to finishind the former EliteXC Middleweight champion, he was clocked with a right hook and finished with an overhand left that left him unconscious for a brief period of time. Lawler limped around the cage celebrating his victory.
Other results
Bobby Lashley battered Wes Sims, scoring a first round stoppage via punches from the guard. Lashley got an easy takedown and worked his ground and pound to which Sims offered little resistance even though he wasn’t taking too many clean shots. NFL legend Herschel Walker scored a third round stoppage over Greg Nagy. Nagy was sort of in the fight in the first but Walker took over in the 2nd and closed the show in the third round with punches from the mount.
