Strikeforce: Nashville Predictions
With the lingering bad bad taste in our mouth from last weeks performance Anderson Silva put on Saturdays Strikeforce: Nashville can’t come fast enough. With three title fights this is by far the biggest Strikeforce event to date for the San Jose based promotion. The fact that its on CBS and not Showtime or PPV is awesome for fans yet a double edge blade for Strikeforce. With this big of a main card CBS will be looking for that to mean big numbers in terms of viewer / ratings. Some bad numbers and CBS might believe this is a no win situation and begin to look for a way out. The chances of this card not pulling big numbers though seems unlikely, especially with last weekends UFC 112 still fresh in every one’s minds.
This card is really a four fight main card but since there are three title fights each a possible 25 minutes long the Jason “Mayhem” Miller vs. Tim Stout fight will be the last undercard fight of the night. That fight though will air in some form during the televised portion, how it airs will depend on time permitting. The main event or should I say the last of the three title fights will feature the Middleweight champ Jake Shields against Dan Henderson, making his Strikeforce debut. This fight has so many story lines built into it with Henderson’s debut, possibly winning another belt after holding both the Middleweight and Light Heavyweight belts in Pride. The biggest storyline though is could this be Jake Shields last fight in the Strikeforce cage as he will become a free agent after the fight. Ironicallythis fight is a mirror image to last weekends Silva vs. Maia fight minus the dancing around and Taunting, the classic Striker vs. grappler.
The middle fight on the card is the Light Heavyweight champ Gegard Mousasi defending his belt for the 2nd time against raising star and showman Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal. Mousasi has won 15 in a row spanning 3 and a half year and is an impressive 28-2-1 but this is only his 4th fight at 205lbs. King Mo is undefeated at 6-0 and having always fought at Light heavy or above he’ll look to use his size to end the winning streak at 15 for Mousasi. Another great match up here and is a sleeper for the fight of the night.
The most intriguing title fight has the be the Strikeforce Lightweight Champ Gilbert Melendez vs the Dream Lightweight Champ Shinya Aoki for the Strikeforce belt only. Putting two current champs from two different promotions against each other is unheard of and could carry any card by itself. Melendez will look to solidify his spot as a top Lightweight by taking out Aoki who many believe to be the 2nd best Lightweight in the world. Another striker vs. grappler match up but Aoki is no ordinary grappler, having 14 (60%) of his wins by submission. He will however be fighting Saturday without his colorful grappling pants which might play a factor in the fight. Also Aoki mostly fights in a ring and is not very accustomed to fighting inside a cage which Melendez might be able to use that to his advantage. It’s going to be a great fight but don’t be surprised to see a rematch between the two within a year of this fight though…
The remainder of the card is filled with many local fighters and if you are into online betting I’d strongly suggest staying away from laying any money down. That’s not to take anything away from the bottom portion of the card just a bunch of hard fights to pick, as I found out while trying to make my picks below.
Main event:
185 lbs.: Dan Henderson over Jake Shields
Main card (Televised):
205 lbs.: Gegard Mousasi over Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal
155 lbs.: Gilbert Melendez over Shinya Aoki
Under card (May not be broadcast):
185 lbs.: Jason “Mayhem” Miller over Tim Stout – By 2nd rd TKO
170 lbs.: Hunter Worsham over Zach Underwood
185 lbs.: Cale Yarbrough over Josh Schockman
125 lbs.: Dustin Ortiz over Justin Pennington
170 lbs.: Andrew Uhrich over Dustin West
205 lbs.: Chris Hawk over Ovince St. Preux
145 lbs.: Cody Floyd over Thomas Campbell
Category: MMA, Predictions, Strikeforce
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Interesting picks Josh! here ya go
Taking Jake Shields over Hendo
Mousasi over King MO Lawal
Gilbert Melendez over Aoki
Jason Miller over Tim Stout TKO 1st rd
@SES Audio
Oh you like them. I had a rough time with the darn undercard thats for sure.
Hendo over Shields
Mousasi over King Mo
Aoki over Melendez
Miller over Stout TKO Rd 2
Main event:
185 lbs.: Dan Henderson over Jake Shields
Main card (Televised):
205 lbs.: Mousasi over king mo
155 lbs.: Gilbert Melendez over Shinya Aoki
Under card (May not be broadcast):
185 lbs.: Jason “Mayhem” Miller over Tim Stout – 1st round submission
170 lbs.: Zach Underwood over Hunter Worsham
185 lbs.: Cale Yarbrough over Josh Schockman
125 lbs.: Justin Pennington over Dustin Ortiz
170 lbs.: Andrew Uhrich over Dustin West
205 lbs.: Ovince St. Preux over Chris Hawk
145 lbs.: Cody Floyd over Thomas Campbell
under card is crazy, but I found info on everyone
Main event:
185 lbs.: Dan Henderson over Jake Shields
Main card (Televised):
205 lbs.: Gegard Mousasi over Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal
155 lbs.: Shinya Aoki over Gilbert Melendez
Under card (May not be broadcast):
185 lbs.: Jason “Mayhem” Miller over Tim Stout – By 1st rd Sub
Henderson over Shields
Mousasi over Lawal
Melendez over Aoki
Miller over Stout by 2nd Rd. Submission
Henderson
Mousassi
Melendez
Tie breaker: Miller over Stout via Rd 1 submission
Dan Henderson over Jake Shields
Gegard Moussasi over King Mo
Shinya Aoki over Gilbert Melendez
Mayhem Miller over Stout: Rd 2 Submission
Henderson over Shields
Lawal over Mousasi
Melendez over Aoki
Miller over Stout by 2nd Rd. Submission
Hendo by KO 2nd Rd.
Mousasi by TKO 2nd Rd.
Melendez by Decision
Miller by Submission 3rd Rd
Hendo TKO/KO 3rd
Mo over Mousasi TKO or Dec
Melendez tko 3rd
Miller by being banana awesome 63 seconds in to the 1st round
Dan Henderson over Jake Shields
Gegard Mousasi over “King Mo”
Aoki over Gilbert Melendez
Jason “Mayhem” Miller over Tim Stout – 2nd round submission
Thanks!
@TKeep123
Henderson by Decision
Mousasi by TKO 2nd Rd.
Aoki by Submission 3rd
Miller by Decision
Henderson via destruction/KO 2nd round
Mousasi via submission round 2
Melendez via TKO round 1
Mayhem via any way he wants to/TKO round 2
Darcie left here picks in the wrong spot so I’m copying them over here.
My strikeforce picks: shields, melendez, lawal, and stout!