Congratulations to our first Primetime Pundit winner Rob Carroll, read his previews and predictions for Strikeforce: Diaz vs Daley here;

It is now three days away from this event as I am writing this, well, technically two, due to the fact that I have the body clock of a bat, and the anticipation for this clash between two of MMA’s most cantankerous and dangerous welterweights for the main event of this card, continues to grow. Though the trash talk has surprisingly been kept to a minimum, the possible outcomes for the fight appear to be enough to keep all casual and hardcore fans extremely interested, and for good reason!

Nick Diaz and Paul Daley happen to be two competitors in particular, that I refuse to ever pass up the opportunity to watch fight; the aggressive style and striking prowess possessed by both men is guaranteed to bring fireworks every time they fight, regardless of the opponent. I will openly hold my hands up and say that this match up is irritatingly hard to predict, the amount of pride and sheer hostility that Nick Diaz shows in his fights by often refusing to grapple, leads me to believe that he will at least go one round with Paul Daley, without shooting for a single leg or a sweep; this however, may be his downfall. If there was one term I consistently hear Daley mention in every pre-fight interview, it is “knock-out”. The man has a left hand that would trouble most middleweights should it connect, the question is…CAN he land it? Plus, IF he lands it, and does not produce an instantaneous KO, will he be able to land it again without eating four or five of Diaz’s punches in return? Training with Andre Ward will most certainly stand in Diaz’s favour, which is what leads me to believe that he may not be careless enough to get hit by Daleys’ left hand. This, combined with the fact that Diaz can eat punches and kicks for days without even batting an eyelid or breathing heavy, leaves me with no option other than to pick him for the win, possibly by TKO if Daley gets tired.

Gilbert Melendez and Tatsuya Kawajiri also have potential to produce a real scrap come Friday night should the two choose to engage, but with Melendez having not fought in almost exactly a year, I feel he may choose to fight a smart fight and remain unpredictable by mixing up take downs, clinching, and throwing the occasional looping punch combinations. Whilst Kawajiri has the skills to nullify this by using similar tactics, I feel that the superior training camp that Melendez resides in will give him a huge mental advantage in the fight and I fully expect Melendez to pick up a unanimous decision win.

The next fight on the card has had MMA fans in fits of giggles all over the globe, Keith Jardine has valiantly stepped in on a mere seven days notice to attempt to give Gegard Mousasi his fourth loss in MMA…in what will be the young fighters’ 35th fight! Whilst Jardine is a fairly likeable, soft spoken fellow, with great take-down defence, heavy hands and very effective kicks, he is, well, a little bit out of his depth here. Mousasi has out-Judo’d Judo practitioners, out-grappled and submitted BJJ black belts and out-struck and knocked out K1 level strikers; not bad for 25 years of age I think you will concur. I predict Mousasi to fairly easily dispatch Jardine within two rounds, if Jardine makes it to the third round, that in itself, is an achievement for him in my humble opinion.

The final fight on the card, and what will be the first fight on the televised portion, is Shinya Aoki attempting to further slow the rise of prospect Lyle Beerbohm. It feels strange referring to Beerbohm as a prospect, what with him being 32 years of age and having 17 fights under his belt, but this is a huge test for him. The only real problem I see for Aoki here, is the fact that he is fighting in a cage…again. His last fight with Gilbert Melendez proved difficult for him whilst trying to adjust to being pinned up against the cage, and Beerbohm happens to be very good at that type of fighting. However, I feel with Aokis’ clear advantage in the BJJ area, that he will probably end up catching Beerbohm in a submission in either the first or second round; though if he gets caught with a big punch and gets knocked unconscious, this would be no surprise to me what so ever.

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