NICK DIAZ DOMINATES FRANK SHAMROCK,
 GILBERT MELENDEZ WINS INTERIM STRIKEFORCE BELT,
 SMITH, ROGERS, CYBORG ALSO VICTORIOUS

Mixed martial arts made a smashing return to premium network television Saturday with a scintillating fight card that featured heaps of strikes, kicks, drama, unbelievable comebacks and a brilliant, poised, victorious performance by Nick Diaz

Photo: Tom Casino/Strikeforce

In a dominant outing in which he was in control throughout, Diaz (19-7, 1 NC) of Stockton, Calif., made good on his vow, and impressively knocked out legendary MMA pioneer and local favorite Frank Shamrock before an enthusiastic crowd of 15,211 at HP Pavilion.

A Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu black belt, Diaz took apart Shamrock with seeming ease. He whipped Shamrock on the ground and at the veteran’s game – on the feet. The fight was stopped at 3:57 of the second round with Diaz reigning punches with both hands on a fallen, helpless Shamrock.

At times, Diaz seemed to be toying, even mocking Shamrock. Twice, Diaz, who was moving up to compete at a catch-weight 179 pounds, took side-control, a dominant position, but Shamrock fought his way out on both occasions.

 Shamrock (24-9-2), however, could not get inside Diaz’ long reach and wound up getting pummeled. How bad a night was it for the hometown favorite? Shamrock may not have even won the battle of introductions in a fight in his hometown.

Shamrock will be back, though, he says, and so, of course, will Diaz.

In other televised fights, former Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez captured the interim Strikeforce lightweight championship with a second-round knockout over Rodrigo Damm, Scott Smith rallied from the brink of defeat to register a stunning third-round knockout over Benji Radach in a brutal battle of determined, heavy-handed middleweights, Cris “Cyborg” Santos knocked out Hitomi Akano in the third round of a women’s match and Brett Rogers scored a crowd-pleasing second-round TKO over  “Abongo” Humphrey in a hard-fought matchup of unbeaten heavyweights

A press conference and meet and greet autograph signing session, featuring local favorite and world-ranked contender “Smokin’’ Joe Villasenor, will take place Thursday, Aug. 7; 2 p.m., Local/MST. The exciting EliteXC middleweight will be featured against an opponent to be announced Saturday, Sept. 20, on SHOWTIME (10 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the west coast).   

 

A sensational mixed martial arts event will take place at The Pit in Albuquerque, N.M. and will be presented by Los Angeles-based, ProElite Inc.’s live fight division, EliteXC. The Sept. 20 fight card will include many of the area’s top fighters and from around the world.

 

A limited number of $20 tickets are available for UNM students (first come, first served). Other tickets, priced at $30, $50, $65, $100, $150, $200 and $500 (VIP) can be purchased at the UNM/PIT box office (8:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Friday), online at http://www.unmtickets.com/  and by phone at (877) 664-8661 or (505) 925-5858.

Location:

Hilton Hotel (Meeting Room: Colorado )
1901 University NE ; Albuquerque , NM 87102 ; (505) 884-2500