| Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal | ||||
| Promotion | Strikeforce | |||
| Date | December 17, 2011 | |||
| Venue | Valley View Casino Center | |||
| City | San Diego, California, United States | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal was a mixed martial arts event held by Strikeforce. The event took place on December 17, 2011 at the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego, California, United States.
Background
The main event between Melendez and Masvidal was briefly in question with Dana White's announcement that Melendez was UFC bound, but the match went on as planned.
Keith Jardine was expected to make his Middleweight debut at this event. However, he would instead debut at Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine the following year.
The Bowling/Peoples bout was supposed to be fought at Welterweight, however it was changed to a 179-pound catchweight. Peoples still missed weight and the fight went on as a 181-pound catchweight fight with Peoples fined 20 percent of his purse.
The bout between Devin Cole & Gabriel Salinas-Jones was the last heavyweight fight in Strikeforce's full Heavyweight division. Two days after this event was held, Strikeforce announced the end of the division (save for Heavyweight Grand Prix Tournament finalists Josh Barnett & Daniel Cormier) due to a lack of depth, and six of the promotion's remaining heavyweight fighters were folded into the UFC shortly afterwards.
Former World Extreme Cagefighting announcer Joe Martinez announced this event in place of Jimmy Lennon Jr., as Lennon was announcing that same night's Showtime-broadcast Super Six World Boxing Classic boxing card headlined by Carl Froch & Andre Ward.
Results
| Main Card (Showtime) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Lightweight | Gilbert Melendez (c) | def. | Jorge Masvidal | Decision (unanimous) (50–45, 50–45, 49–46) | 5 | 5:00 | |
| Women's Featherweight | Cris Cyborg (c) | vs. | Hiroko Yamanaka | No Contest (overturned) | 1 | 0:16 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Gegard Mousasi | def. | Ovince St. Preux | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | K. J. Noons | def. | Billy Evangelista | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card | |||||||
| Catchweight (181 lb) | Roger Bowling | def. | Jerron Peoples | KO (punches) | 1 | 0:42 | |
| Lightweight | Caros Fodor | def. | Justin Wilcox | KO (punches) | 1 | 0:13 | |
| Heavyweight | Devin Cole | def. | Gabriel Salinas-Jones | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Welterweight | Herman Terrado | def. | Chris Brown | Submission (armbar) | 3 | 4:05 | |
| Middleweight | Eddie Mendez | def. | Fernando Gonzalez | Decision (split) (30–27, 28–29, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
- For the Strikeforce Lightweight Championship.
- For the Strikeforce Women's Featherweight Championship. Originally a TKO win for Cyborg, the result was overturned to a "No Contest" when Cyborg subsequently tested positive for Stanozolol in a post-fight drug test.
Reported payout
The following is the reported payout to the fighters as reported to the California State Athletic Commission. It does not include sponsor money or locker room bonuses.
- Gilbert Melendez: $150,000 (no win bonus) def. Jorge Masvidal: $23,000
- Cris Cyborg: $66,000 (includes $33,000 win bonus) def. Hiroko Yamanaka: $8,000
- Gegard Mousasi: $150,000 (no win bonus) def. Ovince St. Preux: $17,000
- KJ Noons: $65,000 (includes $30,000 win bonus) def. Billy Evangelista: $20,000
- Caros Fodor: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus) def. Justin Wilcox $12,000
- Roger Bowling: $14,000 (includes $7,000 win bonus) def. Jerron Peoples: $2,000
- Devin Cole: $12,000 (includes $6,000 win bonus) def. Gabriel Salinas-Jones: $3,000
- Eddie Mendez: $6,000 (includes $3,000 win bonus) def. Fernando Gonzalez: $3,000
- Herman Terrado: $6,000 (includes $3,000 win bonus) def. Chris Brown: $3,000
References
- "Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal". Strikeforce.com. 2011-10-11.
- "Dana White: Strikeforce champ Gilbert Melendez is headed to the UFC, ASAP". mmajunkie.com. 2011-10-01.
- "Keith Jardine: I'm returning to Strikeforce in December, headed to middleweight". mmajunkie.com. 2011-08-29.
- "Luke Rockhold vs. Keith Jardine title fight targeted for Jan. 7 Strikeforce event". mmajunkie.com. 2011-12-02.
- "'Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal' weigh-in results: Title fights are official". mmajunkie.com. 2011-12-16.
- "Strikeforce to Eliminate Heavyweight Division in 2012". mmafighting.com. 2011-12-15.
- "Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal Results and Recap". heavy.com. 2011-12-17.
- "CSAC: Strikeforce champ Cris 'Cyborg' Santos tests positive for anabolic steroid". MMAjunkie.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-10. Retrieved 2012-01-06.