By FCF Staff
Nick Diaz survived the striking power of Paul Daley tonight in San Diego, California, to in turn stop the welterweight challenger just seconds before the opening round of their championship bout came to an end. Despite landing several punishing blows to Diaz, which had the Strikeforce champion scrambling to recover on a couple of occasions, Daley was unable to finish the resilient veteran before Diaz resumed his attacks. As round one neared its end, Daley stumbled to the canvas during a frantic striking exchange, and was immediately swarmed by Diaz’s fight ending barrage.
In the card’s other feature attraction, lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez overwhelmed Tatsuya Kawajiri with strikes from the opening bell, stunning the accomplished vet with hard right hands. Despite a valiant effort to recover, Kawajiri once again found himself on the wrong end of Melendez’s elbows and punches, prompting the referee’s stoppage at just 3:14 of round one.
Here are the results from tonight’s Showtime broadcast.
Nick Diaz def. Paul Daley via TKO (strikes) - R1, 4:57
Gilbert Melendez def. Tatsuya Kawajiri via TKO (strikes) - R1, 3:14
Gegard Mousasi and Keith Jardine fight to a majority draw (29-27, 28-28, 28-28)
Shinya Aoki def. Lyle Beerbohm via submission (neck crank) - R1, 1:32
