Shark Fights 13 A Strange Success

There were plenty of details from the show that left me scratching my head. The only title fight on the card was on the prelims that were aired on Sherdog. The first fight shown on the PPV was a prelim fight that they somehow didn’t leave enough time to show on the prelims. The video shown before the PPV that gives background on the night’s bigger fights looked like a streaming video. The audio was low in the arena and the ring announcer introduced each fighter twice. Basically they made Strikeforce look like they know what they’re doing.

As for the actual fights, they were decent for the most part. The best fight of the night featured former top UFC prospects Houston Alexander and Sokoudjou. In the first round, Sokoudjou knocked Alexander silly and the fight should have been stopped as The African Assassin threw blow after unanswered blow to Alexander’s head. Eventually, Alexander recovered and made it out of the first round. In the second, Alexander pretty much did the same to Sokoudjou before the referee stepped into stop the fight way too late. Go ahead, watch the violence.

Tarec Saffiedine earned the biggest win of his career by dominating UFC veteran Brock Larson. Larson was either sick or didn’t take the fight seriously because he had no gas tank whatsoever. Paul Daley won his second straight fight since getting booted from the UFC in May. Joey Villasenor was smothered to death by Danillo Villefort in a unanimous decision victory for Villefot.

In the main event, Keith Jardine took on the Shark Fights light heavyweight champion in a non-title bout. Why they didn’t want to have a champion defend his belt, I’m not sure. (Only two fighters have actually attempted to defend a Shark Fights title in their two years of existence. One of those was earlier in the evening.) In the end, Prangley knocked Jardine around for three rounds and won a split decision. It’s Jardine’s fifth straight loss and seventh out of his last nine.

Even when the fights were boring, Don Frye and Bas Rutten made it entertaining.

Frye referenced prison sex in the first minute of the broadcast.

Don Frye said Keith Jardine was like a rabid octopus.

Don Frye said he improved his career record by coming home drunk and night and knocking around his wife.

Bas Rutten was also insane, as usual, but the sound bites weren’t as notable as anything Don Frye said.

In the end, Shark Fights delivered on what we expected. A bunch of guys we used to know went out there and looked mediocre. Frye and Rutten made the show interesting and I would definitely throw away money to see a similar lineup in the future. As long as Don Frye brings his American flag button-up.