Strikeforce & Bellator: The Most Predictable and Unexpected Moments

The best part about watching combat sports is that no matter what you might be expecting, things are constantly changing. Whatever seemed expected might be completely unimaginable six months from now.

For a sport where a fight can change in a moment, a day seems almost like an eternity.

Sometimes the fights go the way that most think they will and sometimes they shock us all with how they end up.

Let's take a look at some of the most unsurprising and incredible moments from last night.

Shrug: Paul Daley Was in an Exciting Fight.

The title of this article might have to do with Bellator and Strikeforce, but the BAMMA card also had its own upsets and outcomes and I felt that they should be included. 

The fact that Daley was in another great, if one-sided, fight probably didn't make anyone yawn or shrug, but it was predictable. Whenever Daley puts the gloves on, you know you're going to see a great fight.

The fact that Radev was willing to stand made it that much easier to see that this was going to be a great slugfest.

Overall, I predicted that this would be a great fight and though it might not have been back and forth, it was entertaining.

Shock: Paul Daley's Fight Did Not End in a Knockout

Usually when Daley fights, someone is going to sleep.  You're never sure if it's his opponent or him, but usually someone is going to be using the canvas for a pillow.

It speaks mountains of Radev that he was able to last to a decision loss. Of course, that also speaks mountains of the Olympic Bulgarian Wrestler that he was willing to keep it standing. I hope to see more of Radev, but I sure hope he learns to play to his strengths.

With that said, he proved he had a chin of iron.

Shrug: Paul Daley Did Not Make Weight

This should be a shocker, but embarrassingly enough, it isn't. Daley has made almost as much of a career of not making weight as he has of knocking people out. This time, he was six pounds over the limit. It was one of his worst weigh-ins to date.

I'm not sure if Daley ever wants to fight in the UFC again, but if he ever wants to get back into Dana White's good graces, he had better start presenting himself in a professional manner.

If this week has shown us anything, it's that Dana isn't afraid to drop a fighter who won't take his obligations seriously.

Shock: Frank Trigg Lost a Close Fight

I predicted that the Wallhead-Trigg fight wouldn't be close. Then Trigg lost by split decision.

It's moments like these that make me glad I'm not a betting man.

The fight itself might not have been a live wire, but Trigg proved people like me wrong as he battled Jim Wallhead to a close decision. Now Trigg is coming off his first loss after being on a two-win streak.  

It seems like he might not be able to compete on the highest levels of MMA, but he might be okay somewhere in the middle.  

I'd like to believe he might hang the gloves up after this, but like with most fighters, a close loss will likely encourage him to keep on going.

Shrug: Ben Saunders Destroys Chris Cisneros

Normally, I don't shrug at a fight where I expect one guy to beat the other. I feel it's disrespectful to the fighters and a little judgmental of their skills. However, it seemed that going into this fight, the gulf between Saunders' and Cisneros' skills was considerable.  

Saunders had been at the peak of MMA in the UFC and Cisneros was taking a step up when he came into Bellator.

Saunders was able to implement his game plan most of the time and battered his opponent into submission. Now we get to see him move on to the semifinals where the matches will become a little less favorable for him.

It showed.

Shock: King Mo KO's Roger Gracie

It was impressive when "King Mo" Lawal KO'd Roger Gracie in the first round. That was electrifying and entertaining in itself. However, it's still not the most shocking thing to happen in that fight.

It's the fact that it never went to the ground.

Between a wrestler and a Brazilian jui jitsu ace, you figure that they would go to where each is most comfortable, but instead they avoided it like the plague. It was an exciting end to a less than exciting match, but it was the fact that it was mostly striking that blew me away.

Sometimes you have to expect the unexpected and it seems like in this case, both guys decided to avoid the other's territory and chose to swing leather.

And we are all one knockout richer for it.

Shock: Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza Beaten

The fact that the fight didn't end with Souza getting a submission is intriguing. The fact that he didn't win is what blows me away.

Souza has only gone this distance to win decisions against Jason Miller, Tim Kennedy and Joey Villasenor. These guys are all pros with wins against other decent fighters.

Luke Rockhold's only claim to fame was that he had beaten Ultimate Fighter alum Jesse Taylor.

Yet Saturday night, he waltzed into the cage and proceeded to pull off a victory against the accomplished BJJ black belt. It seems like Rockhold might be a serious contender for fighting Anderson Silva if he proves this wasn't a fluke.

Another fight and we might find out.

Shock: Daniel Cormier Wins by KO

Most of the time a wrestler is in a matchup with a striker, you can usually predict that it will go to the ground and be correct. Especially when you have someone like Silva who towers five inches over the much smaller Cormier.

However, Cormier played David to Silva's Goliath on Saturday night and sent the giant to sleep with a thunderous right hand. It was the kind of dramatic ending that will get Cormier tons of press and will hype his fight with Barnett.

Now it seems that Cormier might not just get bigger clout from being in the tournament, but from winning it.

Not bad for a guy who started out as an alternate.

Shock: Daniel Cormier-Josh Barnett Will Be in the Finals

There was no way to guess that Cormier would be in the finals when this tournament started. He wasn't even in the thing originally!

Most people figured that it would end up being Fedor-Overeem and a fight to see who is the best heavyweight it the world.

Well Fedor has now lost his last three and Overeem is in the UFC.

My, how things change.

Then people thought it would be Werdum in the finals.

Then he lost too.

Now Silva has lost to Cormier.

Now it's Barnett-Cormier in the finals. This is why tournaments are fun no matter who started in them and who we end up seeing in the finals. It always ends differently than what anybody ever expected.

I can't wait to see how it ends.

Your Thoughts

Did I miss something?

Were you shocked by something that I thought was unimpressive?

Let me know in the comments below.