Fabricio Werdum has shocked the MMA world by forcing the previously unbeatable Fedor Emelianenko to tap out due to a triangle/armbar submission at tonights Strikeforce event.

Fedor dazed Werdum at the beginning, and knocked him down but proceeded to follow Werdum into his guard, which was Fedor’s downfall. After the fight Fabricio Werdum acknowledged that although he won tonight, Fedor is still the best fighter in the world.

So what is the future for Fedor? There was retirement rumors a few weeks ago, but will he now feel like he needs to fight again and go out on a win?

Other results from the event:
Cung Le defeats Scott Smith by TKO/RSC 2nd 1:46
Cris Santos defeats Jan Finney by TKO/RSC 2nd 2:56
Josh Thomson defeats Patrick Healy by Submission 3rd 4:27
Chris Cope defeats Ron Keslar by TKO/RSC 2nd 4:32
Bret Bergmark defeats Vagner Rocha by Decision 3rd
Yancy Medeiros defeats Gareth Joseph by TKO/RSC 2nd 1:19
Bobby Stack defeats Derrick Burnsed by Decision 3rd

How many times has Scott Smith been getting his ass handed to him, only to come back and win in exciting style? This dude is easily one of my favorite fighters to watch. Cung Le was torturing Smith with spinning back kicks and all sorts of other methods, until Smith clipped Le with a left hook that rocked him, and followed up until he KO’d Cung Le and referree John McCarthy stopped the fight. Another comeback victory for Scott Smith.

UNDEFEATED KICKBOXING PHENOM TO MAKE MMA DEBUT AT “MELENDEZ VS. THOMSON”

Former World Combat League superstar already touted as the next Cung Le

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Following a spectacular, undefeated run in Chuck Norris’ World Combat League, 28-year-old kickboxing superstar, Raymond “The Real Deal” Daniels (0-0), will make his long-awaited mixed martial arts (MMA) debut when he takes on Jeremiah Metcalf (8-4) in a middleweight (185 lb. limit) battle at Strikeforce’s “Melendez vs. Thomson” mega-card at HP Pavilion on Friday.

Already being hailed as the second coming of Strikeforce World Middleweight Champion, Cung Le, Daniels, recognized as the number one Sport Karate fighter in the world, holds a 6th degree black belt in Kenpo and Shotokan Karate as well as a 5th degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. He packs a thrilling, dynamic fighting style that is strikingly similar to Le, also a guru of traditional martial arts.

“I’m going to give MMA fans something that they’ve never seen before,” said Daniels, a resident of Long Beach, California. “I want to become the greatest fighter of all time. Anybody that steps in front of me is just gonna be on my next highlight reel, an obstacle that’s standing in my path to greatness.”

The career path of Daniels, thus far, mimics that of Le, who crossed over to the world of mixed martial arts in 2006 after running to a perfect 16-0 record in the sport of professional kickboxing. Despite the parallels that can be drawn to the Strikeforce world middleweight champion, though, Daniels is quick to point out that he is his own man and is determined to carve out a unique legacy in the martial arts fight world.

“I don’t try to be the next anybody,” said Daniels. “I look to be greater than Cung and surpass anyone who’s been considered at the top of their game. I try to live up to who I am and I expect great things from myself.”

It was at the young age of five that Daniels became inspired by his father, Frank, a seasoned martial artist and Sport Karate competitor, to study Kenpo and, later, to test his skills against other Karate players. From Ireland to Australia, Switzerland, Hungary, and Germany, he has since traveled the world to face and defeat top-ranked opponents.

Daniels joined the ranks of the WCL in 2006 and amassed a record of 18-0 over the course of three seasons with the league’s Los Angeles Stars team. Earlier this month, he captained his squad to a season championship.

“I still haven’t had any challenges or anything like that so I decided to come over to MMA and see how good I really am.”

Daniels’ opponent, Metcalf, brings to the cage a three-fight win streak. He is a product of Modesto, California’s AAA Academy of Kickboxing, the training center that spawned 2003 K-1 North America tournament champion, Carter Williams.

Tickets for “Melendez vs. Thomson,” priced from $30, are on sale at the HP Pavilion box office (408-287-7070) as well as at all Ticketmaster locations (408-998-TIXS), Ticketmaster online (www.ticketmaster.com), and on Strikeforce’s official website (www.Strikeforceusa.net).

Strikeforce World Lightweight (155 lb. limit) Champion, Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez (14-1), will defend his crown against number one contender and Bay Area arch-rival, Josh “The Punk” Thomson (14-2), in the main event of Friday’s Strikeforce affair.

In another championship showdown, Bobby Southworth (8-5) will put his Strikeforce World Light Heavyweight (205 lb. limit) title on the line in a rematch with Anthony “El Toro” Ruiz (20-10). Ruiz was declared the winner of their initial meeting on November 16, 2007 after a cut Southworth had sustained during the fight prompted the ringside physician to order a stoppage at the :52 mark of the second round.

Joe “Diesel” Riggs (27-10) will battle rising star Luke Stewart (5-1) in a 178 lb. limit catch weight fight. Stewart was originally slated to face “Mr. International” Shonie Carter. A hand injury, however, forced Carter to withdraw from the contest last week.

Lightweight (155 lb. limit) Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu stud Nam Phan (14-4) will attempt to hand knockout artist Billy Evangelista (6-0) the first loss of his career.

Making the fifth start of her professional mixed martial arts career, Cung Le female protégé, Elaina “Beef” Maxwell (2-2), will take on Miesha Tate (1-1).

HP Pavilion doors will open at 6 PM for “Melendez vs. Thomson” and the first preliminary bout will begin at 6:30 PM. The live HDNet telecast of the event will start at 7:30 PM PST/10:30 PM EST and the main card will commence at 8 PM.

About Strikeforce:
Strikeforce is a world-class mixed martial arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made history with its “Shamrock vs. Gracie” event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California state history. The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San Jose’s HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out, record crowd of 18,265. Since 1995, Strikeforce has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial arts series with “Shamrock vs. Gracie.” Since then, it has co-produced the first SHOWTIME PPV mixed martial arts event in history with its world championship “Shamrock vs. Baroni” card on June 22, 2007.

That was a helluva fight. Frank Shamrock should have tried harder to take the fight to the ground, but I give him credit for wanting to entertain with a stand-up battle. I thought for sure one of Cung Le‘s left roundhouse kicks were going to leave Shamrock unconcious. Cung Le’s southpaw stance versus Shamrocks righty stance was looking ominous, the way Shamrock would keep his right hand too low, it looked like a left shin upside the head was inevitable, and indeed Shamrock did take some blows to the dome, but he must have a good chin, because none of them knocked him out. Frank Shamrocks demise came at the very end of round 3 after he blocked one of Cung Le’s Louisville Slugger-esque kicks with his forearm, and I think it broke. I think Cung Le could be a definite challenge for Anderson Silva, would Silva take this fight to the ground?

In other results from tonights EliteXC event:

• Jesse Jones defeated Jesse Gillespie via TKO round 1
• Darren Uyenoyama defeted Anthony Figueroa via Guillotine, Round 1
• Tiki Ghosn defeated Luke Stewart via Unanimous Decision 
• Joey Villasenor knocked Ryan Jensen out cold near the end of Round 1.
• Wayne Cole armbarr’ed Mike Kyle in just 45 seconds
• Gilbert Melendez beat up Gabe Lemley, scoring a TKO in round 2
• Drew Fickett choked Jae Suk Lim into submission in Round 1 (Guillotine)
• and in the swing bout, Billy Evangelista knocked out Marlon Sims in round 3. You may remember Marlon Sims from The Ultimate Fighter reality show, where he told tales of fighting several dudes at once, and having a 200-0 streetfighting record or something like that. Be sure to sign up on our new MMA forums and start your own discussion!

Here is a photo of the start of Tiki Ghosn vs. Luke Stewart, courtesy of Firepowr.net

This should be a good fight tonight, both Frank Shamrock and Cung Le are great strikers, it’s difficult to pick a winner. It will be a good test for both fighters.