Strikeforce 36: Ronaldo Souza Vs. Luke Rockhold

Dan Miragliotta will oversee this middleweight championship fight.

Round 1: They touch gloves and get set to go. Rockhold gets off first with a short leg kick. Rockhold fighting Southpaw, lands a nice knee as Jacare tries for the takedown. He sprawls well but then gets tagged and sent reeling by a right hand. Jacare follows him across the cage, misses a knee but stays on Rockhold and takes him down against the cage. Jacare fighting to keep Rockhold down, he presses him into the fence while on their knees and hammers him with some right hands that have pop. Jacare continually working for the takedown against the fence, working in punches where he can. Rockhold gets to his feet, but Jacare is keeping him mashed against the fence. Rockhold breaks free. He goes for a leg kick and then push kick, both land glancingly. Rockhold lands two kicks but gets clipped by a hard right hand from Jacare. Jacare chasing Rockhold down, but the challenger keeps his composure and starts to turn it on with his kicks. He lands a switch kick and then a nice spinning kick. Jacare goes for the takedown and eventually gets it.

FightLine.com scores the round 10-9 for Souza

Round 2: Rockhold gets off with a spinning back kick right off the bat. Rockhold looks a lot looser to start this round and he's finding a home for most of his strikes know, mainly kicks. Jacare sits Rockhold down with a right hand when he moves in, but Rockhold recovers quickly and moves away to avoid more damage. Jacare finally gets hold of Rockhold and smashes him with an elbow against the fence before they break. Rockhold lands a head kick and then another nice switch kick. Rockhold will back Jacare up with some nice shots, but Jacare continually lands a hard right counter that hurts Rockhold. Jacare gets Rockhold against the fence, but Rockhold turns him. He lands some nice knees to the thighs, but Jacare turns Rockhold and they shortly thereafter separate. Rockhold walking in behind punches, but getting tagged with that right hand still.

FightLine.com scores the round 10-10

Round 3: Rockhold pushes Jacare back with a front kick. Jacare eats a jab and then takes a hard high kick on the arm. Rockhold doing well to disrupt Jacare's offense with his jab. Jacare goes on the attack with kicks and Rockhold fires back. Jacare takes a kick low and sits down for a few to recover. Jacare repeatedly points out that that was the second times he was clipped low. Rockhold goes right back on the attack, backing up Souza with straight punches. Jacare grabs Rockhold's leg and presses him against the fence. As soon as Rockhold tries to land punches, he trips him hard to the mat. He can't make much of it though and Rockhold pops back to his feet. Rockhold with a good front kick. Jacare is tiring here. but Rockhold is having somewhat of a hard time really capitalizing on his inactivity. Rockhold is landing more shots than Souza, who's content to load up on single-shot counters. Rockhold starting to get loose, sensing that he can take the belt from the champ. Rockhold is picking his shots and landing almost at will with punches and kicks.

FightLine.com scores the round 10-9 for Rockhold