Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal

Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal was a mixed martial arts event held by Strikeforce. The event took place on December 17, 2011 at the Valley View Casino Center in San Diego, California, United States.^[1]

Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal
The poster for Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal
Promotion	Strikeforce
Date	December 17, 2011
Venue	Valley View Casino Center
City	San Diego, California, United States
Event chronology
Strikeforce: Barnett vs. Kharitonov Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine

Background

The main event between Melendez and Masvidal was briefly in question with Dana White's announcement that Melendez was UFC bound, but the match went on as planned.^[2]

Keith Jardine was expected to make his Middleweight debut at this event.^[3] However, he would instead debut at Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine the following year.^[4]

The Bowling/Peoples bout was supposed to be fought at Welterweight, however it was changed to a 179-pound catchweight. Peoples still missed weight and the fight went on as a 181-pound catchweight fight with Peoples fined 20 percent of his purse.^[5]

The bout between Devin Cole & Gabriel Salinas-Jones was the last heavyweight fight in Strikeforce's full Heavyweight division. Two days after this event was held, Strikeforce announced the end of the division (save for Heavyweight Grand Prix Tournament finalists Josh Barnett & Daniel Cormier) due to a lack of depth, and six of the promotion's remaining heavyweight fighters were folded into the UFC shortly afterwards.^[6]

Former World Extreme Cagefighting announcer Joe Martinez announced this event in place of Jimmy Lennon Jr., as Lennon was announcing that same night's Showtime-broadcast Super Six World Boxing Classic boxing card headlined by Carl Froch & Andre Ward.^[7]

Results

Main Card (Showtime)
Weight class				Method	Round	Time	Notes
Lightweight	Gilbert Melendez (c)	def.	Jorge Masvidal	Decision (unanimous) (50–45, 50–45, 49–46)	5	5:00	[a]
Women's Featherweight	Cris Cyborg (c)	vs.	Hiroko Yamanaka	No Contest (overturned)	1	0:16	[b]
Light Heavyweight	Gegard Mousasi	def.	Ovince St. Preux	Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28)	3	5:00
Lightweight	K. J. Noons	def.	Billy Evangelista	Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28)	3	5:00
Preliminary card
Catchweight (181 lb)	Roger Bowling	def.	Jerron Peoples	KO (punches)	1	0:42
Lightweight	Caros Fodor	def.	Justin Wilcox	KO (punches)	1	0:13
Heavyweight	Devin Cole	def.	Gabriel Salinas-Jones	Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 30–27)	3	5:00
Welterweight	Herman Terrado	def.	Chris Brown	Submission (armbar)	3	4:05
Middleweight	Eddie Mendez	def.	Fernando Gonzalez	Decision (split) (30–27, 28–29, 29–28)	3	5:00

1. For the Strikeforce Lightweight Championship.
2. For the Strikeforce Women's Featherweight Championship. Originally a TKO win for Cyborg, the result was overturned to a "No Contest" when Cyborg subsequently tested positive for Stanozolol in a post-fight drug test.^[8]

Reported payout

The following is the reported payout to the fighters as reported to the California State Athletic Commission. It does not include sponsor money or locker room bonuses.

• Gilbert Melendez: $150,000 (no win bonus) def. Jorge Masvidal: $23,000
• Cris Cyborg: $66,000 (includes $33,000 win bonus) def. Hiroko Yamanaka: $8,000
• Gegard Mousasi: $150,000 (no win bonus) def. Ovince St. Preux: $17,000
• KJ Noons: $65,000 (includes $30,000 win bonus) def. Billy Evangelista: $20,000
• Caros Fodor: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus) def. Justin Wilcox $12,000
• Roger Bowling: $14,000 (includes $7,000 win bonus) def. Jerron Peoples: $2,000
• Devin Cole: $12,000 (includes $6,000 win bonus) def. Gabriel Salinas-Jones: $3,000
• Eddie Mendez: $6,000 (includes $3,000 win bonus) def. Fernando Gonzalez: $3,000
• Herman Terrado: $6,000 (includes $3,000 win bonus) def. Chris Brown: $3,000