Strikeforce 17

Date
Sat 11th April 2009 (UTC)
Sat 11th April 2009 (Local)

Timestamp

Time

00:00:00 UTC

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League
Strikeforce

Season
2009

Round
1

Status

Location
no fanart thumb HP Pavilion

Video Highlights

Description

Strikeforce 17: Shamrock vs. Diaz was a mixed martial arts event held by Strikeforce on April 11, 2009 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. It was the first event promoted by Strikeforce after their acquisition of assets from the defunct EliteXC promotion through its parent company ProElite. It aired on the Showtime cable network and online through Strikeforce All Access. Gus Johnson, Mauro Ranallo and Pat Miletich were commentating during the broadcast and Jimmy Lennon Jr. was the ring announcer.

Background:
Gilbert Melendez was originally scheduled to fight Josh Thomson before Thomson broke his leg while sparring. Rodrigo Damm was brought in as a replacement instead.
Weigh-ins. All fighters except Cris Cyborg and Brandon Michaels made their contracted weight during the official weigh-ins on April 10. Santos originally weighed in at 152.0 lb (68.9 kg) for her 145.0 lb (65.8 kg) fight with Hitomi Akano and had a few hours to cut down to 151.0 lb (68.5 kg) to get within the allowed 6 lb (2.7 kg) disparity. On her second attempt she weighed in at 150.5 lb (68.3 kg) and was cleared to fight. Santos was fined 20% of her fight purse by the California State Athletic Commission for not making weight with half of it going to Akano. Brandon Michaels weighed in at 187.5 lb (85.0 kg), missing the middleweight limit of 185 lb (84 kg). His bout with Raul Castillo (183 lb (83 kg)) was changed to a catchweight bout at 187.5 lb (85.0 kg), with Michaels also being fined 20% of his purse. The official attendance was announced to be 14,409. The event drew an estimated 364,000 viewers on Showtime.

Main Card:
Lightweight / Strikeforce Interim Lightweight Championship / Gilbert Melendez vs. Rodrigo Damm
Catchweight / Nick Diaz vs. Frank Shamrock
Middleweight / Scott Smith vs. Benji Radach
Catchweight / Cris Cyborg vs. Hitomi Akano
Heavyweight / Brett Rogers vs. Ron Humphrey

Preliminary Card:
Middleweight / Luke Rockhold vs. Buck Meredith
Middleweight / Eric Lawson vs. Waylon Kennell
Catchweight / Raul Castillo vs. Brandon Michaels
Welterweight / James Terry vs. Zak Bucia
Bantamweight / Shingo Kohara vs. Jeremy Tavares