The Strikeforce welterweight belt stayed around the waist of Nick Diaz Saturday night after he defeated Paul Daley with a first round TKO.

The fight lived up to the hype as it delivered an action-packed first round and will undoubtedly be talked about as a Fight of the Year candidate. I don’t like the way Diaz handles himself outside the cage, but he’s one of my favorite fighters to watch fight because he brings it every single time. Diaz was talking trash as normal and taunting Daley during the fight and found himself in trouble early.

Daley possesses a one-punch knockout power that can’t be rivaled by any welterweight in the world and when he hits his opponents with his patented left hook, they usually hit the canvas. Daley landed one of those left hooks and dropped Diaz, but Diaz showed off his solid chin and recovered quickly.

After that, the two exchanged back and forth before Diaz dropped Daley and finished him with five seconds left in the round. The fight had a big-fight feel to it and delivered above and beyond from an entertainment aspect. With the win, I believe Diaz asserted himself as undoubtedly one of the best welterweights in the division. With Zuffa now owning Strikeforce, it is possible that fight fans will get to see Diaz take on the UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre down the road.

Diaz wasn’t the only fighter from Cesar Gracie’s camp to defend his title Saturday night as Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez defeated Tatsuya Kawajiri via TKO in the first round. This fight didn’t possess the drama that the Diaz fight had as Melendez absolutely obliterated Kawajiri.

Melendez dropped him early in the round and finished him off with some vicious elbow strikes on the ground. After the win, Melendez called out the UFC lightweights and said he wanted to unify the titles. It’s too early to unify the titles, but, then again, whom else is Melendez going to fight? None of the other lightweights in Strikeforce make a truly interesting fight because Melendez is on another level than they are.

There is one fight that would really intrigue fans as far as Strikeforce fighters go and that would be the third fight between Melendez and Josh Thomson. Thomson and Melendez put on two classic fights and are 1-1 against each other. The only problem with Thomson getting the title shot is that he is coming off of a loss against Kawajiri, whom Melendez just walked through.

Say what you will about the Gracie camp but one thing is for sure, they know how to put on fights. With the exception of Jake Shields, Gracie Jiu-Jitsu fighters always entertain the fans. When’s the last time you saw Diaz, Nate Diaz and Melendez put on a boring fight? Not only are they exciting, but they have dominated Strikeforce as Shields was the middleweight champion while Melendez and Diaz were champions in their weight classes at the same time. Watch out Greg Jackson and Team Blackhouse, the Gracie camp is making themselves more well known and backing up that trash talk in the cage.