Last Friday was an historic night in California combat sports history, as the first ever sanctioned Mixed Martial Arts competition was held in San Jose's packed-to-the roof HP Pavilion. Anticipated since the establishment of the Ultimate Fighting Championships in 1993, the Strikeforce competition marks a landmark moment of legitimacy in a frequently misunderstood sport.

The card read like a who's who of local marital arts talent, with students of Ceasar Gracie (more on him later) Nate Diaz and San Franciscan Gilbert Melendez, who triumphed over Anthony Juarez and Harrison Sarmiento, respectively. San Jose's Brian Ebersole was victorious over Matt Horovich, and local WWE star and winner of MTV's Tough Enough Daniel Puder was victorious in his return to MMA ater a 3 year layoff over Jesse Fujarczyk. Hugely popular San Shou superstar Cung Le made his MMA dedut with a KO of opponent Mike Altman.

But the most anticipated event was the matchup of Cesar Gracie and Frank Shamrock. Like the farmers and the cowboys, MMA's two first families the Gracies and the Shamrocks should be friends, but have been plagued by rivalries and trash talking since the first-round victory via choke by Cesar's cousin Royce over Frank's brother Ken in the first UFC.

Reported by Tim Ehhalt

Sherdog image of Gracie (black trunks) vs Shamrock (red trunks) by Jeff Sherwood