Guest editor: Salvatore DeRosalia
STRIKEFORCE
has done it again folks. This time they did it with a jam packed card
that included local unknown fighters as well as men and women that could be on
a top a major STRIKEFORCE card in the near future with veterans of MMA,
“Smokin” Joey Villasenor (26-6) vs. Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos (16-12) in the
main event. All of the fighters gave the lively crowd at the brand new
ShoWare Center in Kent, WA a night to remember. Here is a recap of the
main card.
The main
event of the night between “Smokin” Joey Villasenor (26-6) and Evangelista
“Cyborg” Santos (16-12) was a hard fought battle that went the distance.
Cyborg had impressive kicks until Smokin Joey shot for and secured a
takedown. The fighters exchanged hits from the mat, eventually getting
back on their feet but no major damage was given out.
Round two
saw the fighters standing in the middle and exchanging punches and kicks from
bell to bell. Villasenor was the aggressor and seemed to have the better
game plan as he was able to put together many solid punching combinations while
Cyborg was sporadic with his delivery of punch/kicks and that cost him the
round.
The third
and final round was action packed. Clearly heeding the instructions and sensing
the urgency from his corner, Cyborg came out punching and never let up.
He did receive some damage as Smokin Joey fought back with more solid punching
combinations but Cyborg was able to win the round as the fight finished with
both fighters barley able to stay standing. Although they had almost come
to blows during the weigh-in, Smokin Joey and Cyborg embraced after the
fight. The bout was close but the judges saw this one as a split decision
(29-28, 29-28, 28-29) for “Smokin” Joey Villasenor.
Here is a
recap of the rest of the fights on the main card.
The night
started with a roar from the crowd as local fan favorite Cory “The One” Devela
(9-2) entered the ring to face Luke Rockhold (4-1). One of Cory’s
entourage tapped me on the shoulder as the fighters were being announced and
said to me, “Cory is gonna put this guy on his head, you just watch.” As
the referee stepped into the middle to start the fight I was looking for
fireworks and I got them. Only problem for Cory was that it was he who
got “put on his head.” Rockhold came to the center of the ring and caught
Devela with a hard right hook that sent Devela to his knees. Rockhold
jumped on top of Cory and whaled on him till Cory gave up his back. In 30
seconds the fight was over and Rockhold had his hand raised in victory, he had
won the fight by tap out from a rear naked choke.
The second
fight of the main card featured the undefeated Sarah Kaufman (8-0) vs. Shayna
“The Queen of Spades” Baszler (9-5). This match also featured a who’s who
in coaching with Sarah Kaufman’s right hand man being none other then world
famous coach Greg Jackson and across the cage Shayna Baszler had Josh “The
Babyfaced Assassin” Barnett. This matchup featured the new woman’s time
scheme of 3 x 5 minute rounds and it went the distance. Most of this
fight was spent in the clinch or the guard. Shayna seemed to be the
aggressor in the early stages of the first round but was not able to inflict
much damage leaving room for Sarah to attack and push Shayna back. After
that it was Sarah Kaufman who pressed the action and inflicted more damage then
she received. When the final bell sounded everyone knew Kaufman had
increased her record to an impressive (9-0). The women embraced and
congratulated each other on a battle that had them both relieved it was
over. The women’s matchup scored as follows: 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28 with
Kaufman the winner by unanimous decision.
Fight three
of the main card saw former U.S. Army Ranger Tim Kennedy (9-2) put a beat down
on Nick “The Goat” Thompson (38-10-1). These were two big men but it was
Ranger Tim that won with 2:28 left in the second round due to tap out from
strikes. One side note from this fight is as Nick Thompson was getting up
after tapping he complained to the referee that he was being kneed to the head
while down. This was NOT the case as seen by everyone including “The
Goat” when they showed the replay it was just the Army Ranger delivering hammer
fists that felt like knees to “The Goat.”
My personal
fight of the night honors go to the Jorge Gurgel (12-5) vs. Conor “Hurricane”
Heun (8-2) ruckus. From the beginning round this was just a war with both
fighters giving and receiving tons of damage. Jorge won the first round
convincingly by circling and repeatedly striking Heun’s left leg of to the
point that Heun was clearly not putting any pressure on it and the leg was
visibly swollen. Just when you thought Heun might be ripe for the
picking, he turned the fight into a barnburner and the next two rounds were full
of fists and kicks of fury. Both men’s faces showed the damage they took
but it was Jorge Gurgel who remained just a touch more dominate then
“Hurricane” the entire fight and pulled out the victory with a 30-27, 30-27 and
29-28 unanimous decision.
The Under
Card Fight Results:
Steve Hadsel
def. Taylor Roberts – TKO (Punches) 0:17 Round 1
Len Bentley
def. Marques Daniels – Unanimous Decision (30-27, 29-28 and 29-28)
Landon
Showalter def. George Stork – Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27 and 30-27)
Lyle
Beerbohm def. Duane Ludwig – Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) 4:27 Round 1
Brian
Caraway def. Alex Zuniga – Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27 and 30-27)
Dennis
Hallman def. Justin Davis – Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) 0:20 Round 1
