MMA fans have been fed a steady diet of top level events and championship bouts over the past month or so. While that's not something any of us would ever complain about, it was actually kind of nice to have another Strikeforce Challenger Series event on Friday night. I was looking forward to getting back to watching some lesser known talent from the Pacific Northwest mix it up with fighters from other areas. As always, the Challenger Series event delivered some great action.
Pat Healy defeated Bryan Travers by unanimous decision. Healy was the local in this one and had a nice little home field advantage going for him. The first round was fairly even as they stood and exchanged strikes. Healy was a little more effective in the clinch, but neither had really distinguished themselves yet. Healy got busy with some take downs in the second round and also landed some heavier strikes inside the clinch. After eating a couple of hard leg kicks early in the third, Healy picked Travers up and slammed him. Travers actually got a take down of his own a little bit later and got Healy's back, but wasn't able to finish anything. Healy reversed and got one more slam in before the end, delighting the crowd and possibly helping the judges make their minds up.
Tarec Saffiedine KO'd Nate Moore in the second round. Like John Fitch, Moore set up shop at AKA after concluding a collegiate wrestling career at Purdue. Saffiedine's striking is awesome, but his take down defense seemed sure to be tested in this fight. He escaped Moore's first shot and looked pretty confident in his ability to avoid the ground and execute his game plan. Saffiedine got a couple of nice strikes in a little later and jumped on Moore's back. Nothing came of it, however, and they finished the round on their feet. Saffiedine dropped an absolute bomb of a right early in the second round and put Moore right on his back. He was completely helpless, so the referee stopped the fight before Saffiedine did more damage.
Roger Bowling defeated Bobby Voelker by unanimous decision. Bowling came out hard and landed a couple of nice strikes, then took Voelker down. Voelker was able to get up moments later, but had already sustained significant damage. Bowling was throwing punches with really bad intentions and punishing Voelker everywhere. Bowling slammed Voelker again with about a minute left in the first round. He stuned Voelker again just seconds into the second round, then got top position on the ground. Voelker got up, got blasted with more punches and kicks, then got taken down again. With the kind of power Bowling was putting behind every strike, Voelker's chin was proving to be incredible, but for all the heart and toughness he showed, he was getting demolished. Amazingly, he got up and pushed forward, even taking Bowling down once, but it looked like he was running on fumes as the round came to a close. I've seen Voelker come back before, but I was still shocked to see him throw some combinations that rocked Bowling as the third round got underway. The ref broke them apart when they were clinched against the cage and as they separated, one of Voelker's gloves looked like it grazed Bowling's right eye. It didn't seem like much, but Bowling couldn't get his eye open all the way. It looked like it was the seam on the outside of the glove and definitely not anything intentional, but they had to go to the score cards because of how late it was in the fight. Bowling won the decision based on the strength of the first two rounds (rightfully so), but it sucked because it was such a great fight to have it end that way. Unfortunately, the fans in the building booed Bowling relentlessly.
Tyron Woodley won a split decision over Nathan Coy. I've written before that I think Woodley is one of the best prospects in MMA right now. He was in the cage with another Portland local in Coy and considering the fact that both fighters are decorated former college wrestlers, chances of a stand-up battle were pretty good. Woodley came out of his corner like he was shot out of a gun and took Coy down. Coy hung in there and weathered the first storm, eventually working in the clinch against the cage. Coy was working a lot of knees to Woodley's legs while he had him against the fence, trying to take some of the explosiveness and power away. Woodley dominated early, but Coy may have stolen the first round with a strong finish. Coy made a mistake after starting the second round well, when he slipped while throwing a high kick. Woodley jumped on top of him and took his back, but ran out of time in the round before he could force Coy to tap from an arm bar. Coy continued to attack Woodley's lead leg in the third round, then took him down and had top position. He ended the fight in side control, punishing Woodley with ground and pound. It was an interesting one to score. I had Coy winning the third round for sure and felt the first two could have gone either way. I thought Coy won the fight, but wasn't sure how it was going to come out on the score cards. Woodley got two 29-28 scores, while one judge had Coy winning 30-27. Go figure.
Matt Lindland defeated Kevin Casey by third round TKO. Lindland's career goes way, way back and he had some epic battles in the UFC, but at this point, he's a bit of a relic. He hadn't won a fight in almost two years coming into this one and his chin had been exposed. Casey is more of a submission fighter and although he came into this event on a 3-fight win streak, he lacks striking skill and knockout power, so it was about as good a match-up as Lindland could have asked for in his home town. Lindland took him down immediately when the fight got underway and Casey, as you would expect, immediately began looking for submission opportunities from his back. Casey got back up and took Lindland down and took his back. He was working really hard for the rear naked choke, but Lindland did a good job of keeping his chin down and was able to reverse a little later. He popped up and landed some nice knees to Casey's head before the round ended. Lindland picked up where he left off, taking Casey down and punishing him from the top in the second round. He finished the round pounding on Casey's head while holding him in the crucifix position. Back down they went with Lindland on top in the third round. Lindland mounted him and threw more unanswered ground and pound until mercifully, the ref finally stopped it.
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