Sep 26, 2009 - 12:00:51 AM By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Strikeforce is back on Showtime tonight with the third edition in their series of "Challengers" events. We've got a lot of action on the card tonight with some great up and coming talent and some debuting fighters as well. Stick with us here tonight as we go through all the action.
-Mauro Ranallo introduces the action from a half full Spirit Bank Event Center in Tulsa, OK. Stephen Quadros is brought in to break down the main event fight. The toss to a backstage interview clip with Tim Kennedy. Kennedy said the best case scenario for him would be if Cummings came at him from the outset. They threw it to a clip with Cummings, who said he can impose his will on the ground and on the feet.
-Pat Miletich is once again the third man of the broadcast team once again.
FIGHT ONE: DANIEL CORMIER VS. GARY FRAZIER (HEAVYWEIGHT)
ROUND ONE: Cormier took the center and stalked Frazier along the cage. Cormier threw an inside leg kick. He got in a good punch and Frazier tried to shoot in. Cormier held it off and landed a good knee as they got to the clinch. They broke it off and Cormier chased Frazier down. Frazier again tried to go for something but Cormier brought it to the ground and got on top of him as he turtled up. Cormier landed a number of punches to the side of the head. Frazier finally got out of the turtled position but Cormier was relentless and stayed on him. He moved to side control and moved up to a crucifix, landing thundering shots to the body. Frazier got out and finally got back to his feet. Cormier chased him and Frazier popped a right to Cormier and made him back off a bit. Cormier landed a good straight left. Frazier missed a right late just before the round ended.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Cormier. He didn't do so much damage that it was an overwhelming round, but he was on top of Frazier landing punches for some time there.
ROUND TWO: Cormier again took the center. Frazier tagged him with a good jab. Cormier cut the distance with a jab and then landed a good overhand right. Cormier grabbed for a single leg and Frazier held onto the cage to stay on his feet and then literally ran away. Frazier landed a good body kick as they got back to walking each other down. Cormier walked Frazier to the cage again and landed a couple of good shots. Cormier tried to take Frazier down but Frazier nicely stayed on his feet. He landed a few shots and then Frazier got a Thai clinch. He landed a knee but slipped and fell with Cormier falling right on top of him. Cormier lands some punches and then moves to mount. He looks for an opening and then he starts tossing punches. Frazier gives up his back and Cormier throws a bunch of punches to the sides of his head, causing the ref to stop the fight as Frazier was flattened and could only cover his head. Cormier picks up a win in his debut.
WINNER: Cormier via TKO at 3:39 of the second round.
POST FIGHT: Cormier asked the crowd if the fight was exciting and said he came to fight. It's what he chose to do and he's leaving it all there on the mat. He said he injured his wrist about a week ago, otherwise he would have finished it earlier.
STAR RATING: (**) Enjoyable brawl between two wrestlers in their first MMA fight. Frazier blocked a couple of takedown attempts nicely, but it was Cormier who looked good in this one. Once he got to mount there it was just a matter of time.
FIGHT TWO: TRAVIS CALANOC VS. THOMAS LONGACRE (147 lb. CATCHWEIGHT)
ROUND ONE: Longacre lands a good counter punch as Calanoc throws a kick. Calanoc landed a good one two body to face combo and Longacre countered nicely with a good straight right. Longacre pushed Calanoc back with a good flurry. He continues to stalk Calanoc down, and he looks to be bigger and looks to strike harder right now than his opponent. He comes in with a big outside leg kick after a good combo. Longacre continues to land punches and throws a high kick that gets blocked. Calanoc tried to shoot in and Longacre landed a knee and kept it on the feet. Calanoc is trying to pop in with some punches but he's eating a number of shots as he backs away every time. Longacre throws the high kick again. Calanoc tries to throw a spinning back kick but eats a shot. Longacre comes forward and Calanoc grabs a Thai clinch and lands a bunch of knees and rocks Longacre with a shot and we've got a fight here now. He continues his assault in this minute with more knees and some more punches landing of his own. Longacre recovers and the action slows a bit. Longacre lands a big overhand right. He comes forward and goes to throw a leg kick but Calanoc times it nicely and takes the other leg out with a kick. After a brief segment on the ground they stand back up and trade shots as the round ends.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Longacre. He was dominating the round until he got rocked. Calanoc didn't do nearly enough to steal it though.
ROUND TWO: Calanoc pops in with an early combo. He tries to come out after Longacre with more but Longacre got out of the way. Longacre goes back to the head kick but Calanoc blocks it. Calanoc eats a combo as he comes forward. He gets in a few shots of his own as they trade shots. Longacre got in a good two punch combo and then a leg kick. He lands a couple more hard shots. Calanoc gets a couple knees in again as Longacre came at him. Longacre backed away. He pushed forward and got in a good three punch combo. Longacre keeps pressing the action and popping in with good punches to the body and head of Calanoc here. Calanoc catches a body kick and then throws one of his own. He threw a side kick and then ate a body kick. Longacre keeps stalking and throwing punches and kicks. He catches a body kick from Calanoc and throws him backward. He lets him right back up. The leg kicks from Longacre are doing a lot of damage. Calanoc almost locks in an arm in guillotine and tried to drop down and Longacre rolled through to half guard and popped out of it. He got up again and landed another series of punches as the round came to a close.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Longacre. More of the same from Longacre with Calanoc not able to answer with the damage he did in the first.
ROUND THREE: Longacre takes the role of the aggressor again and gets Calanoc's back to the cage early. He lands a couple of punches. Calanoc pops off the cage with a punch but Longacre goes right back to stalking him down. Longacre finally shoots in and gets right into side position. Calanoc actively tried to get it to guard but Longacre finally just let him up. Calanoc tried to land a couple of consecutive spinning back fists but misses on both. Longacre continues to walk him down on the cage. Longacre lands a few shots and goes back to the high kick and actually connects this time, but there wasn't a whole lot of force to it. Longacre continues to work his punching combos against the cage nicely. Longacre grabs a single leg and again gets a takedown. Calonic tried to pop for a triangle and then an armbar from the bottom but Longacre got out of it and stood back up. He landed a good body kick back on the feet. They trade a flurry on the cage again.Longacre got Calanoc to the cage and they traded shots back and forth for the last ten seconds as the fight came to a close.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Longacre. Two takedowns and the advantage on the feet and it's a clean sweep for Longacre in a fun fight.
WINNER: Longacre via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
POST FIGHT: He said the fans paid money to see exciting fights and they provided that. He said he's hoping for bigger and bigger things.
STAR RATING: (***) Very fun fight between the two of them, with Longacre looking really good in many of the exchanges. Calanoc made it a hell of a fight, though, especially in the first round. Good stuff.
FIGHT THREE: TYRON WOODLEY VS. ZACH LIGHT (WELTERWEIGHT)
ROUND ONE: Light took the outside and circled around. He finally came forward and they traded shots. Woodley landed a good body kick. Light landed a good leg kick but ate an overhand right. Woodley comes in fast with a knee and picks Light almost over his head and slammed him hard to the canvas. He tries to work toward an arm triangle, but Light bucked out of it. Woodley, however, got right back on top of him. Woodley moved Light to the cage. Light tried to sit up to move up the cage and Woodley stayed on him and got to the full mount. He postures for some shots and then grabs the arm triangle again. Woodley lets it go and moves back to mount as he could not get the choke. Woodley throws a few shots here and there but just smothers Light here. Light tried to buck out and Woodley almost grabbed an armbar. Woodley lands one more big shot as the round ends.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-8 Woodley. That was dominant on the ground with a nearly secured submission. Great control by Woodley.
ROUND TWO: Light pushes Woodley back early with a couple of punches. Woodley throws a good body kick. Woodley lands a good right hand and pushes forward quick with a good kick. He drops Light with a right but Light pops back up. He shoots in and gets Light down again and gets into mount. He tries for the arm triangle again but he's not grabbing it from the right angle here to secure the choke correctly. He transitions back to mount again. Light pushes him off the mount and Woodley allows him back up. He pushes forward with a combo and then picks Light up again and drops him. He gets to mount and pops quickly to grab an arm as Light tries to buck him off and he secured the arm bar for the tapout victory.
WINNER: Woodley via submission (armbar) at 3:38 of the second round.
POST FIGHT: Woodley said Light had no quit in him and burned his arms out on the sub attempts.
STAR RATING: (***) Woodley's fun to watch. Great transitions from stand up to the great slams and some dominant looks at his top game. Beautiful transition to that armbar as well. He's raw and has work to do, but he's going to be a good prospect to watch.
FIGHT FOUR: RAY SEFO VS. KEVIN JORDAN (HEAVYWEIGHT)
ROUND ONE: Sefo throws a hard leg kick right off the bat. He throws another hard leg kick, but Jordan catches it and tries to bring the fight to the ground. Sefo nicely rolls it and winds up on top in Jordan's guard. Sefo tries to pass and Jordan transitions out and gets to side control. Sefo tried to buck Jordan off of him but Jordan holds firm. Jordan throws some short punches to the side of Sefo's face. He grabs for the Americana but Sefo held on and broke the hold. Jordan continues to throw some shots as Jordan holds side control. Jordan finally moves to mount and postures up to throw punches. Jordan is staying patient and picking his shots. Sefo is just covering up and Jordan continues throwing shots. Jordan is trying to finish with these punches but Sefo's avoiding some of the damage and looks like he'll survive the round.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Jordan. The ground and pound took over there against the inexperienced ground fighter in Sefo.
ROUND TWO: Jordan tried to shoot in early and injured his knee. Sefo popped at him not knowing it was an injury but as he tried to let Jordan up, Jordan's knee collapsed and it looked really bad. Terribly unfortunate ending for Jordan.
WINNER: Sefo via verbal submission (injury) at :24 of the second round.
POST FIGHT: Sefo said he needs to get back into the gym and get better in that. He thought he would catch him eventually in the second with a punch, but he hates to win like that.
STAR RATING: (N/A) Sefo survived in the first round but the injury took out a rating for this fight.
MAIN EVENT FIGHT FIVE: TIM KENNEDY VS. ZAK CUMMINGS (MIDDLEWEIGHT)
ROUND ONE: Kennedy went for a high kick early that just misses. He throws the inside leg kick. He lands another kick and then shoots in for a takedown. Cummings goes for a kimura but Kennedy gets out of it. He starts throwing some shots to Cummings' head and moves him further to the cage. Cummings tries to hold onto Kennedy's right wrist. He gets it loose and lands a couple of shots. He lands a couple more. Cummings gives up his back and Kennedy keeps landing shots. Cummings rolled back over and Kennedy gets mount. Kennedy keeps on him with punishing blows and Cummings gives up his back again. Kennedy throws bombs and Cummings gets Kennedy back to his half guard. Kennedy tried to pass again and lands some more big shots as he does so. He gets back to full mount again with over a minute left. He gives up his back after eating a couple shots and Kennedy stayed on him with punches. He gets back to mount again and keeps throwing punches. Cummings is trying to hold on here and he rolled out and back to his feet by the end of the round.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-8 Kennedy. Total and complete domination. He now just needs to find a way to finish because Cummings has no answers for him.
ROUND TWO: Kennedy throws a good body kick early here. He pops in with a couple of punches that tag Cummings. Kennedy throws some more bombs. Cummings throws a high kick and Kennedy pushes him back with a combo. Kennedy lands another shot and an inside leg kick. Cummings lands a leg kick. Kennedy throws another body kick. He lands a superman punch and goes for a standing guillotine/neck crank. Cummings got out of it and landed a good left hook. He tried to push forward for a takedown and Kennedy almost got a choke again. Cummings rolled out but got right into Kennedy holding onto a north/south choke and Kennedy finished it off. Nice submission.
WINNER: Kennedy via submission (north/south choke) at 2:43 of the second round.
POST FIGHT: Kennedy said it's unreal to be fighting in front of the American Forces Network. He said he loved all the guys out overseas.
STAR RATING: (***-) Good stuff from Kennedy there with Cummings keeping himself alive for the first round somehow.
Well that's all for tonight, folks! Thanks for sticking around with us here tonight!
