Live Event Reports
Local Scene: Broken arm brings early end to "Downtown Showdown" main event in Minneapolis
Nov 27, 2011 - 4:30:58 PM Local Scene: Broken arm brings early end to "Downtown Showdown" main event in Minneapolis

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

An entertaining night of fights at the Hyatt Regency in Minneapolis, Minn. ended in unfortunate fashion on Saturday night, as Brandon Girtz suffered a broken arm to bring an end to his fight with Eric Wisely in the night's Downtown Showdown main event from Driller Promotions and SEG.

Prior to the injury, the two fighters were engaging in a solid back and forth fight. The first round saw Girtz score a takedown and spend much of the round in top position in Wisely's guard. However, Wisely had cracked Girtz with a few strikes prior to the takedown, and scored more offense from his back in the round, busting up Girtz's face.

In the second, Girtz exploded with a flurry at the outset of the round, catching Wisely off guard and tagging him with a couple of the shots. That led to another takedown and more work in Wisely's guard. After some inactivity, the two were stood up. Wisely then went on the attack and hurt Girtz with a few shots before Girtz shot in. As he did, Wisely caught him in a triangle choke, but Girtz eventually powered out of it.

As he got to his feet, Girtz knew something was wrong, and as the ref checked his broken arm the fight was stopped. It appeared to happen from a kick at some point late in the round, but ultimately with the arm broken at the wrist, Girtz could not continue.

Wisely, a one-time Strikeforce vet who dropped a decision to Pat Healy in August, moved to 19-6 with the TKO win, while Girtz lost for just the second time in his 10 fight career.

In the night's co-main event, Mike "The Marine" Richman controlled the action for 15 minutes against Morgan Sickinger to pick up a unanimous decision victory to move to 11-1 in his MMA career.

Richman, a natural featherweight who lost in the elimination round of The Ultimate Fighter 12 competing above his weight class, was clearly the better striker in the fight, and hurt Sickinger in numerous spots throughout the three round frame. But despite several knockdowns - including one off a beautiful jab that Sickinger never saw coming at him - Richman was content to showcase his wrestling game in the fight. It didn't lead to the most exciting bout, but it was effective work from "The Marine" and left no doubt he was the better man on Saturday.

The only other fight to go the distance was the fantastic flyweight contest between Iowa's Erik Vo and Wisconsin's Lloyd McKinney. McKinney set the tone early when he picked Vo up high and slammed him to the mat, and in short order made his way to Vo's back to set up a choke. But Vo fought out of it, as he would all fight, and managed to work his way back to a standing position. McKinney took him down again, and nearly brought an early end to the fight with an errant knee to the head while Vo was on a knee himself. Vo was able to continue, however, allowing the fight to continue picking up steam.

As they restarted, McKinney scored another takedown, only to see Vo lock on a guillotine choke that looked tight. McKinney battled out, and Vo grabbed for an armbar. McKinney managed to get out once again right before the round ended.

The early minutes of the second round saw more of the same, with McKinney scoring a takedown and Vo fighting back from the bottom. Then, as Vo got out of the mount, he scored his own takedown and took McKinney's back. McKinney reversed and took Vo's back standing, then delivered a huge suplex. Vo again got to his feet and the round came to an end.

The third round began with another McKinney takedown, but as the landed a bit awkwardly, Vo locked on an inverted triangle choke. McKinney positioned himself well, though, and after battling for a little while he broke free. As Vo got to his feet, McKinney took his back standing, and jumped up for a standing rear naked choke. He had it on tight, and the two went down hard to the mat with the choke still locked on, but he lost it, and Vo worked to get him back in his guard.

Vo would again get to his feet, only to be slammed again before again working to his feet. McKinney then engaged with a flurry in the clinch before the final horn sounded. McKinney took the unanimous decision in the bout to move to 5-2, with Vo dropping to 4-4, but it was a fantastic showing from both fighters.

The rest of the card was filled out with quick finishes and some exciting performances. 47-year-old James "Baby Rhino" Clark earned his fifth career win with a first round TKO over Jay Paulson, getting the stoppage with a ground and pound attack after an early takedown.

A welterweight bout between two fighters making their MMA debuts saw Corwin Nichols come out of the gate quickly against Jake Wyman. Nichols refused a glove tap, and then the two began throwing bombs at one another. Nichols then exploded with a takedown, quickly took Wyman's back, locked on a choke, and forced the tap. The whole thing was over in 58 seconds.

Nick Compton also scored a submission win on the card, locking on a guillotine choke from a sprawl against 24-fight veteran Bruce Johnson. Finally, Brandon Bucholz earned his seventh career win with a nice triangle choke over Panda Nguyen in the second round of their event-opening bout.