It's been a busy week, and I'm watching this a couple of days after it happened, so I'm not going to spend a lot of time on the peripherals here.
Kenny Rice and Bas Rutten give us a quick intro and then toss it to Ron Kruck, who conducts an unintentionally funny interview with Bobby Southworth. Kruck promptly pumps up Southworth's opponent, Renato "Babalu" Sobral, talking about all of his skills and how he's the huge favorite in this fight. Southworth will probably lose his Strikeforce title in this event, which he's held for almost two years, defending it a whopping two times and going 2-1 in that stretch. But anyway, on to the fights.
1. Nik Theotikos (5-1) vs. Luke Rockhold (2-1) – Middleweight (**)
Rockhold wins this one with a first round rear naked choke. Nothing especially impressive about these guys, but Rockhold showed some nice recovery in getting out of a bad position and ending up taking Theotikos's back. One annoying thing about Kenny Rice's commentary is the constant referencing of the fight stats. It doesn't matter how many punches people are throwing/landing in a three round fight. Also, Bas Rutten sounds like he's doing commentary over the phone. Not sure what's up with his mic.
They throw it to another Ron Kruck interview, this time with Gina Carano. No news for Carano at the moment, but during the interview we can hear (I believe) Kenny Rice talking to the production crew as he's not completely muted. These are easy production mistakes to not have…HDNet has run enough events now that they shouldn't have these problems. Not to mention little things like being able to hear the echo in the arena during the pre-fight vignettes. Maybe that's being nitpicky, but it's easy enough to mute the arena while you're showing the vignettes. Whatever.
2. Luke Stewart (6-1) vs. Joe Riggs (28-10) – Welterweight (**)
I'm not sure why Riggs is back at welterweight. His best weight is 185 if you ask me, but obviously Joe wasn't consulting yours truly about his career decisions. And hey, it's Big John McCarthy officiating the fight tonight! I didn't realize he was coming back here. One wonders if he'll be back in the UFC at some point. Riggs wins this one in the second by TKO. Not an especially impressive showing, but better than lackluster. I still think Riggs would be better suited at 185, but that's just me.
3. Lina Kvokov (0-1) vs. Kim Couture (0-1) – Bantamweight (**)
Couture looks good in dismantling Kvokov quickly, but Kvokov didn't look like she wanted to fight at all after getting tagged a couple of times.
4. Yves Edwards (34-14-1) vs. Duane Ludwig (17-8) – Catchweight 165 lbs (**)
Ludwig is a late replacement for Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Josh Thomson, thus the catchweight. First round was less than spectacular with Edwards holding Ludwig down on the mat without doing much the whole time. Ludwig bounced back in the second round, probably winning it with superior standup and avoiding damage on the ground. The announcers seem to think that Edwards will take the decision after the third, but I see it differently as Ludwig did more in the last round, and the judges agree with me. Edwards just didn't do anything the whole fight outside of getting takedowns. Not much of a fight, though, considering the combatants.
5. Bobby Southworth (9-5, 1 NC; Champion) vs. Renato Sobral (30-7) – Light Heavyweight Championship (*)
I figured that Babalu would blow through Southworth, but the champ made a fight of it early, getting a takedown and avoiding some submissions. He soon moved into his comfort zone, however, which is to make the fight as boring as possible. He tried first to make it boring on the ground, then on the feet as he tied Sobral up. The strategy would backfire, as Babalu would land a big elbow that opened up a gusher over the right eye. The fight was restarted for the last 10 seconds of the first round, but the cut caused the stoppage between rounds. One of the worst title fights I've seen, but hardly the fault of the fighters.
6. Terry Martin (18-5) vs. Scott Smith (13-5, 1 NC) – Middleweight (**+)
On the surface, this one could be a barnburner. Both of these guys hit very hard and like to stand. I'd expect Martin to go for the takedown and look to keep it on the ground, though. He may have done so had he remained conscious for a minute or so, but he's knocked out cold by a Smith right cross at 0:24 of round one. I thought Martin had a lot of potential at 185 after he started 2-0 against Jorge Rivera and Ivan Salaverry, but he has not looked good since, going 2-3 since September of 2007. Smith has made a nice name for himself as a tough knockout artist since leaving the UFC, though. This was the most enjoyable fight on the card, which is unfortunate.
On the whole, not the best card in the world, but not a complete waste of time either.
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