Before taking on Luke Rockhold in the first fight of the night, Nick Theotikos said, “I like to stand and bang. . . I would like to knock him out in the first round.” Wanting doesn’t mean doing. So which up and comer would come through?
Early on the two scrambled some and then Theotokis sunk in a guillotine, falling to his guard. Though it looked like it was tight, he didn’t have full control and eventually lost the hold. Rockhold started connecting with nice punches to his opponent’s body. This went on until Theotokis tried to scramble out along the cage wall. Unfortunately for him, Rockhold took his back for his efforts. Moments later, Rockhold sunk in a rear naked choke.
That was that.
Next up was a match between UFC veteran Joe Riggs and the talented Luke Stewart. “I’m confident I’m gonna win this fight,” said Riggs coming in. On the flip side, his opponent seemed confident himself. “He better knock me out, seriously,” answered Stewart, who was planning on bringing the fight to Riggs in a big way.
Stewart immediately locked up with Riggs and took him to the canvas. After some mild ground and pound, Stewart tried to pick Riggs up and slam him. Instead, the move only served to allow Riggs to get up. Riggs ended up taking some hard knees but then gained separation with a nice flurry. Moments later, Stewart shot in for the takedown and got it.
But once again, Riggs started looking to get up along the wall. Eventually Stewart was able to thwart this effort and ended up on top in his opponent’s half guard. After several attempts at improving his position, Stewart finally did gain side control but lost it soon to half guard again. Stewart then gained full mount for only a moment before Riggs struggled back to a better position. Then the bell.
Not a lot of damage was done by Stewart, but he clearly won the round based on takedowns.
Stewart connected with a solid high kick to start the second stanza. But upon clinching, Riggs took him down and started in with some ground and pound. Though everything Riggs threw had power, Stewart did a good job of keeping him tied up.
At least initially.
But then Riggs started throwing big punches on the ground. Somehow Stewart got to his feet, but the big strikes continued. Eventually, Stewart fell to the canvas and grabbed his opponent’s leg. But as the onslaught continued, referee John McCarthy (that’s right, Big John) called the fight appropriately.
Joe "Diesel" Riggs wins via knockout at 2:05 of round one. Afterwards, Riggs indicated that he broke his left hand in the first round.
Next up was a fight between Lina Koukov and Randy Couture's wife, Kim Couture. Beforehand, Couture said, “I’ve prepared for everything going into this fight.” Of course, Couture fought through a broken jaw in her last fight. In other words, even if she comes across something she wasn’t prepared for, guess is that she’ll persevere through.
Couture came out swinging, just as she promised MMAFighting.com before the bout in an interview that she would, connecting with multiple punches, including some very solid rights and knees in the clinch. Kvokov, on the other hand, looked very uncomfortable on her feet and kept turning away from Couture, prompting the referee to stop the fight after a final flurry strikes.
This was a flat out beatdown. Kim Couture was dominant.
Next up was a match between Yves Edwards and Duane "Bang" Ludwig. Two fighters that had taken on and defeated some excellent fighters through their respective careers. The question was, which one would fall back to the pack when this one was completed?
Yves shot in early and achieved the takedown. From there, he moved to Ludwig’s half guard. Then he moved to side control rather systematically. Still, Ludwig once again gained the half guard, then rubber guard, then full guard. Edwards connected with some mild ground and pound for the rest of the stanza, netting him the round by the time the bell tolled.
Not a real action packed round.
In the second, Edwards faked a shot and connected with a nice body punch. Ludwig started throwing hard leather that missed. Still, it was enough to cause Edwards to shoot in and gain a takedown. But Ludwig got right up and connected with a knee that definitely hurt Edwards. From there, Ludwig started connecting with knees inside and some punches. Then came a big kick to the body by him followed by a takedown by Edwards.
Good move by Edwards.
Edwards did little else before Ludwig got back up. Soon after, Ludwig slammed his opponent to the canvas, but Edwards got right back up. Then Edwards achieved a takedown. But once again, when Edwards was on top not a lot happened. Ludwig then got up and while in the clinch, started connecting with some knees and more. Not a lot, but enough to win the round in my opinion.
The final round should determine the winner.
Early on, Ludwig connected with a couple of nice knees. He also began connecting to the body. Edwards tried for a takedown, but instead it was Ludwig who got it. Until the 1:51 mark of the stanza, Ludwig connected with ground and pound in spots. Then Edwards managed to get to his feet. For most of the rest of the round, Ludwig either defended the takedown or connected with strikes. Though Edwards finally took him down at the end of the stanza, it was too late for much of anything to happen. The commentators are talking like Edwards definitely won. Not sure about that at all. In fact, I give it to Ludwig two rounds to one.
Before taking on Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Bobby Southworth said, “I’m not worried about getting respect from the news media. . . Having the respect of my peers is a little bit more important for me than having the respect of the general public.” Of course, Southworth was referring to the fact that Sobral was a heavy favorite coming into their bout even though he was the champion. Would he gain the respect of everyone with a great performance?
Early on, Babalu shot in for a takedown and Southworth shirked it easily. Then surprisingly, Southworth took Babalu down along the cage wall and achieved side control.
Big surprise he’d want to bring the fight here.
From there, Babalu moved things back to full guard but then lost that position to side control again. Finally, Babalu got up.
Lots of movement, but not a ton of hair raising action thus far. Along with this, after a significant amount of relative inactivity in the clinch, the referee separated them. Still, it soon went back to the clinch where Babalu connected with a very nice elbow that cut Southworth above the right eye badly. The referee immediately stopped the fight to ask for the doctor.
But he let them fight.
At the end of the stanza, Southworth connected with a nice right and pushed his opponent to the canvas. Then the bell.
Though the fight was allowed to continue through the first stanza, the doctor stopped the fight before the second.
Then came what was sure to be an exciting fight between Scott Smith and Terry Martin. “I think it’s going to be electrifying once we square off in the middle of the cage,” said Martin before the bout. He was right. But it was quick lightning.
Here’s how it went down. Martin came inside looking for the big punch. Scott Smith caught him with a huge right hand on the way in. Martin went down.
That was that.
Scott Smith wins via knockout after 24 seconds in round one.
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