Strikeforce Challengers Series 5/15/09 Re-Cap

Strikeforce Challengers Series 5/15/09
Fresno, California

This is the second installment of Strikeforce on Showtime but the first in the “Strikeforce Challengers” series. This show will feature more up and coming fighters (sprinkled with some experienced fighters) who are looking to move up to the bigger Strikeforce shows. Mauro Ranallo is joined by Stephen Quadros. The third member of the broadcast crew is Pat Miletich. Jimmy Lennon Jr is the ring announcer.

Featherweight Fight- Bao Quach (15-9-1) vs. Tito Jones (6-2)

Quach is 9-1 in his last 10 fights. Quach is a Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu fighter. Quach has fought a high level of competition such as Waggney Fabiano and has a draw against Sengoku Featherweight Hiroki Hatsu. Tito is a wrestler and boxer and is working with Urijah Faber (Faber is in his corner for the fight). Tito is 4-0 as a Featherweight. Jones has a 3” height advantage but everything else is virtually identical. This should be a good opener.

R1- Not much action in the first half of the round as both guys are really feeling each other out and being very tentative. Tito hit 3 good hooks but couldn’t follow it up with anything. They clinched and exchanged knees. Not a lot of action, Bao hit some good leg kicks so probably took the first round just based on landing more strikes. Quadros also says that he gave round one to Bao.

R2- This round is a continuation of round one with slow action and Bao landing leg kicks. Bao just kept landing leg kicks as he circled Tito. Another blah round that had some boo birds from the fans. I’ve got Bao up 20-18 so far in this fight. The leg kicks from Bao look like they are taking their toll on Tito.

R3- Tito needs to finish the fight before this round ends if he wants to get a win. Tito hit a good right hand and then came in and hit another right hand and he jumped on top of Bao but they got back to the feet. Tito is giving Bao too much time to gather his senses. Tito hits a strong right and floors Bao and draws blood but Bao gets back to his feet and there is not much action over the next several minutes. Tito put up a great first half of the round but didn’t finish with authority. Bao won the first two rounds, Tito won round three by a wide margin. The only question is whether Tito can get enough 10-8’s to make this a draw. I think Bao wins this one by decision. This was unfortunate because Tito looks like he has some talent he just didn’t put it together tonight.

Judges score cards say: all score cards 29-28 in favor of Bao Quach

Winner: Bao Quach by Decision (Unanimous)

Light Heavyweight Fight- Anthony Ruiz (21-12) vs. Aaron Rosa (11-2)

Rosa is a 25 year old Muay Thai and BJJ fighter. Pete Spratt is in Rosa’s corner for the fight. Anthony Ruiz is a 31 year old wrestler and Muay Thai fighter. Rosa has a 3” height advantage but Ruiz has a 3” reach advantage. I’ve seen 3 Ruiz fights. Two were really boring fights and the other was a pretty boring ref stoppage due to a cut (of course Bobby Southworth was in two of these fights so it could have been his fault). I’m expecting this to go to the time limit.

R1- They threw some punches early before Ruiz clinched and went for a take down. Ruiz hit a couple of good shots out of the clinch but Rosa responded with a couple of his own until Ruiz clinched again. Rosa got a double leg and got a slam into full guard. Ruiz rolled to his back. Rosa went for the Rear Naked Choke as he also had him locked in a body triangle and it looked like Ruiz passed out and the ref stopped the fight. Good showing by Rosa and by far the best fight I’ve seen Ruiz in.

Winner: Aaron Rosa by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) R1 4:29

Heavyweight Fight- Lavar Johnson (11-3) vs. Carl Seumanutafa (4-2)

Carl is a 25 year old wrestler/fighter. The only time I’ve seen Carl fight was on the ShoXC Elite Challengers show from 9/26/08 where he fell to Shane Del Rosario by TKO early in the second round. Carl has scored a KO in all of his victories. Lavar is a 31 year old Muay Thai fighter. Lavar has a 3” height and 2.5” reach advantage. Lavar has scored a KO in all of his victories but one. I think we are going to see this fight finished before the time limit.

R1- Wow, this was a shocking fight. Carl went in low for a take down and got caught by an uppercut and KTFO. That was unreal. This one was over before it started.

Winner: Lavar Johnson by KO R1 0:18

A commercial is shown for the next Strikeforce show on June 6th featuring Robbie Lawler vs. Jake Shields. They also hype Rafael Feijao. They cut to Mauro Ranallo who has Scott Smith by his side. Smith will fight Nick Diaz on this show. Lawler/Shields and Smith/Diaz makes for a good night of fights in my book.

“Train hard, I’m ready” – Scott Smith

Women’s Bantamweight Fight- 135 lbs- Sarah Kaufman (8-0) vs. Miesha Tate (6-1)

This fight will be three, three minute rounds. Miesha is a 22 year old submission wrestler. Sarah is a 23 year old Muay Thai and BJJ fighter. Sarah took this fight on short notice due to Kim Couture dropping out. Sarah has finished all of her fights, she is 8-0 with 8 KOs. Miesha Tate had Brian Caraway (her boyfriend) in her corner (he’s a Strikeforce fighter that scored a win on the under card of the Thomson/Melendez fight from last year).

R1- Both women land some good shots early. Tate looks like she got in a good shot or two on Sarah’s eye but Sarah seems to be getting in the better shots overall. Tate got a take down with 20 seconds left in the round so she can rest. Sarah takes the first round.

R2- Tate was able to get an early take down in this round. Somebody is cut and it looks like its Tate. Tate takes this round 10-9 and evens the score 19-19 even though she busted her nose open in that round.

R3- Tate kept going for take downs but Sarah kept denying her. Kaufman landed some Ground and Pound from a weird tradition and took this round. Kaufman wins 29-28 on my score card.

Judges score cards say: 29-28 on all score cards in favor of Kaufman

Winner: Sarah Kaufman by Decision (Unanimous)

Lightweight Fight- Billy Evangelista (9-0) vs. Mike Aina (11-6-1)

Both guys came in a couple of pounds overweight and have agreed to the fight at a catchweight of 157 pounds. Boo! Aina is a 28 year old Kick Boxer and Jiu Jitsu fighter. Aina lost a controversial split decision to Nick Diaz in Elite XC. On the flip side Evanglista won a controversial decision over Nam Phan in Strikeforce last year. Evangelista is a 28 year old Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu fighter who is fighting in his hometown tonight. Aina has a 3” reach advantage in this fight. Aina has 6 losses but has never been knocked out or submitted. Aina trains under BJ Penn in Hawaii.

R1- Pretty even fight for the first several minutes. Evangelista got a take down with around a minute and a half left in the round but Aina popped right back up. This was a close round, they ended in a clinch where Evangelista was more active. I think Evangelista probably took this 10-9. Quadros says he gave the round to Aina due to a combo he threw in the middle of the round.

R2- Evangelista got a take down about mid-way through the round and got some shots in on Aina. Evangelista hit Aina with a knee to what looked like the shoulder as Aina had one knee on the ground. On the re-play it clearly shows that the knee hit Aina in the shoulder and Aina is pointing to his jaw. Maybe the knee knocked his jaw out of place but it definitely didn’t land on his jaw. Aina cannot continue so he is going to be awarded the victory by DQ. This is a shame for Evangelista as he looked like he was on his way to a victory but you can’t throw a knee in Strikeforce (or a lot of companies) when your opponent is downed.

Interesting that they ring announcer specifically said that Evangelista was DQ’d for a knee to the head of a downed opponent when the knee clearly did not hit his head. Post-fight interview Aina said the strike hit him on the jaw. This looks to me like Aina is pulling a Cro Cop (he was getting dominated by Alistair Overeem and bowed out due to an illegal strike and said he couldn’t continue) and looking for a way out of a fight that he didn’t think he was going to win but maybe the strike to the shoulder did affect his jaw.

Dean says he stopped the fight for the knee to the head and the doctor thinks Aina broke his jaw. Disappointing Main Event.

Winner: Mike Aina by DQ (Knee to the head) R2 3:40