Strikeforce Challengers 5/21 Re-Cap

Strikeforce Challengers
Rose Garden Arena
Portland, Oregon
May 21, 2010

Strikeforce Challengers typically focuses on young, up and coming talent and tonights show will have Tarec Saffiedine and Tyron Woodley in action. In the Main Event is mma veteran Matt Lindland taking on Kevin Casey. Mauro Ranallo, Stephen Quadros and Pat Miletich are the announcers for the show.

Lightweight Fight- Pat Healy (22-15) vs. Bryan Travers (13-1)

Travers has 3 wins by KO and 4 by submission. Healy has 13 wins by submission. Healy gets a good reaction from the crowd as he's the hometown guy in this fight. Both guys have a background in wrestling. Healy has a 3" reach advantage.

R1- Travers looked pretty good early in the round landing a coule of strikes and stuffing a take down. Healy landed a couple strikes and then got taken down by Travers. Healy looked better in the second half of the round. 10-10 round if you could give it. Flip a coin. Miletich gave the round to Healy.

R2- Healy landed some quick strikes early in this round. Healy got a take down at the one minute mark of the round but couldn't keep him down. Healy took Travers back and then hit a knee and then a good strike in the clinch. Healy got another take down with one minute left in the round but Travers scrambled back to his feet quickly. Healy took this round.

R3- Healy hit a good right early in the round. Healy got a slam in the first minute of action but couldn't hold him down. Healy clinched him against the cage and controlled the fight. Travers got a take down at the mid-way point of the round. Healy got up and Travers took him back down. Travers got a third take down but Healy reversed position and then hit a belly-to-back suplex on Travers. Close round, Healy did more damage in the round. I've got Healy winning this fight. Possibly could see a split decision coming up.

Judges score cards: 29-28, 29-28, 30-27

Winner: Pat Healy by Decision (Unanimous)

Post fight Healy says he wants to fight Lyle Beerbohm in order to get a shot at Josh Thomson or Gilbert Melendez.

Welterweight Fight- Tarec Saffiedine (8-2) vs. Nate Moore (6-1)

Tarec fought on the February Challengers show and looked very good in beating James Terry by decision. Tarec is fighting out of Team Quest and has finished 5 of his 8 wins by submission. Moore was a D-1 wrestler at Purdue. Moore has finished all 6 of his fights (2 by knockout and 4 by submission). Moore fights out of AKA.

R1- They throw leather early. Moore went for a take down but Tarec sprawled out. Moore is throwing leather but Tarec hit a good strike that wobbled Moore. Tarec quickly capitalized and took Moore's back but he had to give it up as he was too high on Moore's back. Tarec just missed a front kick. Good first round. Tarec 10-9.

R2- Moore is throwing a lot of punches but isn't landing anything. Tarec nailed Moore with a punch as Moore was going for a take down. Big time right hand by Tarec. Good finish by Tarec. Would like to see him Main Eventing Challengers (I said this after his last win) or on the main Showtime cards.

Winner: Tarec Saffiedine by KO R2 1:21

Mauro interviews Josh Thomson. Thomson says he'll take a third Melendez fight as soon as it's offered. He's fighting again on the next card but he doesn't know who he is fighting yet.

Middleweight- Roger Bowling (7-0) vs. Bobby Voelker (21-7)

I saw Voelker fight on the November Challengers show and he showed a lot of resilience in beating Erik Apple by 2nd round TKO after losing the first round on my score card. Voelker has 13 knockouts and 3 submission finishes to his record. Bowling is undefeated and has finished all of his fights. He has 5 knockouts and 2 submissions. Ranallo says Bowling has won most of his fights in the first round. Voelker has a 4" reach advantage in this fight.

R1- Bowling connected with a good strike early and got an immediate take down. Voelker got back to his feet and ate another strike. Bowling just connecting with good strikes and Voelker clinches. Voelker's left eye is bloody. Bowling lands a good kick. Bowling hit a big left. Voelker is eating a lot of strikes and then got slammed. Blood is all in Voelker's eye. Bowling 10-9.

R2- Bowling hit a good strike early and Voelker went down. Bowling jumped on top and took his guard. Bowling went for a kimura and then let Voelker up and landed some nice strikes. Bowling got another take down. The ref stand the fight up with about 80 seconds left. Voelker got a take down with about a minute left but Bowling quickly got back to his feet. Bowling got a take down right at the end of the round. Bowling 20-18. This will be the first time in his career that Bowling has gone to the 3rd round.

R3- These guys are just throwing bombs and Voelker ends up on top in Bowling's guard. Bowling spun out and got back to his feet. Bowling's eye got scrapped by the edge of one of the gloves when they had a ref break from a clinch. They stopped the fight to check it out. They stop the fight due to the incidental foul and go to the score cards since it's in the final round.

Judges score cards: 29-28 on all cards for Roger Bowling

Winner: Roger Bowling by Decision

Middleweight Fight- Tyron Woodley (6-0) vs. Nathan Coy (8-2)

Woodley fought on the November Challengers show and beat Rudy Bears by Arm Bar submission in the first round. At the September Challengers show he took out Zach Light by 2nd round Arm Bar submission. Woodley has won all of his fights by submission. Coy is a wrestler from Oregon State. He's the home town guy so he gets a good reaction. Militech says they trained together a couple of years ago.

R1- Coy came in early and Woodley got an immediate take down. Woodley hit a good body punch that floored Coy as he came in wildly. Woodley jumped on Coy's back and landed some strikes. Coy clinched and tried to get a take down but Woodley denied him. Coy clinches Woodley again and is landing some good leg strikes with his knee. Coy looked good in the second half of the round but I've got Woodley taking it 10-9. Good first round.

R2- Coy is working over Woodley's knee. Coy landing some good strikes in the clinch but then ate a knee. Woodley hit a good right after a break. Coy landed a good strike but Woodley absorbed it. They are exchanging some nice shots. Woodley blocked a head kick and Coy ended up on the ground. Woodley took Coy's back. Woodley couldn't get the choke so he landed some strikes. Coy did a good job defending in this position. Woodley grabbed an arm bar at the end of the round but the buzzer sounded to end the round. Woodley took this round with his work in the last minute as he took dominant positions and has a submission attempt that almost ended the fight. Woodley 20-18 but it's a close fight.

R3- Coy is the aggressor at the beginning of the round. Woodley lands some counter punches and then gets a take down. Coy was able to reverse and get the take down. Coy lands some body strikes on the ground. Coy took this round. I've got Woodley 29-28.

Judges score cards: 29-28 Woodley, 30-27 Coy, 29-28 Woodley

Winner: Tyron Woodley by Decision (Split)

Middleweight Fight- Kevin Casey (3-1) vs. Matt Lindland (21-7)

Casey is a Gracie jiu jitsu fighter. Casey fought on the November Challengers show and won in impressive fashion over Chad Vance by Rear Naked Choke in the first round. Lindland got dominated by Jacare Souza in his last fight. Casey has a 3" reach advantage despite being 1" shorter than Lindland. Casey has 2 submissions in his 3 wins. Lindland has finished 7 fights by knockout and 7 by submission. Lindland has a huge advantage in the experience department. Casey spent time at Cesar Gracie's camp training for this fight. Casey's lone loss was in his pro debut to Ikuhisa Minowa.

R1- Casey clinched early but it was Lindland that got the take down. Casey got to his feet and they clinched against the cage. Lindland tried to grab a guillotine but instead got take down. Lindland tried to scramble but got his back taken by Casey. Lindland was able to reverse positions with half a minute left in the round. Casey got to his feet. Lindland threw some knee strikes but didn't hit anything substantial. Casey 10-9. Quadros said Lindland squeaked by in the round and Militech called it even.

R2- Lindland clinched early and took Casey down with knee and foot stomps. Casey got back to his feet but Lindland powered him back down. Lindland is landing strikes but nothing that's going to finish the fight so far. Lindland got the crucifix in the last twenty seconds of the round. Casey was able to reverse out. Lindland dominated that round but didn't do enough damage to come close to a 10-8. So I've got it 19-19 after two. Quadros has the fight 20-18 Lindland.

R3- Lindland got a quick take down. Lindland is landing strikes from the tap. The ref steps in and calls the fight.

The announcers proclaim Lindland as being "back" after beating a guy with only 3 career victories.

Winner: Matt Lindland by TKO (Strikes) R3 3:41

Kind of a disappointing show. Saffiedine/Moore was really good. Bowling/Voelker was good until the strange stoppage. Matt Lindland winning the Main Event of a Strikeforce Challengers Series event is underwhelming. Not a way to elevate new talent. I'd rather see a guy like Tarec Saffiedine Main Eventing against another up and coming fighter than a veteran on the brink of concluding his career on a show about elevating new talent.