By: Jeff Townsend, Boxing writer
Bayareasportsdrive.com
11-22-08
Strikeforce’s
‘Destruction’ stormed into San Jose’s HP Pavilion on Friday night,
featuring 13 MMA fights including one world championship bout. The
Strikeforce World Light Heavyweight (205 pounds) Championship was on the
line in the match-up between current titleholder Bobby Southworth (9-6)
and Renato “Babalu” Sobral (31-7). Southworth was clearly the hometown
favorite since he is based in San Jose and trains out of the American
Kickboxing Academy, also located in San Jose.
Babalu, a Brazilian native and Jiu-Jitsu black
belt, had trained for this fight by focusing on western boxing and had
spent a great deal of his fight prep working with former world
championship boxing contender, Justin Fortune. The fight started with
Southworth scoring a takedown, allowing him to control the action for a
short period of time. The fighters returned to their feet and engaged
in a clinch against the fence. Legendary referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy
separated the fighters after a period of inactivity.
With the fighters facing off against each other in
the middle of the cage, Babalu landed a hard elbow to Southworth’s
face. Blood immediately began to flow over Southworth’s right eye and
McCarthy called time in order for the ringside physician to check out
the cut. The crowd cheered as action resumed and the fight continued.
Southworth aggressively went after Babalu, scoring a takedown and
landing some strikes before the first round ended. The ringside
physician took another look at the cut over Southworth’s eye in between
rounds and decided that the cut was too severe to allow the fight to
continue. Babalu was awarded a TKO victory along with being crowned the
new Light Heavyweight champ.
‘Bang’ Ludwig
Gets Decision Win Over Yves Edwards
Originally, ‘Destruction’ was set to offer up a
Strikeforce Lightweight (155 pounds) Championship bout between current
titleholder Josh ‘The Punk’ Thomson against challenger Yves Edwards.
However, Thomson broke his toe a few weeks before the event so Muay Thai
specialist Duane ‘Bang’ Ludwig (18-8) was penciled in to face Edwards
(34-15-1). The fighters agreed to a catch weight of 164 pounds, with no
title at stake.
The fight began by Edwards securing a quick
takedown and spending most of the time on the mat in half-guard.
Edwards landed a few shots to Ludwig’s head but there was very little
damage done to either fighter in the round. The fighters spent the
first half of the second round standing, trading strikes to the head and
body. Ludwig was getting the better of the action until Edwards scored
another takedown. Edwards maintained top position until the round
ended.
The fighters looked tired throughout the third
round, with Ludwig controlling the action from top position. Ludwig was
awarded a unanimous decision with all three judges scoring the fight
29-28.
Smith Needs
Just 24 Seconds To KO Martin
The main event of Strikeforce’s ‘Destruction’ lived
up to its name as it brought the biggest and fastest knockout of the
fight. Hard hitting middleweight (185 pounds) Scott “Hands of Steel”
Smith (14-5) from Sacramento, CA needed just 24 seconds to knock out
Terry Martin (18-6). Martin was attempting to press the action when
Smith landed a short right hand right on Martin’s chin, sending him
falling to the canvas immediately. There was no need for a count by
referee Herb Dean since it was clear that Martin’s night was over.
Smith seemed eager to make a good impression since he was coming off of
a loss to Robbie Lawler in the main event of EliteXC’s CBS-televised MMA
fight card on July 26th.
Wife Of Randy
Couture Picks Up Her First Win
Gunning for her first professional win, Kim
Couture, wife of MMA legend Randy Couture, was matched up against Lina
Kvokov in a fight originally set for 130 pounds. However, Kvokov had to
strip down to make 133 while Couture came in at 132. Couture started
the fight in a very aggressive manner, throwing a high volume of strikes
that Kvokov seemed unsure how to handle. In the beginning, Kvokov was
exchanging punches with Couture but she soon was turning her head away
from her opponent to avoid being hit. This left her vulnerable since
she could not see the punches coming at her head.
Couture got her hands behind Kvokov’s neck and
proceeded to land some good knees to Kvokov’s stomach. By the mid-point
of the first round, it was clear to the referee that Kvokov had taken
enough punishment and stopped the fight due to strikes landed. The
fight was officially stopped at 1:44 of the first round, with a TKO win
for Couture. Couture improves to 1-1 while Kvokov remains winless at
0-2.
Undercard
Results
Zak Bucia def. Adam Steel via submission
(guillotine choke) at 0:35 of round 1
Alvin Cacdac def. Jose Palacios via submission (rear-naked choke at 3:10
of round 2
Darren Uyenoyama def. Brad Royster via a 3 round unanimous decision
Luke Rockhold def. Nik Theotikos via submission (rear-naked choke) at
3:06 of round 1
Joe Riggs def. Luke Stewart via TKO at 2:05 of round 2
Brian Schwartz def. Lemont Davis via TKO at 2:22 of round 3
Kurt Osiander def. Josh Neal via TKO at 2:16 of round 1
Eric Lawson def. Tony Johnson via submission (rear-naked choke) in round
1
Bobby Stack def. Cyrillo Padilha via a 3 round unanimous decision
Attendance at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, CA was 8,152.
