Strikeforce Prelims: Cholish Kneebars TUF 12 Alum Stevens
Mike Whitman Feb 12, 2011
Marc
Stevens (left) tapped to a John Cholish kneebar. | Dave
Mandel/Sherdog.com
John Cholish earned the Renzo Gracie Jiu-Jitsu team another impressive submission victory, as he tapped out Marc Stevens with a kneebar 3:57 into round two of their preliminary lightweight tilt at Strikeforce/M-1 Global “Fedor vs. Silva” on Saturday at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J.
Cholish opened with a flurry, throwing a Superman punch before landing a perfectly timed round kick that bloodied Stevens’ nose. The jiu-jitsu ace capitalized on the shot, taking down Stevens and working from top position. “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 12 alum escaped the position but did not stay on his feet for long, as Cholish scored another takedown and worked ground-and-pound as the first round came to a close.
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Meanwhile, Igor Gracie displayed the beautiful technique for which his family is famous in his welterweight scrap with Jon Salgado, as he locked up a head-and-arm choke and relieved the Team Energy product of his consciousness in the second round.
After a brief exchange standing, Gracie charged forward and bullied
Salgado against the cage. He dove for a single-leg takedown, turned
it into a power double-leg, hoisted his foe above his head and
slammed Salgado to the canvas. Salgado gave up his back almost
immediately, and Gracie academically sank his hooks before locking
up a body triangle. Though “Greco” managed to prevent the
rear-naked choke, he delivered a blatantly illegal backward head
butt to Gracie's face, eliciting only a warning from the
referee.
Round two looked strikingly similar, with Gracie hitting a double-leg takedown and passing to mount. This time, however, there would be no escape for Salgado, who found himself in a vice-like arm-triangle that put him to sleep at 3:04 of the second round.
D.
Mandel
Oropeza (top) lit Carlo-Clauss up.
Oropeza controlled the action early in round one, clinching and pressing his bearded opponent against the cage while working knees to the body and head. The Philadelphia Fight Factory product also used his length in the stand-up, whiffing on multiple high kicks before stopping a Carlo-Claus takedown. Though Carlo-Claus fought hard to secure a single-leg takedown, it was not to be. Oropeza secured the mount, taking his opponent’s back and unloading with fight-ending ground-and-pound.
A 145-pound contest between Josh LaBerge and Anthony Leone turned into a bloody mess, as the cage-side physician stopped the bout between rounds one and two after LaBerge disfigured Leone’s nose with a knee from the clinch.
Round one saw both fighters score with strikes, as LaBerge took the center of the cage while Leone used movement and picked his spots. After both men did some damage on their feet, Leone shot for a takedown. After stuffing the attempt, LaBerge buckled his opponent with a massive knee that smashed the WEC veteran’s nose and ultimately spelled doom for Leone.
Though the Team Bombsquad product scored a takedown to end the frame, the doctor ruled between rounds that he could not continue due to his broken nose. LaBerge, a Bellator Fighting Championships alum, has rattled off six consecutive victories.
In the opener, AMA Fight Club product Jason McLean earned a split decision victory over Pellegrino MMA representative Kevin Roddy in their preliminary featherweight contest. After three close rounds of back-and-forth action, McLean was awarded the split verdict, 29-28, 29-28 and 28-29. McLean, a Ring of Combat veteran, has posted four wins in five appearances.
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