Lorenz Larkin Goes to 12-0, Couture and Jordan Win at Strikeforce Challengers
By Frank Curreri
Las Vegas, Nev. – Rising light heavyweight Lorenz Larkin remained unbeaten Friday by punishing an extremely resilient Nick Rossborough in the main event of Strikeforce Challengers at The Pearl arena inside the Palms casino & hotel. Rossborough, a Salt Lake City fighter who took the fight on relatively short notice, pushed the pace early and his aggression produced a closely contested round one.
But the rigors of taxing clinchwork and tense standup exchanges caused Rossborough to slow in the second stanza, while the much fresher and highly unpredictable Larkin began to heat up and crack the Utahn’s chin with increasing regularity over the final 10 minutes. Rossborough deserves credit for possessing a remarkably tough helmet and showcasing extraordinary heart, but the combination of mounting damage and a dwindling gas tank left no doubt by the third round that Larkin was in control. That Rossborough, bleeding heavily by the third round and victimized by ground and pound, survived is a massive credit to his fortitude. Larkin had dropped him in the third with a vicious knee to the body.
“He came to fight,” said Larkin, now 12-0 on the strength of the unanimous decision triumph. “He was hungry. I can’t ask for nothing better, I love how he pushed me, how he hit … this is where fighters show their heart but you push through it. That’s all I ask for.”
In other action Friday night at The Palms:
Lavar Johnson vs. Shawn Jordan
In a battle of the big boys, heavyweight knockout artist Johnson (a Duane “Rock” Johnson look-alike) came out with guns blazing, but it was Jordan who refused to be denied. The Greg Jackson protégé caught Johnson’s attention early with an overhand right that caused a golf-ball sized hemotoma to form under Johnson’s right eye. The wound continued to swell as the fight wore on, and Jordan (11-3) endangered Johnson with a takedown and neck crank.
Johnson would have his moments in the standup, landing hard knees, a vicious uppercut and body shots in the clinch, but he had difficulty stopping Jordan’s takedowns, which would prove his undoing as Jordan scored a takedown midway in the second round, then forced him to tap with an Americana shoulder lock at 3:08 of round two.
Jordan, 11-3, celebrated with two backflips before exiting the cage. Johnson fell to 10-4.
Ryan Couture vs. Maka Watson
With his father excitedly yelling instructions and encouragement from his corner, a bloodied Ryan Couture overcame the gritty resilience of Maka Watson to push his pro record to 3-1. Everything went according to Couture’s script early, as he scored a takedown, transitioned to the back and then to an arm triangle that inspired suspense among the fans inside the arena. But as he would many times in this fight, Watson (4-2) defiantly survived the worst positions – occasionally reversing the 28-year-old and testing his mettle with hard ground and pound shots.
In the third round, Watson twice took down Couture and peppered him with ground and pound. When it appeared that the tide had turned heavily in the Hawaiian’s favor, Couture re-seized the momentum with a reversal and mount position. His legendary father implored him to pour it on.
“Take it, son!”
“It’s all yours, bud, get it!”
“Atta’ boy!”
“Stay on top, son!”
The younger Couture did not disappoint, smothering his foe and afflicting him with a furious ground and pound assault for the better part of two minutes. Couture did everything he wanted – except finish his stubborn and extremely tough adversary. He had to settle for a majority decision victory by scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 28-28.
“He’s tough as nails,” Ryan Couture said afterwards inside the cage. “Things went the way we planned.”
Jason High vs. Todd Moore
These two wily veterans produced what was, for the most part, a grappling match, and it was High who dominated throughout. The Kansas City native set the tone early with a takedown and arm triangle threat against a fellow southpaw. The 29-year-old essentially dared Moore to stop that blueprint but the Texan, other than fighting off submissions, could not halt the suffocating grappling assault. Judges awarded the American Top Team fighter a unanimous decision, giving him every round. High’s record now stands at 16-3. Moore fell to 15-5.
Brian Melancon vs. Felipe Portela
Let’s bang. In a nutshell, that seemed to be the mindset that defined most of this welterweight bout. It was the shorter, stockier Melancon who appeared to get the better of the action in round one, darting inside to score with combinations. The taller and lankier Portela effectively buttered up Portela with leg kicks before being victimized by a thunderous slam that would have made Matt Hughes proud.
Melancon landed the best punch of the second round with wicked left hook to the body, and later went upstairs with a left hook that dropped the Brazilian. In the third frame, Melancon (6-2) cracked Portela with a hard uppercut, and would catch the Brazilian’s attention with more powerful blows, which revealed chinks in Portela’s previously poised exterior. Portela weathered the takedowns and punches and rallied, however, answering with a pretty right high kick and crisp combination. Yet Melancon never seemed threatened, settling for a unanimous decision victory (29-28, 29-28 and 30-27) that knocked Portela (7-1) from the ranks of the unbeaten.
Preliminary Card
Magno Almeida vs. James Terry
A rather ho-hum affair erupted into fireworks midway in the first round, with Almeida tagging Terry with a crisp punch – and a suddenly amped-up Terry charging forward with a furious assault of punches – including a left hook that stunned the Brazilian, followed by a right hook that crumpled him against the cage. The knockout was officially registered at 3:27 of round one. Terry (11-3) lives and trains in San Jose, Calif., where he is an understudy of Cung Le.
Terry improved to 11-3; Almeida is now 9-3.
Bobby Green vs. Charon Spain
Green, a 25-year-old Fontana, Calif., native who curiously describes his fight style as “Hood,” simply overwhelmed Spain from start to finish in every aspect of the game. The Jeremy Horn apprentice put Spain on the canvas early with a booming knee to the face from a Muay Thai clinch and never looked back from there, peppering Spain with ground and pound before submitting the Washington state fighter with an arm triangle at 2:54 of the second round.
In victory, Green pushed his record to 16-5, with 14 of his wins via stoppage. In defeat, Spain fell to 6-7.
Chris Spang v. Joe Ray
It was a lot of people’s first look at a young, unbeaten prospect named Chris Spang, and it was hard not to come away impressed after the Las Vegan’s unanimous decision victory over American Top Team’s Joe Ray during their preliminary scrap. The first round matchup produced something of an oddity: It was Spang who put on a beautiful and very diverse standup assault – complete with spinning backfists and backkicks and hard combos that landed – yet it was also Spang who somehow looked the worse for wear at round’s end. Some bruising began to form on Spang’s left calf from Ray’s leg kick, along with redness on his chest and back area. Ray, meanwhile, sported some redness and swelling over his left eye despite being victimized and cracked by the lankier and busier fighter.
One thing the round taught us: Ray is one tough dude!
In round two, Ray came alive, getting busier with kicks to the noticeably bruised lead leg of Spang. Yet even when the kicks landed, Spang kept looking up his adversary and literally motioned as if to say, ‘come on.’ After apparently slowing in the second stanza, and with the fight apparently up for grabs, Spang came on strong in the opening three minutes of the final frame, using a body lock to score a takedown. Ray appeared to momentarily stun Spang, who nevertheless motioned once again for his opponent to ‘Come on.’ Full of surprises, Sprang attempted a guillotine late in the fight, which Ray gamely fought off, scoring with some elbows in the process.
The judges scored the fight 29-28, 29-28, 29-28 across the board for Spang, pushing the Skipper Kelp protégé’s record to 4-0.
Davis vs. Mulhern
A back-and-forth battle turned one-sided in the third frame, as New Mexico’s Quinn Mulhern dominated Danny Davis with his Brazilian jiu-jitsu skills before submitting the Las Vegan at 4:08 with an arm triangle choke. The ending capped what had been a highly entertaining and fast-paced war of attrition through the bout’s first 10 minutes. The opening stanza featured some heavy leather flying between the two lanky fighters, though Mulhern repeatedly hunted for takedowns and Davis rebuffed him each time. Both fighters landed cleanly, with Davis the striking aggressor and Mulhern very persistent in the clinch.
The tide seemed to turn dramatically in Davis’s favor as he frequently tagged Mulhern from the sprawl position. It appeared as if Mulhern, who failed to make the 171-mark a day before thus forcing the bout to take place at a catchweight, was beginning to tire. Blood began to trickle on the side of Mulhern’s face, perhaps courtesy of a hard elbow to the noggin that Davis had landed (topped off with a nice right hand). After a good three minutes of Las Vegas’s Davis controlling the round, Mulhern may have stolen the round late by taking the back, locking in a body triangle and scoring with blows (though Davis aptly defended against the rear naked choke).
Early in the third round, Mulhern scored a takedown and threatened for every second thereafter with back control, from the mount and by landing hard elbows on top. Finally, 4:08 of final round, Mulhern secured an arm triangle and earned the tap, pushing his record to 16-2. Davis is now 6-5-1.
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