1) CHAD VANCE vs. KEVIN CASEY: Guys! Casey believes in the power of BJJ. We believe in you too, Kevin.
Clinch to start with and Casey pushes Vance to the cage. Vance is landing some stuff in the clinch...oh, hiptoss attempt goes badly and Casey is taking the back. RNC, good night folks. (0)
2) RAFAEL FEIJAO CAVALCANTE vs. AARON ROSA: Cavalcante was a real prospect up until he got throttled by an old, ornery kickboxer. Rosa is now a solid midpack gatekeeper.
Clinch to start the first and Feijao backs up Rosa to the fence, then takes him down off the trip. Rosa bounces up while eating some shots, and its hugging time. Crowd and announcers know this is lousy. The ref separates this after 4 minutes and we're back to a clinch 5 seconds later. Ugh. More of this in the second round, but when they do separate (which does happen), Feijao is landing solid blows; in particular, a nice combo of overhand right/knee/takedown. No action on the mat, and its back to standup. Rosa is caught with a punch and drops, leading to some GNP and the fight's end. Only one angle is shown for the finish in replays and it looks a lot to me like there was a headbutt and not a punch there that dropped Rosa. (2)
3) BOBBY VOELKER vs. ERIK APPLE: Apple is fighting again! Yay! Somehow I've missed reviewing a Voelker fight, though I saw him fight Amir Rahnavarni in M-1 a long time ago. I just didn't review it, you see. At least, yet.
Apple throws the overhand right to start and drops Voelker, and he's all over him. Voelker is able to get up, hold the clinch, and slow the fight down; this allows him recovery time. Apple tries to prevent a rally by shoving off and then throwing down again, but they trade and Voelker does surprisingly well. Apple starts looking for takedowns more often than not and there's a pattern that develops of takedown attempts, defense by Voelker, exchanges, and separation. Apple does get a takedown, but Voelker walk walks up and regains the clinch, then hits a trip takedown of his own, landing some clean blows while trying to pass at the end of the round. Good action round there.
In the second, Voelker rocks Apple early and takes him down into half guard. Apple does force his way to his feet but is clearly tired and very wild. Voelker drops him with punches and Apple is just flat out done. The ref is forced to stop it as Voelker throws leather on the mat. Big win for the gatekeeper, and a solid fight. (1)
4) KIM COUTURE vs. KERRY VERA: If Vera is at all good, she destroys Couture.
Couture is destroyed with a flurry of punches less than two minutes in. Not worth rating. Freakshow bout.
5) RUDY BEARS vs. TYRON WOODLEY: Bears cannot be all bad; he did beat Brendan Seguin once. Woodley though is an elite prospect that Strikeforce picked up before the UFC was ready to commit to him. And its for the best, really; these are the fights he needs, and he can't get them in the UFC.
Bears closes the distance with his striking, and Woodley does the smart thing and clinches. He slams the hell out of Bears, moves to the full mount, but doesn't look steady. Bears bucks him off (though nearly ends up in a triangle doing so), and gets standing again. He eats a knee in the clinch, is taken down again, and Woodley locks in a head and arm triangle before putting Bears to sleep. Impressive by Woodley, who is still like 7-8 fights away from a real challenge at 170. (2)
FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Apple/Voelker
KO OF THE NIGHT: Vera/Couture
SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Bears/Woodley
OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 6 out of 10. Woodley looks good and Apple/Voelker was fun, but the rest felt meaningless.
D&R Rating: 25% (5/20)
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