Just got back from the Hook ‘n Shoot weigh-in. Some of the fighters didn’t show up for the weigh-ins so this info isn’t complete. I don’t know - don’t ask me. They do things differently in Indiana I guess.

Here’s the details:

Eben Oroz (149) VS. Mike Brown (149)
Chad George (133) VS. Matt Troyer (133)
Joseph Baize (173) VS. Brant Rose (unknown)
Steve Conley (unknown) VS. Darren Morse (172)
Cody Welchin (124) VS. Tara LaRosa (126)
Merritt Warren (153.5) VS. David Overfield (155)
Courtney Ray (175) VS. Dan Hornbuckle (172)

Here are the competitors for the women’s tournament.

Patti Lee (125) VS. Jordan Sprague (119)
Jen Babcock (125) VS. Nikdali Calanoc (123.5)
Suzi Smith (135) VS. Caitlin Young (133)
Miesha Tate (135) VS. Jan Finney (136)

And pictures!

Here’s Dan Hornbuckle, Hook ‘n Shoot Champion and Tara LaRosa, our Bodog Fight 135 lb Champion. It was really hard to fit the two of them into this picture.

And then a shot of Mike Brown for good measure. He’s actually doing the official weigh-in here.

Check back tomorrow night for full write-ups on each match.

The Bodog Fight team is down in Evansville, Indiana for this weekend’s Hook ‘n Shoot. I just got the fight card, and it’s a weird one.

To explain, there’s 14 individual matches including 2 women’s tournaments - sort of. There are two “paths” to victory - a 135 lb and a 125 lb. The winners of these two paths will face each other in an “absolute winner” match. Very strange. Here’s the tournament layout:

125 lbs:
Patti Lee VS. Jordan Sprague
Jen Babcock VS. Nicdali Calanoc

135 lbs:
Suzi Smith VS. Kaitlin Young
Miesha Tate VS. Jan Finney

So I don’t really know most of these girls. Actually, I only know Jan Finney who, as you may remember, fought Tama*Chan in a mega-brawler on season 3. It was a good performance for Finney despite the ending so I’m looking forward to seeing her again.

There’s also a regular card. Here’s the matchups:

Eben Oroz VS. Mike Brown
Chad George VS. Matt Troyer
Brant Rose VS. Joseph Baize
Steve Conley VS. Darren Morse
Cody Welchin VS. Tara LaRosa
Merritt Warren VS. David Overfield
Courtney Ray VS. Dan Hornbuckle

So lots of interesting stuff in there. Eben Oroz VS. Mike Brown is one of the two I’m looking forward to the most. Oroz is crazy with the kicks. His last fight against DJ Taiki in season 6 (which hasn’t aired yet) is on my top 5 most exciting matches. And Mike Brown is a great, energetic brawler too.

We also saw Chad George and Dan Hornbuckle in season 6. Sorry, you haven’t seen these matches yet either, but trust me - they’re both exciting guys. Someone you might remember is Joseph Baize from our season 2 show. It never aired on the show, but I put the fight up on the Extras page. Apparently, Baize is wicked with the ankle locks. Hopefully his jaw has healed…

And then there’s Tara LaRosa. She’s fighting Cody Welchin, a punk chick with a 2-1 record. As usual, Tara’s favored for the win, but someone’s gonna take her down eventually. Cody claims to have a strong background in Thai boxing and combat submission wrestling. Sounds like the right combination…

Check back later tonight for pictures and results of the weigh-ins. Then stop by tomorrow night for live results and write-ups on each match.

CUNG LE VS. SAM MORGAN - 185 LBS

So when Le entered the ring, the crowd erupted in a flurry of yellow and red-striped flags - a clear indication of the preferred fighter in this arena. A chick behind me was screaming like she was being torn apart. Unadulterated booing welcomed Sam Morgan, conversely.

Morgan wasn’t messing around though - he ran in with several jabs that surprised Le. Le managed several strikes, one of which seemed to daze Morgan. Thereafter, Morgan appeared to be a little bonkers. Le took the opportunity to land numerous flashy strikes and chest kicks, all of which hit home but failed to take the wind out of Morgan’s sails. Morgan was looking really weird, fighting like he was in a dream or something. A guy behind me proposed that Morgan might be drunk. Le managed to land all the good stuff, but Morgan seemed to wake up later in the round.

Round 2 started with impassioned but short-lived chanting in Le’s favour. Le pinned Morgan to the mat early on and managed to land several hammer fists to morgan’s face. They got up again and Morgan clamped onto Le’s leg briefly. Morgan let it go and the two clinched, then separated.

Le pulled a wicked judo throw and dropped Morgan on his back. They struggled there for a moment, Le seeking something and managing a nice pin and working a dangerous arm lock. It failed though and so he tried some strikes, but Morgan’s arms were all over the place and nothing happened. The round zeroed out, Le working effectively and Morgan defending admirably.

Lots of kicks heralded the beginning of the third, but a right hand by Le dropped Morgan to the mat, stunned but okay. Le let him back up for some more striking, including a knee-kick that spun Morgan. By this point, people were starting to be impressed with Morgan’s resilience - and there it ended.

Morgan took a liver-shot courtesy of Le’s left leg and wilted 3:01, rendering him the victor. The crowd was ecstatic.

And so ends the Strikeforce “Four Men Enter - One Man Survives” tournament. Stay tuned for pictures!

BOBBY SOUTHWORTH VS. ANTHONY RUIZ - 205 LBS

Just learned that attendance here has peaked now at 8233. Nice going!

Southworth caught Ruiz’s leg early on and took the match to the ground for a good struggle that saw a fairly equal game. Eventually, they got back up for some weak struggling and the ref broke it apart. Ruiz was then looking good against the cage, pressing some hard knees to Southworth’s leg that would likely pay off later. Things seemed to slow at 1:30, then pickled up again at 1:00 with a single leg takedown courtesy of Southworth. Nothing much else happened however, resulting in a soft end to the round.

They got an extra long break due to some loose ice in Ruiz’s corner. Ruiz took advantage of the time, managing to land a quadruple flurry to Southworth that stunned the favourite. Rather than capitalize entirely on it, Ruiz dropped Southworth with a double leg and tried to lay on the beats.

Unfortunately, something had opened up two nasty cuts on Southworth’s left eye socket and so the match ended at 4:02, resulting in a TKO victory for Ruiz. The crowd was ambivalent.

BRIAN SCHWARTZ VS. LEMONT DAVIS - 170 LBS

So this is a weird one. Brian Schwartz is untested with an 0-0 MMA record, yet he is the undisputed crowd favourite. I just heard that the the bulk of the audience is here to see him fight for the very first time. The crowd was very nearly on its feet as Brian “The Mad Stork” Schwartz entered. Tough luck for Lemont Davis; he got booed upon introduction.

Some high legs from Schwartz right off the bat were apparently what the crowd wanted, but the fight went ot the mat quickly for a loose choke that Davis evaded. The ref brought them up again and, this time, Davis closed the gap immediately, pressing the leggy Stork to the cage. They struggled back and forth, Davis pressing a fairly transparent but effective defense by holding tight to Schwartz. The round ended without any fighter making significant further gains.

Davis leapt into the 2nd with more gall, apparently allowing Schwartz a striking game. Schwartz defended well and again they ended up against the cgae. The ref broke them up once again, and Schwartz caught a kick and a hit to the face, but they fell against the cage again. Out of nowhere, Schwartz jammed his opponent in the nuts and Davis cooled his jets for practically the remainder of the round.

Very briefly into the 3rd, Davis caught Schwartz with a tight guillotine that lasted almost 2 minutes. He finally escaped, gained a full mount, lost it, and got up. With 40 seconds to go, Schwartz had him backwards from the top and tried to land some body blows, Davis looking exhausted. The round ended without a clear winner, calling on the judges to make a decision. Lemont Davis took it by unanimous decision. The crowd was disappointed but polite.

PAUL BUENTELLO VS. ALISTAIR OVEREEM - HW

This one’s for the Strikeforce World Heavyweight Belt, so hold on to your mouse.

Overeem dropped Buentello early on with a takedown that got people pretty excited. From side mount, Overeem managed to land a few knees to the body, hammer fists, and all kinds of stuff, Buentello looking confused and ineffective. Buentello eventually got up, apparently with Overeem’s permission, and for his effort received a pile of knees and overarm punches. Buentello really appeared to be losing - hard. Overeem had a pretty good choke, but Buentello managed to get up, only to receive more damage. The round ended with Overeem the clear, clear winner.

Buentello rushed into round 2 with some lightning-fast slams that looked a little more like Buentello. They managed to hit the ground, Overeem in Buentello’s guard and looking slightly tired. The ref stood therm up after about 30 seconds of that, but they hit the ground again with Overeem mounted from the rear. They got up again and Overeem managed to land two knees to the chest, one of which caused Buentello to fall and tap at 1:16. Must have been a broken rib or he got winded or something.

Overeem was announced the winner by tap-out submission and was dressed in the winner’s gold, rendering Alistair “Demolition Man” Overeem the new Strikeforce World Heavyweight Champion.

TOURNAMENT FINAL: TREVOR PRANGLEY VS. JORGE SANTIAGO

This one starts off with a pensive crowd due to Prangley’s unimpressive win earlier this evening. Still, this IS the match we were all expecting.

Things started off with very measured strikes, mostly from Santiago. Prangley warmed up fast and managed a few anvil strikes. Prangley caught Santiago’s leg and the two struggled briefly - and then Prangley caught a knee to the body, knee to the face, and two right hands. He went down in slow motion. Without a doubt, Santiago goes home man of the night.

He also goes home with the very first tournament belt given out in California. Gotta say, I’m a little sad that our boy lost it, but Santiago definitely took it - end of story. I’m also left with the impression that Prangley came into it unprepared. Hubris caught up maybe?

JOSH NEAL VS. ERIC LAWSON - 185 lbs

With Lawson as the local, the crowd was once again heavily favouring one fighter over the other. So they were pretty pissed when Neal landed a tight leg triangle choke that lasted FOREVER. Amazingly, Lawson managed to land some strikes and ultimately held his breath through almost the entire round. I’ll bet his girlfriend is a happy lady…
Round 2 saw Lawson disinterested in losing the match (again). He landed a few crushing blows, then mounted Neal and sunk a constrictor-like rear-naked-choke that finished it off at the 20 second mark. Suh-weet!

TOURNAMENT BOUT 1: SEAN SALMON VS. JORGE SANTIAGO - 185 LBS

And so the tournament began. This is pretty exciting to us as Bodog has never done a tournament before. Sadly, as reported, Sasaki was out and replaced by Sean Salmon. Jorge Santiago was solid, however. And let me just mention that Strikeforce puts on one fuck of a show. Fireballs, fireworks, some other fire stuff. Just awesome.

The match began with both fighters looking very amped-up. But at the 4:33 mark, Santiago caught Salmon with a glancing knee that knocked him clean out. Replays could not adequately explain what happened, but the match went to Santiago. With only 24 seconds of combat under his belt, Santiago goes into the final with a full gas tank. Meanwhile, Salmon was carried out on a fully-buckled stretcher. Uh… ouch?

Just also heard that Salmon was to be the main event at an HD Net fight later this month. I think we can safely say “fuck that.”

TOURNAMENT BOUT 2: TREVOR PRANGLEY VS. NIKO VITALE - 185 LBS

Needless to say, Prangley (inexplicably was the preferred for this event. Regardless, Vitale came in comfortable and confident. Had he just seen what happened to Salmon? Probably not…

Santiago got the first right hook, a clean landing that gave Trevor a nice grin. Trevor was swiftly in with the signature uppercuts to the body. Interestingly, Vitale seemed to be landing harder and more frequently until Prangley pinned his opponent against the cage for a few nice knees to the leg. The ref split them up, revealing that Prangley was red in the face and maybe looking a little slow. Again the ref broke them up, and Prangley pressed Vitale against the cage for a few knees, then mysteriously failed to take him down.

Prangley got hit with many more strikes, looking to be a little short on game. Prangley was bleeding profusely from the face as the round zeroed out. By my account, Vitale came out way ahead on this one. Could we be seeing a surprise ending here?

Prangley came into the second roud looking wobbly but better. He ate a hard right hand, then pressed Vitale to the cage. The ref split them up and they alternated between clinch and striking, Prangley appearing to take the worst of it. Unfortunately, Vitale got something in the eye at 2:46 and took his time out, much to the displeasure of the crowd. Eventually, the ref called an end to the match, apparently due to accidental foul. The crowd actually booed. It was a long, tense period before the result was announced… In the meantime, I reviewed the rules to see what happened. I couldn’t make heads or tails of them.

The result was a majority DRAW by the judges… meaning that the ref - by his sole discretion - could choose the winner. He chose Prangley.

The crowd’s response, and my own, was dissatisfaction. Still, Prangley advances to the next round, as expected.

LUKE STEWART VS. BRYSON KAMAKA - 170 LBS

And so with the crowd feeling a little hollow, the next match began. Luke Stewart, the undefeated local favourite, was to face Bryson Kamaka. Man, Luke’s got some dope tats.

Stewart caught the worst of it right off the bat, then lofted a crushing pair of knees to Kamaka’s face, the second of which soundly dropped Kamaka at the 4:42 mark. So much for that.