Smith KO’s Martin, “Babalu” Takes Title

At Strikeforce “Destruction”

November 21, 2008

 HP Pavilion

San Jose, California

SAN JOSE, CA—Scott Smith (14-5) reinforced the meaning behind his nickname “Hands of Steel” by

dropping fellow heavy-handed middleweight (185 lb. limit) Terry Martin (18-6) with a single overhand right

only 24 seconds into the opening round of their showdown at Strikeforce “Destruction” at the HP Pavilion on

Friday, November 21^st.  Renato “Babalu” Sobral (31-7) seized the Strikeforce world light heavyweight (205

lb. limit) championship from Bobby Southworth (9-6, 1 NC) after a deep cut around Southworth’s right eye

forced a doctor stoppage in between rounds one and two.

Right out of the gates, the hard-hitting Martin came forwarded as expected and began looking to capitalize

on the first opening he saw.  As he moved forward to deliver, though, he was dealt the finishing blow that put

him out on his stomach.  Referee Herb Dean immediately signaled an end to the bout.

For Martin, the single shot defeat came only two months after he laid the same fate on Cory Devela at

Strikeforce’s affair at the Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills.

Entering his second title defense, Southworth, Strikeforce’s first-ever light heavyweight champion, appeared

to be in phenomenal shape as he defended a takedown in the early seconds of the first round before tripping

Sobral to the canvas and gaining side control. 

Sobral was able to stand up and, soon after, referee “Big” John McCarthy separated the two fighters, threw

a hard left elbow that opened the fatal gash around Southworth’s eye.  The third man in charged ordered the

cut to be looked at by the ringside physician, who allowed the fight to resume.

The defending champion secured a takedown before the end of the round, but his run was ended by the

doctor’s orders.

Duane “Bang” Ludwig (18-8) deployed an intelligent gameplan against Yves Edwards (34-15-1) in their

164 lb. limit catch weight battle, wearing Edwards down in the second round with repeated punches to the

body while the two were on their feet.

Edwards scored a takedown later in the second as well as in the third, but Ludwig defended well from the

guard on each occasion. 

In the third, Ludwig, a world Muay Thai champion, came out firing to the body again with a kick and a left

hand.  Edwards countered with a strong left kick to the ribs and followed up with a takedown attempt, but

Ludwig stuffed his shot and put Edwards on his back.

From Edwards’ guard, Ludwig began tagging his opponent with punches and elbows before Edwards was

able to stand.  Edwards secured one more takedown before the final bell sounded and all three judges’

awarded the victory to Ludwig.

Kim “Sugar Free” Couture (1-1), wife of MMA legend Randy “The Natural” Couture, displayed marked

improvement in her second career start, acting as the aggressor against novice Lina Kvokov (0-2). 

Couture, who suffered a punishing defeat in her debut on June 20, 2008, came out of the gates firing left and

right hands.  Kvokov traded with her, but was overwhelmed by Couture’s knee strikes to the body while in

the clinch.  Couture pushed Kvokov out of the clinch and continued to bomb on her opponent, who turned

her back in the middle of the storm, a move that prompted referee Jon Schorle to order a stoppage at the

1:44 mark of the first round.

Joe “Diesel” Riggs (29-10, 1 NC) made a strong statement in his return to the welterweight (170 lb. limit)

division, stopping Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, Luke Stewart (6-2), in the second stanza of their matchup.

Stewart, a San Francisco native, was able to secure a single leg takedown in the opening round after his

first attempt at doing so was denied.  Riggs applied a guillotine choke from guard position, but Stewart

easily escaped.  Stewart passed Riggs’ guard and moved to the north-south position and, then, to side

control.  Riggs turned the tables on Stewart, though, making his way to half-guard and, then, to mount

before the close of the round.

In the second, it was Riggs who took down Stewart and landed in Stewart’s guard.  A Riggs right hand

connected and gave the 26-year-old the opportunity to open up on Stewart, who turned over to protect

himself.  Riggs continued to pour on the punches before referee McCarthy halted the action at the 2:05

mark of the round.

Twenty-four year old submission specialist Luke Rockhold (3-1) turned in an impressive Strikeforce debut,

turning the tides on Nik Theotikos (5-2), who pulled guard and slapped on a guillotine choke from which

Rockhold fought his way out of with a healthy offering of punches to the head and body. 

Rockhold freed himself from Theotikos’ guard and initiated a scramble that caused Theotikos to give up his

back.  Rockhold sunk in a deep rear naked choke that forced Theotikos to tap at the 3:06 mark of the

opening round.

Complete Strikeforce “Destruction” Results:

Zakary Bucia defeated Adam Steele – Submission (Guillotine Choke) at :35, Round 1

Alvin Cacdac defeated Jose Palacios – Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 3:10, Round 2

Darren “Bone Crusher” Uyenoyama defeated Brad Royster – Unanimous Decision, 3 Rounds (30-27, 30-27,

30-27)

Luke Rockhold defeated Nik Theotikos – Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 3:06, Round 1

Joe “Diesel” Riggs defeated Luke Stewart – TKO (Punches) at 2:05, Round 2

Kim “Sugar Free” Couture defeated Lina Kvokov – TKO (Punches) at 1:44, Round 1

Duane “Bang” Ludwig defeated Yves Edwards – Unanimous Decision, 3 Rounds (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Renato “Babalu” Sobral defeated Bobby Southworth – TKO (Doctor stoppage due to cut around Southworth’s

eye) at 5:00, Round 1

Scott Smith defeated Terry Martin – KO (Punch) at :24, Round 1

Brian Schwartz defeated Lemont Davis – TKO (Punch) at 2:22, Round 3

Kurt Osiander defeated Josh Neal – TKO (Punches) at 2:16, Round 1

Eric Lawson defeated Tony Johnson – Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 1:28, Round 1

Bobby Stack defeated Cyrillo Padilha – Unanimous Decision, 3 Rounds (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

About Strikeforce:

Strikeforce is a world-class mixed martial arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made

history with its “Shamrock vs. Gracie” event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California

state history. The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock against

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San Jose’s HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out, record crowd

of 18,265. Since 1995, Strikeforce has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN

and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing promotion, the company

unveiled its mixed martial arts series with “Shamrock vs. Gracie.” Since then, it has co-produced the first

SHOWTIME PPV mixed martial arts event in history with its world championship “Shamrock vs. Baroni” card

on June 22, 2007 followed by the first-ever mixed martial arts event at the world-famous Playboy Mansion on

September 29, 2007. On April 12th of this year, Strikeforce launched the first-ever 52 week MMA series on

one of the four major television networks in The U.S. – NBC.

Contact:

Mike Afromowitz, Strikeforce – mafromowitz@strikeforce.com 

- From Strikeforce with a little editing from us (color, etc...)

(11/22/08)