The twelfth installment of Strikeforce's Challenger Series is set to air tonight (November 19) on Showtime from the Jackson Convention Complex in Jackson, Mississippi. The five-fight main card will air live on the premium cable channel beginning at 11 p.m. ET.
Lightweight AKA prospect, Justin Wilcox, and 24-fight MMA veteran and Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion, Vitor Ribeiro, will headline the card in a fantastic wrestler vs. jiu-jitsu match up.
Light heavyweight knockout artists Antwain Britt and Ovince St. Preux are also set to lock horns in the co-main event, while 2009 DREAM welterweight grand prix winner, Marius Zaromskis, looks for his first win under the Strikeforce banner, taking on the hard nosed Waachiim Spiritwolf.
MMAmania.com will provide LIVE blow-by-blow, round-by-round coverage of the event, beginning with the Showtime telecast at 11 p.m. ET.
Many of our readers check-in before, during and after the Showtime telecast to share their thoughts on the action. Therefore, feel free to leave a comment (or 10) before you leave and chat with all the other Maniacs during the show -- it always turns out to be a great discussion.
Keep in mind that we will also be the spot for the latest news, recaps and post-fight analysis after the show.
STRIKEFORCE CHALLENGERS 12 QUICK RESULTS:
Justin "The Silverback" Wilcox defeats Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Ovince St. Preux defeats Antwain "The Juggernaut" Britt via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Marius Zaromskis and Waachiim Spiritwolf is ruled a no contest after an inadvertent eyepoke from Zarmoskis in round one
Liz Carmouche defeats Jan Finney via technical knockout (strikes) at 1:30 of round two
Caros Fodor defeats Derek Getzel via submission (D'arce choke) at 4:39 of round one
Wes "The Perfect Storm" Shivers vs. Goldman Butler
Wesley "Pitbull" Little vs. Jacob "Psycho" Noe
Jeremiah "Bigg Rigg" Riggs vs. James Sharp
Jamie Houston vs. Dave Martin
Anthony Mitchell vs. Jeffrey Hedgepeth
Brian "The Law" Hall vs. Thomas "Die Hard Kid" Vasquez
Joel Cooper vs. Brian Burse
Travis Robertson vs. Ken Duboise
STRIKEFORCE CHALLENGERS 12 PLAY-BY-PLAY LIVE MAIN CARD COMMENTARY:
James here!
155 lbs.: Vitor Ribeiro vs. Justin Wilcox
Round one: Wilcox takes the center and lands a nice right hand right away. Small exchange of jabs in the center. Wilcox coming forward with punches, leading with his jab. He lands a right. Ribeiro circling to his left. He shows some jabs now. Ribeiro tries to pull guard, but Wilcox is having none of that. He stands over Ribeiro now, though, and tees off with some kicks. Now he lets him get back to his feet. Jab from Ribeiro. Single attempt from Ribeiro goes nowhere. Wilcox controlling the center of the cage and doing a good job with his boxing. Jabs from both fighters. Wilcox misses with a big right and just avoids a takedown from Ribeiro. Nice kick to the leg from Wilcox. Ribeiro's nose is bright red from eating jabs. Nice two punch combo from Wilcox. Ribeiro doing a lot of circling and not much else. Jab from Ribeiro and now he eats a big right from Wilcox. Ribeiro with a half hearted takedown attempt that gets shrugged off easily. Wilcox tries a high kick just before the bell. Good round for him. 10-9 Wilcox.
Round two: Exchange in the center right away. Right hand from Wilcox. He's controlling the center of the cage again. Wilcox faking punches to the body and he connects with another right upstairs. Ribeiro with a nice left hook. Straight right from Wilcox. Another. Wilcox looks very comfortable on his feet. Ribeiro shoots and Wilcox avoids it easily. Jab from Ribeiro. Wilcox counters with a two punch combo. Jab and shoot from Ribeiro. Wilcox sprawls and lands with an uppercut. Ribeiro misses with a kick. Ribeiro is bleeding from his nose now. Wilcox connects with another stiff right hand. Jabs from both fighters. Wilcox constantly moving forward in this fight. Jab from Ribeiro. Wilcox counters with a right. Ribeiro shoots. Wilcox stuffs it easily again. Ribeiro has no answer for Wilcox so far. He can't take him down and he's eating a lot of punches on his feet. Nice knee from Wilcox just before the bell. 10-9 Wilcox.
Round three: Wilcox takes the center right away again. Ribeiro grabs a leg and almost gets the takedown. Wilcox powers out and gets separtion. Ribeiro back to his feet and he's circling to his left. Jabs from Wilcox. He avoids another takedown attempt from Ribeiro. Ribeiro slips backing up, but he avoids any damage. Jabs from both. Right hand from Ribeiro. Another. Nice one-two from Wilcox. Jabs from both again on a small exchange. Hard right hand from Ribeiro. He just misses with a right now and Wilcox counters to the body. Left hand from Ribeiro. Nice double jab and right hand combo from Wilcox. Short uppercut from Wilcox. Ribeiro shoots again. Sprawl and punch from Wilcox. Another shot from Vitor. Another sprawl and uppercut from Wilcox. Great gameplan execution from Wilcox in this fight. Ribeiro misses with a high kick. Knee from Ribeiro. Wilcox with another two punch combo. Now a big right hand stuns Ribeiro. He lands another. Ribeiro now with one of his own. The bell sounds and Wilcox is going to win this decision easily. Solid fight from the AKA guy.
Final Result: Justin "The Silverback" Wilcox defeats Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
-end-
205 lbs.: Antwain Britt vs. Ovince St. Preux
Round one: Britt circling to the left. St. Preux has the center. Now he gives it up after throwing leg kick. Now he kicks to the body and Britt is claiming he was poked in the eye. WTF! His eye is bright red. They're going to let him continue, though. Back underway. Britt misses with a right hand. St. Preux unloads a combination of kicks and punches. Now Britt connects with a right hand that backs St. Preux off. Nice lunging combo from Britt scores again. St. Preux circles out of harms way. Small exchange, no damage. Nice superman punch lands from St. Preux. Left hand again from St. Pruex. Now he goes up top with a kick. He's doing a nice job with his movement to avoid Britt's power punches. Left again from St. Preux. Now Britt connects with a short left that puts St. Pruex on a knee momentarily. He pops right back up and goes back on the stalk. Hard kick to the body from St. Pruex. Another. Britt shoots for the takedown. St. Pruex sprawls and takes Britt's back. Big punches from St. Pruex and Britt isn't doing much but covering up. The referee is letting him take some punishment here, though. Big punches and a knee to the body. More punches to the body. Now St. Pruex is looking for a footlock. Britt is grimacing, but he's throwing backward punches and he gets saved by the bell. 10-9 St. Pruex.
Round two: St. Pruex looking a little less bouncy here and Britt shoots in right away and scores with a takedown. He goes to the body with punches. Now upstairs. St. Pruex has half guard, but he looks tired. He climbs back to his feet and they clinch against the fence after a scramble. Another takedown from Britt. Half guard for St. Pruex. Nice ground and pound from Britt. St. Pruex with some good defense on his back now, and Britt is having trouble landing. He mixes in some body punches and he's back to teeing off on his grounded opponent. Hard, nasty body shots from Britt. St. Pruex is just holding on now. Good control from Britt. He continues to land punches in bunches. St. Pruex looks gassed. The round ends there, and this thing is tied up going into round three.
Round three: Britt circling to the left. He shoots and St. Pruex defends against the cage. Nice sprawl from St. Pruex. He takes Britt's back again! Britt back to his feet, but St. Pruex dumps him back to the canvas. Into Britt's half guard. Now to full mount. St. Pruex misses with a couple left hands and Britt does well to get full guard back. St. Pruex not doing much from the top position. He's mixing in some tired punches to the head and body, but there's not much on them. Britt doing nothing from his back. Nice right hammerfist from St. Pruex. Lefts to the body from St. Pruex. Now a couple of rights to the head. Not much happening. Both guys look tired. Britt sneaks in a left hand from the bottom. Now he's looking for a kimura, but St. Pruex capitalizes and passes to half guard. The referee wants a standup now with 45 seconds to go. Kick to the body from St. Pruex. Britt shoots right away. St. Pruex sprawls and takes the top position. Britt with half guard. The fight ends there and St. Pruex is going to take this decision.
Final result: Ovince St. Preux defeats Antwain "The Juggernaut" Britt via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
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170 lbs.: Marius Zaromskis vs. Waachiim Spiritwolf
Round one: Zaromskis comes out looking to land a flying knee, but he eats a right hand from Spiritwolf instead. Spiritwolf gets a poke to the eye on the exchange and there's a timeout for him to recover. The referee is giving him five minutes. There's a doctor in the cage now. Spiritwolf wants to fight, but he's saying he can't see. Now the referee is waiving the fight off, and that fucking sucks. It looks like there's a cut right near his bottom eyelid. This was a can't miss fight. What a bummer. The final ruling is a no contest.
Final result: Marius Zaromskis and Waachiim Spiritwolf is ruled a no contest after an inadvertent eyepoke from Zarmoskis in round one
-end-
135 lbs.: Jan Finney vs. Liz Carmouche
Round one: Carmouche runs out but Finney takes the center. Carmouche dancing around, flashing her jab. She connects on a couple of kicks and then eats a stiff right from Finney. Leg kick from Finney. Finney flashing jabs now. Nice leg kick, right hand combo from Carmouche. Finney goes back to the leg with a kick. Another hard leg kick from Finney. Another. Again. Carmouche misses to the body with a straight kick. She's misses with that a few times already. Finney times a kick now and counters with a hard left hand. They tie up and Carmouche scores with a trip takedown. Into Finney's half guard. Finney gets full guard quickly and she's looking for a triangle. Carmouche avoids it well and lands some knees in Finney's guard. Finney setting up an armbar. Carmouche escapes by slamming Finney into the mat. Now she's standing over Finney and she lands with a couple of hard shots. Finney grabs a leg and takes the top position. Carmouche looking for a triangle. She has rubber guard and she lands a few punches before Finney escapes and passes to side control. More punches from Carmouche off her back. Knees to the body from Finney. The round ends there. 10-9 Carmouche.
Round two: Carmouche comes out with a flying kick. Finney counters with a punch and they clinch right away. Finney pins Carmouche against the fence, but Carmouche scores with the takedown. She has the north south position and she's looking to set up a choke. She doesn't have it. Illegal knee from Carmouche goes unnoticed by the ref, and now she's in Finney's full guard. Punches from Carmouche. More knees from Carmouche. Finney eating more punches as she's trying to set up the triangle. Carmouche with good control, though. Now Finney's looking for the armbar, but Carmouche shrugs it off. Carmouche stands and kicks to the legs and body of her downed opponent. Finney kicks to the knee and then grabs for a single. Carmouche tries a guillotine, but she doesn't have it and Finney stands and pins her against the fence. Knees from both. Carmouche gets stuffed on a judo throw. The referee calls for a separation and Carmouche lands with that kick and punch combo again. Again she drills Finney with a right hand. She's picking Finney apart now. Finney with a hard leg kick of her own just before the bell. 10-9 Carmouche.
Round three: Carmouche has a small cut above her eye. She goes upstairs with a kick, but gets it blocked. Finney with a nice punch. Carmouche back to the legs with kicks. Finney flurries with punches before a clinch. Knees from Carmouche with her back to the fence. Trip takedown from Carmouche and she has full mount. Big punches from Carmouche and Finney gives up her back. Back to full mount and more punches from Carmouche. She turns and gives up her back again as Carmouche continues the onslaught. That's it. The referee has seen enough and he steps in to put an end to the beating. Dominating performance from Liz Carmouche.
Final result: Liz Carmouche defeats Jan Finney via technical knockout (strikes) at 1:30 of round two
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155 lbs.: Caros Fodor vs. Derek Getzel
Round one: Gloves touch and we're underway with the first fight of the night. Getzel goes right to work with punches. Fodor stands in there and counters. Leg kick from Getzel. Now he shoots for a takedown. Fodor stuffs it. Into the clinch with Fodor's back against the fence. Knees from Fodor. Nice elbow from Getzel. Now a hard left hand finds a home for Getzel. More knees from Fodor, but Getzel continues to pin him against the cage. Nice Thai clinch and punches from Fodor. Foot stomp from Getzel. Hard knee from Fodor again. Getzel still with good control against the fence. He delivers a couple of knees now. He drops down low for the takedown and Fodor capitalizes and reverses the position against the fence. Trip takedown from Fodor. He lands in side control. Now to a north south. Back to side control. Good top control from Fodor. He's looking for a keylock. Getzel won't allow it. Getzel works to get half guard. Fodor escapes back to north south and he's looking for the darce. He's got it, and the referee steps in to save Getzel. Very nice job by Fodor there as he passed the guard and locked in the choke simultaneously.
Final result: Caros Fodor defeats Derek Getzel via submission (D'arce choke) at 4:39 of round one
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