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Strikeforce Challengers VI "Kaufman vs. Hashi"
San Jose Civic Auditorium
San Jose, California


Strikeforce Challengers/SHOWTIME LIVE Results & HD Pictures


Main Card:

Strikeforce Women's World Welterweight Championship:
Sarah Kaufman vs. Takayo Hashi via Decision - Unanimous (50-45 all cards)


Trevor Prangley vs. Karl Amoussou - No Contest (Amoussou poked in the eye in Round 1)

Luke Rockhold vs. Paul Bradley via TKO - Strikes Round 1 (2:24)

James Terry vs. Tarec Saffiedine via Decision - Unanimous (30-27 all cards)

Raul Castillo vs. Yancy Medeiros via Decision - Unanimous (30-27 all cards)


Undercard:

Eric Lawson vs. Wayne Philliips via Submission - Armbar Round 1 (4:27)
Chris Stewart vs. Samuel Bracamnonte via TKO - Strikes Round 3 (0:59)
George Miller vs. Tristan Arenal via TKO - Strikes Round 2 (0:30)
Jesse Tobar vs. Johnson Nguyen via Submission - RNC Round 2 (1:24)
Renee Robinson vs. Lilia Salas via TKO - Strikes Round 1 (1:06)
Steve Dickie vs. Alan Lummel via TKO - Strikes Round 1 (0:33)
Ronald Carillo vs. Anthony De Los Santos via Submission - Armbar Round 2 (1:20)


Photos Courtesy of Esther Lin/Strikeforce








Sarah Kaufman pitched a five-round shutout over Takayo Hashi to capture a unanimous five-round decision and the first-ever STRIKEFORCE Female 135-pound (welterweight) world championship in the main event Friday on SHOWTIME®.










What was shaping up as good fight between Karl Amoussou and Trevor Prangley ended in a first-round techical draw at 4:14 due to an accidental eye-poke.










Luke Rockhold scored an impressive 2:24, first-round TKO (strikes) over Paul Bradley in one of the featured bouts on STRIKEFORCE: Challengers.










Tarec Saffiedine won a unanimous three-round decision over James Terry at the San Jose Civic Auditorium.








Yancy Medeiros earned a one-sided three-round decision over Raul Castillo in the opening match of the telecast.

SARAH KAUFMAN DEFEATS TAKAYO HASHI TO BECOME FIRST STRIKEFORCE WOMEN’S WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPION IN HISTORY AT STRIKEFORCE CHALLENGERS

Rockhold Crushes Bradley, Saffiedine and Medeiros Victorious On SHOWTIME® at STRIKEFORCE’s Birthplace in San Jose



Before a sold out crowd of 2,322, former ballet dancer turned undefeated professional mixed martial arts (MMA) star Sarah Kaufman (11-0) became the first STRIKEFORCE Women’s Welterweight (135 pounds) Champion in history by powering her way to a five-round unanimous decision over Japan’s Takayo Hashi (12-2) in the STRIKEFORCE Challengers main event at San Jose’s Civic Auditorium on Friday, Feb. 26, on SHOWTIME®.

Luke Rockhold (7-1) continued his climb up the middleweight (185 pounds) ladder with a stunning first-round (2:24) TKO over Paul Bradley (12-2). A middleweight contest between former South African national wrestling champion Trevor Prangley (22-5-1) and France’s Karl Amoussou (11-2-2) ended prematurely after Prangley accidentally poked Amoussou in the eye, leading to a doctor stoppage and technical draw being declared.
From the outset, Kaufman pressed the action with a stiff jab and one-two punch combinations, but was unable to finish Hashi who repeatedly backpedaled her way out of trouble. Kaufman landed her best shots in the first round, dropping Hashi with a straight right hand.

In the third stanza, Kaufman sent Hashi reeling back and nearly put down the Japanese fighter for a second time in the bout with a straight right hand. After a Kaufman jab snapped Hashi’s head back, Hashi responded by shooting for a takedown that Kaufman stuffed.

A chess match ensued for the remainder of the bout. Kaufman continued to score with her hands and right leg kick while Hashi retreated to avoid imminent danger. All three judges scored all five rounds in favor of Kaufman.

In the first round of their much anticipated matchup, Rockhold dropped Bradley with a right hand to the side of the head. Bradley fought his way back to his feet, but Rockhold quickly went on the attack, scoring a head kick and following up with three straight knee strikes to the body.

Badly battered from the series of blows, Bradley turned his back, prompting the referee to immediately stop the action.

As expected, Amoussou came out of the gates firing punches at Prangley, who covered up and countered the Frenchman’s assault with his own hands. Prangley scored a takedown, but was unable to advance his position from half guard.

After the referee stood up the fighters, Prangley, with an open left hand, accidentally poked Amoussou in the right eye. The ringside physician immediately entered the cage and examined Amoussou, who was unable to open his eye, and declared the fighter unable to continue at the 4:14 mark of the first round (According to MMA rules in the state of California, the ringside physician has the discretion to stop a bout in the event that an accidental foul causes an injury).

In other action Yancy Medeiros (5-0) of Waianae, Hawaii dominated Raul Castillo (6-1) at middleweight with continuous flurries throughout the matchup between the unbeaten fighters.

Medeiros stuffed Castillo’s repeated takedown attempts and continued to pour on the punishment with both hands, putting Castillo on the canvas with a right hand in the third round. After an exchange of shots brought the bout to a close, all three judges awarded the fight to Medeiros.

Like Medeiros, Tarec Saffiedine (8-2) maintained an all-out stand up offensive in a welterweight (170 pounds) fight with James Terry (7-2) for three straight rounds, opening a cut on Terry’s lower lip and bringing about a welt under Terry’s left eye.
Terry repeatedly attempted to bring the fight to the mat, but Saffiedine defended the takedowns well and responded with more strikes. After three rounds, Saffiedine was declared a unanimous points winner.

Amongst those in attendance at Civic Auditorium, was MMA's newest star, football legend Herschel Walker, as well as STRIKEFORCE World Welterweight Champion Nick Diaz, and STRIKEFORCE World Lightweight Champion Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez.
During an interview with STRIKEFORCE Challengers host Mauro Ranallo, Walker said, "(MMA) is the toughest sport there is. To step in the cage and go mano-a-mano, there's nothing like it. It is the toughest training I've ever done."

Regarding his future in the sport, the 47-year-old Walker said, "I will leave that up to my team at AKA (American Kickboxing Academy, San Jose) when I get back in the gym. We'll see if they say I am capable of going again. (If they do), we'll do it again."

That was the worst event in a long time. By the the 3rd round of Hashi and Kaufman there were like 5 people left in the arena.

Tarec looks like his is going to be a force after awhile...few more solid Challenge fights and he will be good to go. His opponent, James Terry, is tough as nails but was just outclassed standing and couldn't hold Tarec down when he got him there..which was extremely seldom.

Amoussou vs Prangley....interesting. Amoussou is used to hitting someone once and KO'ing them. He hit Prangley HARRRDD Several times but wasn't even moving Prangley. Prangley in turn hit him a couple times HAARRDD and really shocked Amoussou. Prangley was also starting to control the bout with his takedowns. Then, Prangley accidently poked Amoussou in the eye....it didn't take very long for Amoussou to say he "couldn't" fight anymore. I put that in quotations because i honestly think that Amoussou didn't want anymore of what Prangley was brining to him. I think he used to eye poke as an out.
It is going to be very hard for me to except such an end to a fight when Franklin got his eye CUT by Henderson and continued to battle. Amoussou's eye didn't even look red. I honestly think he just wanted an out. He hit Prangley with everything he had and couldn't do anything to him, but Prangley was coming on strong and hurting him.....i think Prangley feels the same way i do.

Luke Rockhold....give this man some competition so he can build a really good name for himself...my Lord. Luke beasted through that guy like he has everyone else. Love watching him fight!

The womens fight....siiiggghh....again, more proof that most women lack the power to turn the lights out of someone else. 5 rounds of another out matched japanese fighter with BJJ getting beat on their feet.

BJJ Black Belt in Womans MMA is really a complete disadvantage. Good a decent sprawl and learn stand up...i'm getting less and less impressed with womans mma..starting to not care about it at all.

For me, probably the worst Challenge series yet, but i was excited to see Rockhold right and Prangley fight...

longlivemma wrote:
For me, probably the worst Challenge series yet, but i was excited to see Rockhold right and Prangley fight...

I MISSED THE SHOW BUT FROM WHAT I HAVE HEARD I DIDN'T MISS SHIT.