Strikeforce Challengers 14 MMA Results

February 21, 2011

Veteran striker put an end to the undefeated streak of  in a close main event fight that went to the judges' decision at the Strikeforce Challengers 14 event at Cedar Park Center in Cedar Park, Texas on Friday night. Veteran fighter also prevailed in his Strikeforce debut against. , son of MMA legend, remained undefeated in his second-ever bout.

Lyle Beerbohm came into the main event bout with an undefeated 15-0-0 record, in addition to his 8-0-0 amateur record. "This is going to be a fun, tough, hard fight that I expect will go everywhere," stated Beerbohm in a pre-fight media workout on Wednesday. "There’ll be stand-up, wrestling, a little bit of everything. My time has come and I am really looking forward to the fight." Beerbohm also stated he wanted to eventually fight for a Lightweight title, but recognized that he first needed to move past his veteran opponent, Pat Healey, who came into the fight with a record of 25-17-0, who was making his return to action since his loss to  via submission in 2010.

The bout was very close, going the distance through all three rounds. While Beerbohm pushed a lot of the action, especially with grappling on the ground, Healey was able to land more effective strikes and weathered persistent take-down attempts from Beerbohm. The action was back-and-forth, neither fighter never able to clearly dominate the other. The last few minutes of the fight proved to be the best for Healey, who wore down Beerbohm's strength and left him gasping for air, allowing Healey to attempt more submissions on the ground. The three judges scored the bout 29-28, 29-28, and 29-28 to give Healey the unanimous decision win.

After the match, Beerbohm was upbeat, but felt he had won the bout. "I definitely thought I won. I thought going into the third we'd each won a round, but I definitely thought I won that last round. I took the fight to him from the start. But that's what happens when you let it go to the hands of the judges." Healey complimented his opponent, "Beerbohm fought a good fight but I think I outworked and outhustled him." Healey also welcomed the idea of a rematch, stating, "He talked a lot of trash, but if he wants a rematch, I’ll give him one anytime." Asked who he wanted to face next, Healey stated he wanted to fight the winner of the and  on March 5, noting that both fighters had previously defeated his brother, Pat Healey.

The co-main event for the show featured Carlo "Neo" Prater, a veteran fighter with a 25-10-1 record making his Strikeforce debut against the 14-3-0 Bryan Travers. The bout was over in just 38 seconds as Prater used his superior reach to jab Travers several times before using a trip to take Travers to the ground and submitting him with an Anaconda Choke. Prater showed a lot of emotion in his post-fight interview. "My record shows I’m not a perfect fighter, but when you’re down you get up," Prater said. "This was a good win, I’ll get better off this fight, but I’ll be right back in the gym soon."

Ryan Couture, the son of MMA legend Randy "the Nature" Couture, pushed his fight record to 2-0-0 with a victory over 2-0-0 opponent Lee Higgins. Most of the first round featured very little action until Higgins attempted to take down Couture, and found himself fighting off Guillotine Choke and a D'Arce Choke in the last minute of the round. Couture dominated nearly all of the second round with superior stand-up striking and ground control. Higgins fared little better in the third, as Couture was able to put Higgins against the cage and stop Higgins' take-down attempts, and then eventually control Higgins on the ground before submitting him with a Rear Naked Choke with 20 seconds left in the bout.

To round out the broadcast, Ryan Lawson (5-2-0) defeated (10-2-0) at 3:14 of Round 2 by Triangle Choke, and  (6-2-0) defeated Nick Gonzalez (16-8-0, 1 NC) at 1:05 of Round 1 by a Rear Naked Choke submission. The undercard results that were not broadcast, Drew Pendleton (2-0-0) defeated Dennis Dombrow (2-0-0) at 2:38 of Round 2 by Guillotine Choke submission, and Aaron Lanfranco (2-0-0) defeated (1-2-0) at 4:22 of Round 1 by Knockout.

The main card was broadcast in the United States on premium broadcast network. The Showtime  series highlights mixed martial arts fights between up-and-coming fighters as well as veteran fighters who are looking to move up towards the larger Strikeforce events.