Ludwig Stops Morgan, Trigg Defeats Vitale At Strikeforce BROOMFIELD, CO— Knockout artist Duane “Bang” Ludwig (17-8) capped off an
electrifying night of Strikeforce mixed martial arts (MMA) action, scoring a
first round TKO on Sam “The Squeeze” Morgan (19-12), in their
highly-anticipated rematch at Broomfield, Colorado’s Broomfield Event Center on Friday,
October 3rd. Superstar Frank “Twinkle Toes” Trigg (18-6) controlled the action
against Falaniko “Niko” Vitale (26-9) for three consecutive rounds to notch
a unanimous judges’ decision victory.
Morgan, who stopped Ludwig in 52 seconds when they faced off three years
ago, took Ludwig down early in the first. Ludwig stood up shortly thereafter,
though, and began to find his mark with his left hook and right hand.
A hard left hand to the body from Ludwig staggered Morgan. Ludwig followed
up with a hard right hand to the head that put Morgan on his knees. Still on
his feet, Ludwig blasted the downed Morgan with a left hand to the
midsection.
Ludwig dropped into Morgan’s guard and began tagging Morgan with a flurry of
blows. Morgan turned on to his side in an effort to escape the barrage,
but Ludwig continued the heavy offensive until Morgan verbally submitted at the
2:01 mark of the first round.
Trigg, a former NCAA wrestling stud and 2000 Olympic wrestling trials
finalist, showed off his stand-up combat skills, repeatedly backing Vitale into the
cage and setting up flurries of elbows and right hands with a straight left
hand, followed by a hard knee to the head. Vitale attempted to counter each
time, but Trigg either controlled Vitale’s arms against the fence or back
pedaled out of harm’s way.
In the third round, Trigg scooped his opponent up and slammed him, but was
unable to make any headway on the ground.
Michelle “The Karate Hottie” Waterson (5-2) made good on her promise of an
explosive fight and also made it a short night for Tyra Parker (0-2).
After scoring a straight right hand that stunned Parker, Waterson backed her
opponent into the corner and began unloading knees to Parker’s face while the two
were clinched.
Parker escaped, but made the mistake of turning her back, which allowed
Waterson to latch on and sink in a choke. With the hold firmly intact, Waterson
brought Parker to the ground and produced a submission at 1:20 of the
opening round.
Two-time New York State Metropolitan Boxing Champion and Muay Thai Champion,
Carlos Zevallos (1-0), survived an early storm at the hands of fellow light
heavyweight (205 lb. limit) Andre “The Silencer” Walker (1-4) before turning
the tides on Walker with a series of knee strikes in the clinch.
Zevallos took Walker to the ground and quickly transitioned from side
control to mount where he rained down on Walker with punches until the referee
called an end to the bout at the 4:48 mark of the opening round.
Billy Evangelista (8-0) was dropped twice in the first round by Luke “Lil’
Hulk” Caudillo (14-11) in lightweight (155 lb. limit) action, but made it to
his feet after the second knockdown and launched a fearsome attack that,
soon after, put Caudillo on his knees. An onslaught of punches from inside
Caudillo’s guard forced “Lil’ Hulk” to turn over, allowing Evangelista to sink
in a choke before the bell sounded.
Evangelista capitalized on the momentum he gained and controlled the pace of
the fight in rounds two and three. Caudillo’s takedown defense was strong,
but Evangelista managed to score a takedown in the third and final round and
drop punches from both sides.
A slowdown in the action prompted the referee to stand the fighters up.
Evangelista was awarded a unanimous judges’ decision following the close of the
third round, raising his undefeated record to 8-0.
After keeping the fight standing for the majority of the first two rounds,
Donnie Liles (12-5) decided to bring his welterweight (170 lb. limit) fight
with Pete “The Secret Weapon” Spratt (18-15) to the mat, scoring two takedowns
in the third. The second takedown produced dividends as Spratt gave up his
back after being mounted. Liles sunk in a rear naked choke and, from his
back, forced Spratt to tap at 1:59 of the round.
Tyler Toner (3-1), a 25-year-old upstart from nearby Aurora, dominated “
Relentless” Ricky Johnson (0-2) with an all-out assault standing up and strong
defense on the ground before finishing Johnson with a ground and pound
offensive at the mark 3:44 of the second round.
Strikeforce “Payback” was televised live on HDNet.
Complete Strikeforce “Payback” Results:
Tyler Toner def. “Relentless” Ricky Johnson – TKO (Strikes) at 3:44, Round
2
Michelle “The Karate Hottie” Waterson def. Tyra Parker – Submission (Rear
Naked Choke) at 1:20, Round 1
Carlos Zevallos def. Andre “The Silencer” Walker – TKO (Strikes) at 4:48,
Round 1
Billy Evangelista def. Luke “Lil’ Hulk” Caudillo – Unanimous Decision, 3
Rounds (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Donnie Liles def. Pete “The Secret” Weapon” Spratt – Submission (Rear
Naked Choke) at 1:59, Round 3
Frank “Twinkle Toes” Trigg def. Falaniko “Niko” Vitale – Unanimous
Decision, 3 Rounds (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Duane “Bang” Ludwig def. Sam “The Squeeze” Morgan – TKO (Strikes) at 2:01,
Round 1
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.
Contacts:
Mike Afromowitz, Strikeforce – (917) 566-8754 or
_mafromowitz@strikeforce.com_ (mailto:mafromowitz@strikeforce.com)
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