Voelker recovers from bad start, TKOs Bowling in second

Book Bobby Voelker-Roger Bowling fights every month! What fan is going to complain? They've fought three times and each bout has been a barnburner. Friday night at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, Voelker scored a nice comeback win by landing a nasty knee in the second round that Bowling never recovered from. Voelker wobbled Bowling with a right knee, saw his opponent's legs fail him, and then finished with nine unanswered shots on the ground at 2:15 of the second round at Strikeforce Challengers 17 .

"It was pretty suspenseful," Voelker told Showtime's Mauro Ranallo. "He was winning the whole way."

Voelker's now won two straight against Bowling, but the loser has nothing to be ashamed about. Bowling outclassed Voelker (24-8) throughout the first round. He dominated the stand up with nasty legs kicks and a great left hook. He actually had Voelker on shaky legs in the final minute of the first, but didn't pour it on.

For some reason in the second, Bowling tried to wrestle and work the clinch game. At 5-foot-8, against the 6-1 Voelker, that proved to be a horrible move. With his back on the cage, Voelker got a thai clinch on Bowling's head and pulled his noggin down into that big� knee. Bowling stumbled backwards and his legs were gone.

Voelker deserves a lot of credit. Some of Bowling's shots in the first would've broken a weaker fighter. The 32-year-old said it was part of the plan against the less-experienced Bowling.

"I just knew he was coming in hard. He always does, that's the way he fights. It's just balls to the wall, ready to take your head off," Voelker said. "I knew I had to wait a little bit, weather the storm and he'd lower his hands a little bit or fade, and I'd catch him with something like I did."

Voelker's won 4-of-5 with Strikeforce and may set for a jump to Strikeforce's bigger shows. According to Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker is considering giving Voelker the winner of the Scott Smith-Tarec Saffiedine fight.

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Rosholt moves one step closer to UFC return with win over Horwich

It's never easy against Matt Horwich, but if you fight smart and stay out his guard, you can get a win. Jake Rosholt didn't thrill the crowd in Frisco, Tx., but he stuck to his gameplan and took out the veteran to improve to 5-1 away from UFC in the main event of Shark Fights 17.

Rosholt (12-3, 1 NC) got a unanimous decision victory, 30-27 on all cards. He mixed takedowns with some solid body work on the feet. The former three-time NCAA Div. 1 national champion wrestler at Oklahoma State scored five takedowns in all, but never went to the ground with Horwich, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt fighting under Eddie Bravo.

"I'm just glad to get out here and get a win against him. It was a scrap. I knew it would be 15 minutes of scrapping," Rosholt told HDNet's Ron Kruck. "I was going to land some strikes, land some to his body and wear him out a little bit. I don't see very many people end Matt Horwich .

Following a loss against Kendall Grove at UFC 106, Rosholt was dropped by the UFC. He's only been a pro in MMA since July of 2007. He entered the WEC as a green fighter and got just one fight with Zuffa's smaller promotion before it phased out the middleweight division. Rosholt was probably thrown to the wolves a little too early in UFC. He went 1-2 with a win over Chris Leben and losses to Grove and Dan Miller. Clearly, his goal is to get back to the UFC.

"I just want to keep fighting and keep getting better all the time. Sooner or later I'll get there. That's where I deserve to be. That's where the best fighters are. That's where I want to fight," said Rosholt.

The takedowns always score with the judges and Horwich stayed on his back too long. On the feet, Horwich's charging flurries confused Rosholt a bit in the first, but it was the wrestler who did more damage in the long run. In the final round, he tried an unorthodox flying knee that missed, but followed it up with a left hook that opened a cut over Horwich's right eye. Horwich also had significant swelling under the eye by the end of the fight.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez was also on the card. He ran through a very overmatched Doug Williams and won via rear-naked choke at 2:16 of the first round. Williams (5-13-1) was a late replacement after a wacky weigh-in day where Rodriguez's original opponent missed the catchweight by 23 pounds. This is a career rebirth for Rodriguez (47-11), who's fighting back from a well-publicized battle against drug addiction. The UFC champ back in 2002 ballooned to 300-plus pounds. Last night, he was 227 pounds and still looks like he should eventually fight down at 205 with some more conditioning work. Rodriguez's previous two fights were at a 215-pound catchweight.

The most dramatic moment of the night came when Alan Jouban crushed and finished Andrew Goldthwaite with a left hook (3:25 mark).

Video tip via Bloody Elbow's Mike Fagan

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Strikeforce fighter St. Preux once snubbed Bobby Bowden

Ovince St. Preux hits the big stage in Las Vegas tomorrow night at Strikeforce Challengers 17. With 14 pro fights under his belt, he won't be nervous. It doesn't hurt either that he played football in front 100,000-plus during his days in the SEC at Tennessee.

OSP would love to get recruited to the UFC at some point in the future. If offered, it won't be a tough decision. It wasn't as easy when he was a star athlete in high school. All the big guns came after the 6-foot-3, 220-pound linebacker/defensive end prospect.

St. Preux joined ESPNRadio1100's DC and the Sunshine Man on Wednesday to talk about his fighting and football background. He said he chose Tennessee over schools like Miami, Florida State, Notre Dame and Clemson. The decision to turn down Bobby Bowden and FSU was made easier when OSP had a little incident go down at his job.

While St. Preux was working at a Burger King in the Immokalee, Fl. area, his boss got a call asking for the star athlete. The manager asked who was calling and thought it was a prank when the voice on the other end said, "it's Bobby Bowden." The BK boss hung up the phone. That wasn't really the make or break moment in St. Preux's recruitment, but it made for a memorable story. OSP went to have a productive career along sides the likes of Kevin Burnett, Erik Ainge, Robert Peace, Cedric Houston and Gerald Riggs Jr.

Now he wants to be mentioned with names like Jon Jones, Quinton Jackson, Rashad Evans, Mauricio "Rua" Shogun and Lyoto Machida. OSP looks for his seventh straight win tomorrow night against Joe Cason in Las Vegas.

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Openly gay Carmouche fighting for plenty of causes this weekend

Liz Carmouche is like most people who fear something they're unfamiliar with; the former Marine hated MMA when she first saw it. Once she learned about the sport and began training, she quickly gained an understanding. Carmouche (on the left) would probably like to see people be as open-minded when it comes to someone's sexual preference.

According to Ben Fowlkes from MMAFighting, Carmouche will be the first openly gay fighter to fight under the Zuffa banner when she steps into the cage on Friday at Strikeforce Challengers 17. Carmouche faces a former champion in Sarah Kaufman (Showtime 11 p.m. ET/PT)

After years of having to hide her identity while an active Marine, Carmouche feels liberated. Said Carmouche:

"It was really difficult. I wouldn't say I came out so much as I came into my own. I really discovered what my sexuality meant to me and what that meant to me as a person. I was able to come out to my family, but other than that I couldn't come out to co-workers or to friends because of what that would mean for my military life and my career. That made my life difficult, because I felt like I was constantly conflicted and at war with myself every day that I faced people."

Carmouche's sexual preference flew under the radar in MMA, but she knows that wouldn't be the case if a male fighter announced he was gay.

"When [men] look at two women, it's 'lesbian action,'" she said. "That's attractive to them. Two men doesn't have that same appeal to them. Two women is just much more appealing to them, because they find it attractive."

Carmouche first felt acceptance in the gym.

"It's pretty funny, because it was obvious to all of us [that she was gay], I think," chuckled Carmouche's coach,�Manny Hernandez. [...]

"At our school we look at it like, she's an athlete," Hernandez said. "She can definitely [expletive] you up. That is something that happens. There are male fighters in the lighter weight classes who will high-tail it out of here, because they didn't sign up to get beat up by a chick. But it happens."

Carmouche (5-1) has been successful in carrying those beatings over to the Strikeforce cage. Back in March, she shocked many by pounding Strikeforce's 135-pound champion Marloes Coenen for three-plus rounds before making a silly mistake and getting caught in a triangle choke. Keep in mind, Carmouche accepted the fight on 10 days notice and has only been a pro since last May. Coenen's been a pro since 2000.

Against Kaufman on Friday, Carmouche gets a chance�to prove the Coenen fight wasn't a fluke�and more importantly break some new barriers.

Luiz Azeredo  Luciano Azevedo  Ba Te er  Ryan Bader  Siyar Bahadurzada

Chad Griggs Wants a 'Real Big Name' Opponent Next - Chad Griggs

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Surf Artist - Robert Heeley

We've just added a new featured artist; Californian Robert Heeley. "Robert draws upon his surfing and sailing lifestyle to create inspired images of seascapes and ocean living. He captures the surfer's dream of spectacular waves at famous surf spots throughout California, Hawaii, Mexico and beyond." Enjoy…

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- www.robertheeleyfineart.com
- www.facebook.com/robertheeleysurfart

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Shane Carwin Discusses Leaner Diet, Plan of Attack Against Junior dos Santos - UFC 131

Shane Carwin Discusses Leaner Diet, Plan of Attack Against Junior dos Santos Video by UFC 131

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