LEMOORE, Calif. -- Former World Extreme Cagefighting light heavyweight champion
Doug Marshall dazzled in his second Palace Fighting Championship appearance, as he steamrolled
Rafael Real in the main event at PFC 11 “All In” on Thursday at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino.
Marshall (9-3) -- who has won back-to-back fights since he relinquished the WEC belt to
Brian Stann in March -- dropped Real with a knee to the body and finished him with strikes just 1:09 into round one.
Seven of Marshall’s nine career victories have come inside the first round, and the 33-year-old Californian still has never had a fight reach the judges. Real (5-11) has dropped three straight bouts and five of his last six.
Meanwhile, PFC light heavyweight champion
Jorge Oliveira successfully defended his title in a rematch with
Isaiah Larson.
Scheduled for five rounds, the bout nearly ended in the first, when Larson landed a crushing blow to Oliveira’s groin. The champion took his allotted five minutes to recuperate and, at one point, untied his shorts, looked down and winced in pain.
Jeff Sherwood/Sherdog.com
Jorge Oliveira's submission
game was the difference
against Isaiah Larson.
The rest of the fight played out like a 25-second loop. Oliveira (4-2-1) struck and Larson clinched. Then, near the middle of round three, Oliveira mounted Larson and blasted away at his challenger. Trying to defend against the champion’s barrage, Larson (6-2) left his arm exposed, and Oliveira capitalized. He extended the armbar and coaxed the tapout 2:18 into the third.
In one of the night’s most anticipated fights,
Rambaa Somdet made his United States debut a memorable one, as he outpointed previously unbeaten
Ulysses Gomez in the second of two flyweight tournament semi-finals.
The 34-year-old Somdet (6-2) lived up to his reputation as a dangerous striker and came close to finishing Gomez with a series of uppercuts in the first round. But Gomez (2-1) survived and showed his mettle during the course of the next two periods. He even caught a break when Somdet was deducted a point for illegal blows to the back of the head in the second. In the end, the deduction did not factor into the outcome, as Somdet carried the judges’ scorecards by 29-27, 29-28 and 29-27 counts.
Somdet will face
Pat Runez -- a unanimous decision winner over Luis Gonzales in the other semi-final -- for the vacant flyweight championship at PFC 12 on Jan. 22.
Somdet and Runez (1-0) were not the only fighters who needed assistance from the judges.
International Fight League veteran and Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt
Leopoldo Serao snapped a two-fight losing streak and defeated
Jaime Jara by unanimous decision in a middleweight title eliminator match.
Serao (15-7) dictated the action for two rounds and held on in round three. Jara (20-6) controlled Serao from the top late in the fight, as he pounded away with looping right hands and hammerfists. Though Serao was cut and bloodied, he weathered the onslaught and maintained his lead on the scorecards. The Brazilian will reportedly face
Phil Collins -- a unanimous decision winner over
Kenny Ento earlier on the card -- for the PFC middleweight crown at PFC 12.
In a competitive lightweight affair,
Dominique Robinson picked up arguably the most impressive victory of his career, as he earned a unanimous decision against
Takumi Nakayama -- one of only two men ever to submit
Tatsuya Kawajiri.
The two engaged from the start, but the action was halted when Robinson (4-2) delivered a brutal low blow to his Japanese counterpart. Nakayama (13-12-4) was afforded five minutes to recover and later threatened Robinson with a submission. His efforts went for naught, however, as the judges sided with Robinson, who has won both his fights inside the PFC ring.
Elsewhere,
Eddie Yagin continued to pick up steam, as he stunned former PFC featherweight champion
Shawn Bias with a third-round submission.
Contested at a catchweight of 148 pounds, the bout was perhaps the most competitive of the night. It was also the bloodiest. Bias cut Yagin (12-3-1) with vicious elbows in the first round but was unable to finish. Yagin easily controlled the second with excellent top control and elbows on the ground.
With the fight even heading into the third, it took a dramatic turn in Yagin’s favor. The 29-year-old caught Bias (13-7) in a guillotine choke while he attempted a takedown and forced the tapout 37 seconds into the final period. Yagin, who has won four straight, will move on to face
Casey Olson in a featherweight title eliminator at PFC 12 in January.
Jeff Sherwood/Sherdog.com
Erin Toughill cracks Jan
Finney with a right hand.
Finally,
Erin Toughill notched a unanimous decision over
Jan Finney in her first appearance in more than two years.
Toughill (8-2-1) pressed the action throughout the match, especially when the fight hit the ground. There, she presented a constant submission threat from her back. The 31-year-old Chicagoan -- who retired from mixed martial arts after her victory against
Jen Case in 2006 -- was cast as “Steel” on season two of “American Gladiators,” which premiered on NBC in May.
Finney (4-6), on the other hand, has lost four of her last five fights -- a streak that includes defeats to
Shayna Baszler and
Meisha Tate.
Poppies Martinez def
Tony Llamas -- Submission (Armbar) 1:51 R1
Darren Crisp def
Mickey Martinez -- Verbal Submission (Strikes) 0:22 R2
Paulina Ramirez def. Brittany Briano -- Unanimous Decision
Scott McAfee def.
Jason Drake -- TKO (Punches) 2:02 R1
Jason Carpenter def.
Juan Lopez -- Submission (Armbar) 1:51 R1