Weekend Rundown: McCorkle, Foster, Straus Pick Up Midwestern Wins

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Before he joined the UFC, Sean McCorkle made his bones rolling through nine straight opponents in his native Indiana without a loss. Since his March eviction from the Octagon, it’s been back to business on the regional circuit for “Big Sexy,” who picked up back-to-back first-round wins in July and August. On Saturday, the 6-foot-7 heavyweight earned his third straight victory in the main event of Chicago Cagefighting Championship 4.

McCorkle, 35, needed less than two minutes to submit sub-.500 Nebraskan Justin Grizzard in their clash at the Odeum Sports and Expo Center in Villa Park, Ill. The three-time UFC veteran brought the fight where he wanted it almost instantly, catching a low kick from Grizzard and shoveling him to the canvas, where McCorkle applied a series of armlocks. A straight armbar gave way to a kimura, forcing Grizzard to tap at the 1:57 mark and improving McCorkle’s record to 13-2 with 12 finishes.

On the CCC 4 undercard, 23-year-old “Little Juggernaut” Carson Beebe handed previously unbeaten Daniel Aguirre his first loss. Beebe, the younger brother former WEC bantamweight champ Chase Beebe and a preliminary contestant on Season 14 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” used his collegiate wrestling base to snuff out Aguirre across three rounds, taking scores of 30-27 on all three judges’ cards.

Elsewhere in the Midwest, Bellator Fighting Championships fourth-season featherweight tournament runner-up Daniel Straus took a grinding decision over UFC vet Jason Dent in the 155-pound title headliner of NAAFS “Caged Fury 15” at the Cleveland International Exposition Center.

Straus, who had a 12-fight winning streak snapped by Patricio Freire in May, spent the better part of 25 minutes working from top position, wearing down Dent with ground-and-pound. After five rounds, two judges sided with Straus by scores of 50-45, while the third official saw it a closer 48-47.

The other pair of professional bouts on “Caged Fury 15” saw middleweight strangler Tyler Beckley submit Kevin Zalac, moving Beckley to 5-1 with five wins via rear-naked choke, and lightweight Julian Lane improve to 3-0 with a second-round rear-naked-choking of Victer Crenshaw.

Quick Hits

Two weeks after taking out Englishman Jack Mason in London, welterweight Brian Foster returned to the cage to face old-school UFC vet LaVerne Clark at Saturday’s Capital City Cage Wars 7 in Springfield, Ill. Foster notched another speedy submission win, forcing Clark to tap out via armbar after 2:31, a win which brings the 27-year-old Oklahoman closer to a return to the UFC, who released Foster earlier this year following a series of medical troubles.

Shonie Carter snapped a six-fight winless streak and picked up his 50th professional victory on Saturday at Snoqualmie Casino in Snoqualmie, Wash. The well-traveled 39-year-old -- who announced his retirement last November, only to reemerge four months later -- earned a unanimous decision over local favorite Landon Showalter in the main event of Rumble on the Ridge 20.

Former Arizona State wrestler and current Arizona Combat Sports middleweight Clifford Starks pushed his unbeaten MMA record to 7-0 with a unanimous decision win (29-28, 29-28, 30-27) over Houston native Artenas Young at Saturday’s Shark Fights 20 in Laughlin, Nev. Also on the bill, once-beaten Bellator vet Roberto Vargas put the first blemish on Iowa featherweight Jared Downing’s record with a split verdict (30-27, 30-27, 27-30) and Eddie Bravo pupil Alan Jouban moved to 3-1 by outpointing fellow Californian D.J. Roberson (29-28, 29-28, 30-27).

Sydney-based Nebraskan Nick Honstein picked up his fifth win of 2011 and defended his featherweight title Saturday at Brace for War 12 in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. As he had done with three previous opponents on the year, Honstein finished local challenger Daniel Richardson with a rear-naked choke at 1:42 of the opening round.

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