Regional MMA

On Saturday, the focus of the MMA world was on UFC 211 in Dallas. Everyone had their eyes on the title defenses of Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Stipe Miocic. But down in Searcy, Arkansas, there were amateur bouts happening at Pyramid Fights 2 that may end up outshining the leader of MMA.

Jordan Fowler entered with a lousy 2-6 amateur record, officially, while Dylan Goforth was a perfect 2-0, per MixedMartialArts.com. The White County Fairgrounds was set up for Goforth to shine. The members of Tapology were almost unanimous, as 96 percent picked Goforth to continue his streak.

It didn't quite happen that way.

Fowler immediately launched, and landed, a left high kick that would have made Mirko Cro Cop proud. Goforth hit the canvas in a heap. He was out...cold. In just four seconds.

Per Pyramid Fights, the head kick marks a new Arkansas record for fastest KO.

There are worse ways to notch your first career win in MMA. Amateur or otherwise. Take a bow, Jordan Fowler. Your 15 minutes are here.

Remember the time Rashad Evans head-kicked Sean Salmon into MMA highlight-reel history at UFC Fight Night 8 in 2007? Sabina Mazo practically replicated it at Legacy Fighting Alliance 9 in Shawnee, Oklahoma, on Friday.

Jamie Thorton began leaning to her left, and Mazo laced a right kick to the chin that stiffened her up immediately. Thorton folded up like a thrift-store accordion and hit the mat inside Firelake Arena like a rock.

The referee saved Thorton from further punishment, and she soon regained consciousness. Her head snapping off the canvas was the greatest cause of concern, as mentioned by LFA commentator and former UFC champion Pat Miletich. Luckily, Thorton walked out under her own power.

The official time of the stoppage came at 4:50 of the first round.

The "Colombian Queen" moved to 3-0 in her short career, and this KO will certainly put more eyeballs on her as she continues to develop in the growing flyweight division.

Mazo put her nomination in for an early knockout of the year contender.

There was a time when being "the next Ronda Rousey" was MMA's ultimate compliment. Once the UFC's dominant champion at bantamweight, Rousey helped catapult the sport right into the heart of the American mainstream with her combination of fierce grappling and pinup looks.

Mackenzie Dern (2-0), who fights Friday night against Katherine Roy on AXS TV, has all the attributes to become Rousey's successor as the queen of women's MMA. Quick with a smile and easy on the eyes, Dern's persistent positivity, indescribable accent (a combination of her dual roots in Brazil and Arizona) and God-given charisma turn heads wherever she goes.

"She's incredible at what she does well," former UFC welterweight champion Pat Miletich, who has called Dern's early fights as a color commentator for AXS TV, said. " She's friendly, fun to talk to, marketable. Even today during weigh-ins, when most fighters are miserable, she was all smiles and having a good time."

If looks alone could propel a star to success, there would be models lined up around the block at UFC headquarters for their shot at the limelight. But while the 23-year-old Dern's beauty may be the first thing you notice, it's her Brazilian jiu-jitsu that brought her to the dance.

Like Rousey, she was an athletic prodigy, winning competitions from an early age and dominating adults as a teenage blue belt. She moves on the mat like she was born for it—and perhaps she was. Her father, Wellington "Megaton" Dias, was a dominant player in the fledgling jiu-jitsu scene of the 1990s and started bringing his young daughter to the gym when she was just three years old.

"Her dad makes the difference," Miletich said. "When I was young and coming up in this game, 'Megaton' Dias was legendary in jiu-jitsu. Having a guy like that as your dad, going to classes and learning from him, you're going to [be] great at that game."

The results speak for themselves. Dern has won gold in every major grappling competition in existence, from the ADCC World Submission Grappling tournament to the World Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championship, dispatching not only every prominent woman in her weight class, but also giants like the gargantuan Gabi Garcia.

"Rolling with her is a really cool experience," said Dern's teammate at the MMA Lab, UFC bantamweight Lauren Murphy. "I always try to give her my best, and she's almost always two steps ahead of me anyway. She's fast and stronger than she looks.

"One thing she's really good at is seeing submissions everywhere, which I know sounds like 'duh,' but it's true. She's not just a leg lock specialist, or only really good from her guard, or only good on top. She's really, really good everywhere, in every position, so there's no safe place or position to be on the ground with her. She moves a lot and transitions well and has a really good gas tank, so if you stop to breathe or think for a second, she catches you."

Being on the mat with Dern has proved to be an overwhelming experience for the top women grapplers in the sport. She tops the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation's rankings and was FloGrappling's 2016 "Black Belt of the Year."

For MMA fighters unused to competing with top professionals, hitting the mat with Dern can be a truly terrifying experience—and her submission win over Montana Stewart with a modified Imanari choke last year did little to ease fears.

"People down there with her realize what a tight game on the ground actually is," Miletich said. "There are gaps and holes in most people's grappling, but they may not know it until they go up against a world-class person for the first time. That's when you realize, 'Holy s--t. I have nothing for this person.' You go from fighting to win to literally trying to survive."

Of course, in 2017, being called the "next Ronda Rousey" can feel like a double-edged sword. After all, Rousey's meteoric rise was followed by an equally spectacular fall. Her overall game could never match her spectacular ground work, something that, with time and enough tape study, opponents started taking advantage of.

Today, Rousey is a cautionary tale, a dominant athlete from one sport who failed to prepare an adequate backup plan to handle adversity in the cage. Dern, like Rousey, could easily rely on athleticism and otherworldly grappling to carry her up the ladder, but Miletich believes it would be a huge mistake to stick solely with what she knows.

"It's always going to come down to whether she can absorb the other parts of the game fully," Miletich said. "Or at least well enough to keep really talented strikers at bay until she can get a takedown. No matter how good you are, you're eventually going to run into someone who can stop what you do best.

"And that's when you need to be well balanced. That's the difference between a good fighter and a world champion who holds on to the belt."

Dern's pursuit of a well-rounded game has led her to John Crouch, a Royce Gracie black belt who has trained top fighters like former UFC champion Benson Henderson at the MMA Lab in her hometown of Glendale, Arizona. In addition to Henderson and male MMA stalwarts, the Lab's Murphy and former UFC fighter Jocelyn Jones-Lybarger have provided Dern plenty of stiff competition as she attempts to navigate her new world.

"I feel like a white belt again," Dern told FloGrappling last year. "I'm still learning how not to be scared of getting punched, to handle it. Also to not just be getting punched all the time, you know, trying to moving my head. It's going really good. I'm having fun."

Dern is still an MMA neophyte, but that fact isn't always obvious as you watch her train and fight. Her progress, Murphy says, is nothing shy of remarkable.

"Her stand-up game is getting better shockingly quick," she said. "She's not afraid to fail and willing to work on the skills she's not great at. It's pretty cool watching her throw combos in sparring that we've all been working on or drill a certain wrestling shot until she gets it right.

"If she continues that, she could most definitely be incredibly successful in MMA. She's tough and she hits hard. She's already a wizard on the ground. Mackenzie has the potential to be a world champion."

Despite her demonstrable excellence, there are some worrisome signs. Dern, who competes at 130 pounds in the grappling world, has twice struggled to make the 115-pound limit in MMA. The 125-pound flyweight class may be her ultimate home, but right now it's a division the UFC doesn't promote.

That leaves Dern with the unenviable task of either being undersized at bantamweight or learning how to shed weight to make strawweight. While Miletich believes the proper solution is more weight classes, he says her refusal to give up jiu-jitsu competitions and bouncing around between multiple weights is also a major factor.

"Every time you have to cut weight it's a mental and physical roller coaster," he said. "Doing it for two combative sports is even harder. She goes up that big hill for a jiu-jitsu competition, comes down, then has to climb right back up another hill for MMA. It's exhausting.

"I had a talk with her and said, 'Maybe it's time to put the jiu-jitsu away. You're a two-time world champion. Why not focus on this MMA thing for a while?' At some point, she's going to have to get this dialed in if she wants to go to the UFC."

While Legacy Fighting Alliance is her current home—and the perfect place to develop her skill sets and solve lingering issues with her weight—there's no doubt Dern has her sights locked in on the UFC.

"The UFC talked to us already," Dern told MMA Junkie last year. "My team and my coaches, we talked with them, and we definitely want to—I want to be there. I'm hoping in 2017 I'll be there. But I don't want to get just thrown into the shark tank. I want to go in there being a shark. I don't want to be the fish for the sharks."

Jonathan Snowden covers combat sports for Bleacher Report. Dern fights Katherine Roy on Friday at Legacy Fighting Alliance. The entire main card will be televised live on AXS TV at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

Mark Cherico sees his future clearly, and it's encased by an octagon of steel. 

Strolling into his Pinnacle Fighting Championships 9 bout with Brian "Boom" Kelleher (10-7), the undefeated Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, product feels he's just one victory away from MMA's biggest show: the UFC. 

"I'm not going to do another local fight," Cherico told Bleacher Report. "I'm so sick of selling tickets and sponsors and all that s**t. This is the fight that's going to get me in the UFC." 

His resume certainly builds a strong case. 

Cherico finished all nine of his amateur bouts inside the distance before turning pro in 2012, as he continued his winning ways, rattling off seven straight victories in just over two years' time—finishing four of them by submission and one via technical knockout (TKO). 

Even more, Cherico is managed by Guardian Sports Group, a team run by ex-UFC fighter Charles McCarthy, which currently houses UFC fighters such as Walt Harris, Alex White and Tecia Torres under its umbrella. 

With the people at Guardian Sports Group behind him, Cherico has already fielded a few offers from the upper leagues, but the timing hasn't been perfect, and the stars simply haven't aligned. 

A win Wednesday, Nov. 26, at Pinnacle FC 9, though, and a call from the UFC brass seems inevitable. 

"Mark has an unbelievable record and belongs in the UFC," said Ed Kapp, one of Cherico's agents at Guardian Sports Group. "But once we sign with the UFC, that's when the real fun is going to start and when he's really going to flourish. Mark does everything he can to finish fights—and finish fights excitingly.

"He also really loves to engage his fans and tell his amazing story. Mark is a superstar in Pittsburgh, and he's doing everything he can to break through at the national and international levels. It certainly won't surprise any of us at Team Guardian when that happens."

While he recognizes this point, Cherico maintains his composure, refusing to look past Kelleher and his bout Wednesday evening. 

"I gotta get past Kelleher first," Cherico said. "That's all I'm thinking about right now. I gotta beat Brian Kelleher on Wednesday, and we'll take it from there." 

Adding a bit of intrigue to the bout, Cherico's Pinnacle FC 9 tilt will take place at a 138-pound catchweight, his first fight below 145 pounds. All seven of Cherico's previous pro victories came at featherweight, and the cut to 138 is all part of his strategy, part of his UFC vision. 

"It's just an easier entrance into the UFC, I think, at 135," Cherico said.

As Kapp notes, once Cherico breaks through that door and into the UFC, that's when the fun really begins. 

He's been otherworldly at the regional level—a top prospect since he turned pro in 2012—and the UFC can offer the type of matchups that will truly put his skills to test and push him as a fighter and as a person. 

Thankfully, Cherico has a support system in place with his wife, Nicole, and his daughter, Aubree Rose. With these two in his corner, Cherico feels ready to seize the moment, to take what's his and to ascend to the next level, creating a better future and a better life for his family moving forward. 

"She (Nicole) manages everything around the house, takes care of my daughter," Cherico said. "The entire fight camp she just lets me be me and focus on the fight. She's super excited, man, that we're so close to that dream of being in the UFC. It's one step closer to better living and that's always good, too. She can get some more new clothes, some more visits to the casino, all that good stuff [laughs]." 

One more win, one more tick on that undefeated file he calls his fighting record and the goal might just be his for the taking. 

A win over Kelleher will be his 17th in a row since entering the sport as an amateur in 2008.

And in Cherico's eyes, 17 might just be his lucky number. 

"I don't see anywhere he's (Kelleher's) better than me in this fight, so as long as I go out there and stick to our game plan, I'm going to be good to go," he said. "I'll just stay ready, keep my weight down, and the call will come. I know it will." 

You might never see a submission quite like this again. 

At Phoenix Fighting Challenge's inaugural event in Overland Park, Kansas, flyweight Tyler Stokes (2-1) subbed his opponent, Jesse Thacher (0-1), with an insane spladle/kneebar combination just 41 seconds into the very first round. 

That's one way to make sure people come to Phoenix FC 2, I suppose. 

For Stokes, the win is incredibly impressive. While Thacher was making his pro debut, this fight was all Stokes from its onset, according to Phoenix FC's official website. 

Not only did he lock in the crazy fight-ending submission in under a minute, but he kicked the whole series of events off by blasting Thacher with a right hand that sent him tumbling to the mat. From there, Stokes went to work on his woozy foe, cinching the highlight-reel finish in short order. 

While kneebar finishes alone are rare in MMA, kneebars like this are perhaps unmatched (if you know of another one, I'd love to see it!). 

And apparently, this isn't the first time Stokes has hit the move in action. 

Taking to his Facebook page after the fight, Stokes said: "It's awesome seeing everyone's description of the unique submission I finally pulled off in the cage. A lot of people have been calling it a kneebar, but if you ask anyone that I have put that move on they will tell you it's far worse for the hamstring than the knee."

Watching the submission again, that makes perfect sense. In fact, my hamstring just shredded after watching it for the fifth time. 

What do you think of this wacky finish? Where does it rank among the all-time craziest submissions in your eyes? 

Leave a comment, and I'll respond shortly. I need to go get some ice for this hammy. 

Garrett Holeve and David Steffan will meet in a sanctioned MMA bout in St. Charles, Missouri, currently slated for November 7 at the Ameristar Casino. Why is this particular fight on the regional circuit making waves? Holeve is a fighter with Down syndrome, and Steffan has cerebral palsy.

Garrett Holeve, an MMA fighter with Down syndrome, will have a sanctioned match against David Steffan, who has Cerebral Palsy, in Missouri.

— Dan Robson (@RobsonDan) October 8, 2014

Holeve has been in the media previously. ESPN featured him on SportsCenter, where reporter Tom Rinaldi spoke about his cognitive ability:

Garrett is very highly functioning for someone with Down syndrome. He reads, but at or below a third-grade level, and has the cognitive ability of an eight- or nine-year-old. He will likely live with his parents as long as anyone can foresee.

Holeve started a petition asking the Florida Boxing Commission to allow him to compete, and it has collected over 100,000 signatures. Holeve and Steffan were previously scheduled to compete in Florida, but the commission stepped in to cancel the fight. Now, Holeve will have to travel to the Midwest for the bout, as the Missouri commission has given it the go-ahead.

Thanks to the media coverage, more is known about Holeve and his battle than Steffan. The MMA fighter has his own challenges with cerebral palsy. The two fighters have formed a friendship but will put that aside for however long the fight may go.

Steffan is an inductee in Nebraska's Special Olympics Hall of Fame for soccer.

Sportnet's Dan Robson attended Holeve's February 2013 amateur bout and chronicled the emotions of the fight:

It’s a scary thing to watch, a man with Down syndrome being punched in the face or driven hard into a mat. The crowd went wild for Garrett, but you could hear the gasps with every blow he endured. It was uncomfortable, but it was real.

This sanctioned fight will assuredly draw national attention from both supporters and detractors, but it is without question an unprecedented moment in the sport.

The scheduled bout between the two fighters will be sponsored by Fighting for Autism, a charity helping promote autism awareness.

Oklahoma mixed martial arts promotion Battlegrounds MMA is poised to bring back a relic of the past: Eight-man elimination tournaments held over the course of a single day.

Officials with the promotion informed Bleacher Report of the news on Thursday afternoon.

Olympic gold medalist Kenny Monday is the president of the promotion, while former Strikeforce matchmaker Rich Chou will serve as matchmaker for the tournaments.

Battlegrounds received permission to run the tournaments—dubbed Battlegrounds: One Night Elimination (O.N.E.)—from the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission after Bryan O'Rourke, managing partner for Battlegrounds, petitioned the commission for changes to the rules.

You can see the full text of that petition here. The commission unanimously passed the petition on Wednesday.

They'll be using a slightly modified version of the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. Elbows will be illegal in all fights except for the final. The preliminary tournament fights will also feature three five-minute rounds, with the final going five rounds.

The event will be held June 27 at the BOK Center in Tulsa. 

The promotion is currently in talks with several potential partners regarding broadcast rights. 

The idea for bringing back the tournament format began as a germ of an idea between O'Rourke and Chou.

"We've all been a part of one-night and Grand Prix elimination tournaments, and Kenny has competed countless times in a tournament format, so we recognized the energy this format brings," O'Rourke told Bleacher Report.

There was just one problem: fighter safety. One-night tournaments have become largely verboten in mixed martial arts due to safety issues. But O'Rourke said they had fighter safety in mind from the beginning.

"We were confident we could get the format approved if we could show the safety levels went above and beyond current standards, and we've set the bar for MMA globally," he said. "The Oklahoma State Athletic Commission is progressive, and fighter safety is their credo, so receiving their unanimous approval was proof that our plan provides the greatest fighter safety standards in the world."

The winner of the Battlegrounds O.N.E. tournament will receive a $50,000 prize. It is sure to garner interest from both fighters and fans who miss the old PRIDE Grand Prix events. O'Rourke hopes the O.N.E tournament will fill that need rather than serve as competition for the UFC.

"There is a major gap between the UFC, Bellator and WSOF," he said. "We're looking toward a grass-roots base of wrestling and MMA fans supporting a revitalization of the one-night, eight-fighter elimination tournament to fill that empty space."

Invicta FC 6 is underway.

The main event will see the coronation of the inaugural Invicta FC featherweight champion. Marloes Coenen and Cris "Cyborg" Santos square off for the second time in their careers. The two pioneers will try to settle their score once and for all.

In the co-main event of the evening, Ayaka Hamasaki squares off with Claudia Gadelha to determine the top contender for Carla Esparza's strawweight championship.

Check your cable and satellite providers for pay-per-view information. The event is also available for $14.95 on Ustream.

Stay tuned here at Bleacher Report for full coverage of the sixth installment of Invicta FC.

Quick Results

Invicta FC Featherweight Championship: Cris Cyborg defeats Marloes Coenen by 4:02 of the fourth round

Claudia Gadelha defeats Ayaka Hamasaki by TKO at 3:58 of the third round

Lauren Taylor defeats Sarah D'Alelio by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Leslie Smith defeats Jennifer Maia by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Jessica Penne defeats Nicdali Rivera-Calanoc via submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:57 of the first round

Joanne Calderwood defeats Norma Rueda Center by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Mizuki Inoue defeats Bec Hyatt by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Miriam Nakamoto defeats Duda Yankovich by TKO at 2:08 of the first round

Tecia Torres defeats Rose Namajunas by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Emily Kagan defeats Ashley Cummins by split decision (30-27, 28-29, 30-27)

Livia von Plettenberg defeats Kathina Catron by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)