Team Quest Punishes the Competition and “TheProfessor” is Still the Champ
Photos & Story by Greg Peterson / Greg’s PhotographyInc.Matt Lindland and Randy Couture brought SportFight 17 back to Portland, Oregon for another exciting night of fights for the thousands of fans that came to the Rose Garden Arena. Not only did they bring the production but they also brought 8 great fighters from their fight club; Team Quest. When all of the fights were said and done, Team Quest won 7 out of 8 fights of the night. Their only disappointing loss was Ian Loveland vs. Trevor Burnell. These two fighters seemed very eager to fight each other at the weigh-ins and it continued in the ring. Both fighters pushed the action from the start but it was Burnell that landed a left punch that caught Loveland and left him defenseless and gave Burnell a first round knockout at 1:01. Even after winning the fight Burnell seemed rather upset with Ian Loveland, and stomped around the ring calling him names. Burnell went on to become confrontational with world class trainer Robert Follis when he came to congratulate Burnell’s corner. At that point the fans realized why the night had been titled “Hot Zone”.
Team Quest’s first win of the night was for GregThompson vs. Elli Peterson with the judges giving thedecision to Thompson. John Krohn, with Team Quest,controlled Reno Buckstuber and secured a rear nakedchoke at 1:50 of the first round. The third fight ofthe night went the distance, with Mike Dolce vs. JoshBurnham. Dolce opened the fight with a flurry of kneesand then led into a barrage of strikes and a takedown.Round two started with a punch from Dolce that seemed to set back Burnham and continued with Dolce pushing the action. In round three Burnham seemed to be starting to have a little better results, but it was alittle too late according to the judges decision toaward Team Quest’s Mike Dolce with the win. JD Stanley and Jon Clift faced each other in the fourth bout of the night. Stanley opened up the fight with a spinning kick combination that he was planning to use to gain some space between them and follow up with another kick, but Clift caught Stanley with a punch in the middle of the combination and caused Stanley to change his game plan. He then got the takedown which led to Clift’s feet being wrapped up in Stanley’s arms, so Stanley grabbed a foot and started twisting and got the tap out at 1:40 of the first round.
In the Heavy Weight class, the new Team Quest member, Thierry Sokoudjou was matched against Paul Wernecki. They started exchanging strikes but ultimately a high kick from Sokoudjou knocked out Wernecki at 2:11 of Round One Another Round One knockout victory went to Ed Nuno otherwise known as “Bam Bam”. Tony Sanza now knows why they call Nuno “Bam Bam”, after he received several strikes while standing, Nuno knocked him down and then unleashed a continuous barrage of punches until the referee called the fight at 1:34.
The Main Event featured Chris “The Professor” Wilsonagainst UFC fighter Laverne Clark, for the SportFightWelterweight Championship Title. Clark’s record of22-14-1 shows he’s no beginner in the sport of MMA.However, “The Professor” demonstrated that there isalways more to learn in this sport. When the fightstarted these two warriors circled in the ring tryingto get a feel for each other, but after they clashedthere was no turning back. Wilson landed a solid kickto Clark’s midsection, but Clark managed to grab a legand got the takedown. Once Wilson decided to go to his back, he started to work his game plan by setting up a triangle, Clark kept moving but could not passWilson’s guard. As Wilson went for another trianglechoke, Clark escaped but fell prey to an armbar thatWilson then released and secured an inescapabletriangle choke that forced Clark to tap-out at 3:51 ofRound One. The Professor, Chris Wilson once againproves he is an all around fighter with exceptionalskill.
Another highlight of the night, was when Matt Lindlandentered the ring to announce his involvement in theIFL as a coach of the Wolfpack. His hand picked teamincludes Team Quest fighters Chris Wilson, RyanSchultz, Matt Horwich, and more. The IFL is scheduledSeptember 9, 2006, in Portland, Oregon and willinclude a SUPER FIGHT where Matt “The Law” Lindlandwill face UFC veteran Jeremy Horn. For moreinformation on the IFL, log on to www.ifl.tv.
On August 12, 2006, Matt, Randy, and the SportFightproduction crew take their high quality show to St.Helens for Proving Ground III. The Proving Groundseries features amateur fighters fighting for a chanceto battle at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland,Oregon. As always log on to www.sportfight.tv orwww.gregsphoto.com for results and www.ticketswest.com for tickets to SportFight.