Sarah Alpar def. Shanna Young by submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:55 of Round 2
Young and Alpar came out of the gate guns blazing, both swinging wildly and getting themselves off balance as they looked to land something significant. Nothing crisp found a home, but Alpar climbed onto Young’s back, only to be reversed, leading to the Knoxville MMA product controlling the remainder of the round with her grappling and work from the clinch along the fence.
In the second, the roles were reversed, with Young connecting with the best blow early, only to have Alpar take things to the ground and hunt for the finish. With one hook in, the LFA titleholder fished her forearm under Young’s chin, sunk in her second hook and squeezed out the tap.
Tony Gravely def. Ray Rodriguez by TKO (strikes) at 2:16 of Round 3
These bantamweights got after it right from the jump, with Rodriguez connecting with a kick almost immediately and Gravely calmly returning fire, setting the tempo for this wildly entertaining, action-packed affair.
Gravely controlled the majority of the opening five minutes, stinging Rodriguez with a collection of sharp left hands and hitting a couple well-timed takedowns. To his credit, Rodriguez remained calm on the canvas, stifling Gravely’s attempts to pass and set up submissions before getting back to his feet and immediately firing off punches and kicks before finishing the round with a takedown of his own.
While the CES champ started the second with a sharp head kick, Rodriguez seemed to turn the tables soon after, taking Gravely down and landing in back mount, looking to lock up a body triangle. But before he could settle into the position, Gravely turned into his guard, got back to his feet and promptly scooped Rodriguez into the air, driving him back down into the mat.
Late in the frame, Gravely meticulously worked his way onto Rodriguez’s back, momentarily threatening with a rear-naked choke, however “The Judge” was able to squirm out, sending this one to the third.
Knowing that he needed a finish, Rodriguez rushed across the cage to start the final round, elevating in hopes of landing a flying knee right out of the chute. But Gravely saw it coming, connected with a left hand and when Rodriguez fell to the canvas, the 27-year-old from Virginia took advantage, ultimately pounding out a finish just over two minutes into the frame.
This was a dominant performance from one of the most UFC-ready competitors to grace the Contender Series this year and he did it against another seasoned, talented fighter.
Julius Anglickas def. Karl Reed by submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:25 of Round 3
The evening kicked off in the light heavyweight division with a clash between evenly matched 6-1 fighters who both have Cameron Olson to thank for the lone blemish on their resumes.
In each of the first two rounds, Reed and Anglickas spent the first half of the frame grinding things out along the fence and on the ground, neither man really gaining a significant advantage or doing any real damage. Late in each frame, the duo opened things up a little, Anglickas getting looser with his hands and Reed having greater success on the canvas.
Early in the third, Anglickas looked to hurt a fading Reed, connecting with a series of clean shots in space, but he promptly pushed forward into the clinch, where Reed was initially able to slow things down. Undaunted, the reigning LFA light heavyweight champion dumped Reed to the canvas and continued grinding, eventually latching onto a rear-naked choke and forcing Reed to tap.
It wasn’t flashy, but Anglickas stayed patient, continued pressing forward and took advantage of the opportunity to finish when it was present, submitting Reed and pushing his winning streak to five.
