Healy Decisions Beerbohm; Couture, Prater Score Submission Wins

Saturday, February 19, 2011

By FCF Staff

Pat Healy became the first man to defeat lightweight Lyle Beerbohm last night at Strikeforce’s latest Challengers card in Cedar Park, Texas, by working his way to a unanimous decision victory. The thrilling bout included highlight reel submission attempts and back-and-forth action, but in the end, Healy was awarded two of the three rounds by each ringside judge. With the win, Healy’s record improves to 26-17 while Beerbohm’s drops to 15-1. (Pictured: Beerbohm hitting Healy with a right)

“He talked a lot of trash, but if he wants a rematch, I’ll give him one anytime,’’ said Healy afterwards. “Beerbohm fought a good fight but I think I outworked and outhustled him. I’d like to fight the winner of the March 5 fight between Billy Evangelista and Jorge Masvidal.’’

“I definitely thought I won,’’ Beerbohm said. “I thought going into the third we’d each won a round, but I definitely thought I won that last round. I took the fight to him from the start. But that’s what happens when you let it go to the hands of the judges.’’

Healy working a choke on Beerbohm

Carlo Prater ended his two fight losing streak in impressive fashion by submitting Bryan Travers just 38 seconds into their 160lb. catch-weight bout. Prater wrapped up Travers with a beautifully executed anaconda choke, as a scramble ensued just moments into the fight, to record the 26th victory of his career.

“My record shows I’m not a perfect fighter, but when you’re down you get up,’’ Prater said. “This was a good win, I’ll get better off this fight, but I’ll be right back in the gym soon.’’

Prater after choking out Travers
Despite the fact he remains one of the sport’s most highly monitored prospects, Ryan Couture, son of MMA legend Randy, once again looked poised and collected in his fight with lightweight Lee Higgins. Couture utilized effective footwork and strikes throughout much of the bout to move ahead of a game Higgins on the score card, before tapping him out in the third round with a rear-naked-choke.

"It felt good to be in there,’’ Couture said, “but the guy was tough as nails. I’m real glad I was able to get him there at the end. For the most part I was happy with my standup and getting almost 15 minutes in there was good.’’

Couture landign a right hand on Higgins
Here are the complete results from last night’s Challengers card.

Pat Healy def. Lyle Beerbohm via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Carlo Prater def. Bryan Travers via submission (anaconda choke) - R1, 0:38
Ryan Couture def. Lee Higgins via submission (rear-naked choke) - R3, 4:41
Ryan Larson def. Erik Apple via submission (triangle choke) - R 2, 3:14
David Douglas def. Nick Gonzalez via submission (rear-naked choke) - R1, 1:05
Ousmane Thomas Diagne def. Aaron Franco via TKO (strikes) - R1, 4:22
Drew Pendleton def. Dennis Dombrow via submission (guillotine) - R2, 2:38