Sonnen Dominates Uscola at Sportfight

Chris RyanOct 28, 2007

PORTLAND, Ore., Oct. 27 -- Chael Sonnen (Pictures) knows whom he wants to fight next.

Seconds after he delivered a convincing victory over Kyacey Uscola (Pictures) at Sportfight XX: Homecoming -- in front of Sonnen's home crowd inside the Rose Garden -- an assistant held up a red and black sign: "Chael Sonnen (Pictures) challenges Frank Shamrock (Pictures)."

"I'm going to go ahead and keep going after him until he accepts," Sonnen, 21-8-1, said after the fight.

Shamrock should have got the message tonight.

After starting the bout, co-sponsored by BodogFIGHT and Sportfight, with a flying knee straight to Uscola's chest, Sonnen was able to get takedowns almost at will. Twice he nearly finished with rear-naked choke attempts, and eventually the fight was stopped in Sonnen's favor four minutes into the first round.

The only blemish to the match was an errant knee to Uscola's head that stopped the action for two minutes.

In the co-main event, another hometown hero, Chris Wilson, continued to show that breaking from the International Fight League was a good idea for him, defeating Derrick Noble (Pictures), 25-11-1, in a unanimous decision.

The second of a four-fight deal with Bodog that Wilson, 14-3-0, signed after deciding to test the open market, this bout went three rounds and was scored in his favor, 30-27 once and 29-28 twice.

Wilson, known for his kicks and triangle chokes, was able to keep Noble's punches at bay. He was dominant on the ground and landed several kick-knee-punch combos that swayed the judges to his side.

In other action, Mike Pierce of Braveheart Gym had a bone to pick with Mike Dolce (Pictures).

Pierce, 5-0, left Team Quest about a year ago and soon began questioning Dolce, 4-4, a Team Quest coach, on a local Internet fight forum. Their words soon devolved into fighting, Dolce referring to Pierce as "a miserable human being."

Pierce confirmed having "a lot" of animosity towards Dolce.

"I left Team Quest because I felt like I was just a number and that I wasn't special," Pierce said. "I did what was right for me. I questioned Dolce on the credentials of some of the new (Team Quest) coaches, and he got upset. It all built up from there."

Pierce ended the grudge match early, scoring a ref stoppage just five seconds into the first round after a vicious takedown that left Dolce reeling. When Dolce came up from the mat, he was unaware of why the fight was over.

Cory Devela, 6-1, of Victory Athletics used flying kicks and punches and then slipped Jon Krohn, 4-11, of Team Quest into a Kimura two minutes into the first round of their middleweight bout.

Krohn weighed in at 201 pounds on Thursday (16 pounds overweight) and had to struggle to reach 185. He looked dazed and dehydrated, even before the first bell, and Devela dominated him.

Featherweight Ian Loveland (Pictures) of Team Quest advanced to a 15-7 record with a hard-fought win over Team Impact's Andy Lukesh, 7-2.

Both fighters let loose kicks and dropped their opponents with mat-slapping suplexes, with Loveland the clear victor of rounds one and two. But the tide seemed to turn in round three. Lukesh took the dominant position in the final stanza and dropped punches and elbows on Loveland's face.

Still, all three judges scored the fight 29-28 in Loveland's favor.

In what may have been the best fight of the night, and definitely the most brutal, Tim Perales, 0-1, emerged from an undefeated amateur career and stepped right into Team Quest's resident bruiser Josh Bennett, 3-1.

With blood splattering as far as the third row, Bennett and Perales traded punches for nearly two rounds until Perales, a late addition to the card, took a punishing right that sent him crashing to the floor.

In the first fight of the night, welterweight hometown-native Nathan Coy, fighting for Team Quest, started his professional career with a decisive win over Aron Emerson, 1-1, of Armstrong Martial Arts.

Coy, 1-0, an All-American wrestler with Oregon State, drove Emerson to the ground early in the second round and pounded his head until he tapped out.

Heavyweight Andy Eicholz, 12-4-1, of St. Andrew's Gym grappled and bear-hugged his way to a victory over Nick Krusmarkis, 6-3, of Victory Athletics. The crowd-displeasing win came via rear-naked choke midway through the second round.

Dave Jansen of Team Quest, 5-0, successfully defended his Sportfight lightweight title with a knockdown and a bout-ending guillotine choke on previously undefeated challenger Dennis Parks, 4-1, of Armstrong Martial Arts.

Middleweights Tyson Jeffries (4-3) of Team Quest and Josh Burnham of Oregon Judo and Jiu-Jitsu got tangled up early in the first round and Burnham (2-3) emerged the victor when Jeffries voluntarily tapped out.