Renato Sobral, Scott Smith, and Kim Couture All Winners at Strikeforce Event

Renato 'Babalu' Sobral won his first American-based Light-Heavyweight title, Scott Smith ended things quickly and Kim Couture earned her first victory as part of Strikeforce's event in San Jose, CA, Friday night. The card was televised on HDNet.

- Sobral (31-7) won the Strikeforce belt by defeating The Ultimate Fighter alum and champion Bobby Southworth (9-6) due to a deep cut above Southworth's eye, caused by a nice Sobral elbow. The fight was stopped so the doctor could inspect the cut, but was called after the first round concluded, much to Southworth's dismay. A rematch is expected.

- Scott Smith (14-5) made the best of his first bout since EliteXC closed, taking just 24 seconds to knock out UFC vet Terry Martin (18-6) in the night's main event. It was over so quickly that it's hard to add any detail here. Perhaps it is time for Martin to consider a different career; however, as he's lost four of his last six fights, three by being knocked out.

- Kim Couture (1-1) dominated a terrified Lina Kvokov (0-2), winning her first match by TKO after Kvokov was essentially turning away from Couture to avoid getting hit in the face. Couture looked good, but it's hard to tell how good considering how bad Kvokov looked.

Is it a bad thing that Couture is one of the most-well known female fighters even though she's only had two pro fights? Gina Carano and husband Randy were in Kim's corner.

- Joe 'Diesel' Riggs (29-11) got back to his winning ways, downing Luke Stewart (5-2) via TKO (strikes) in the second round.

- Late-addition Duane "Bang" Ludwig (18-8) got a unanimous decision victory over Yves Edwards (34-15-1), who was supposed to battle injured Lightweight Champion Josh Thomson. The fight stayed on the ground nearly the entire time and was pretty bland.

I was surprised Ludwig won unanimously, as I felt Edwards was pressing the action. To not only have a title shot evaporate, but to lose to an injury sub? Not great for Yves. Thomson did commentary during this match.

- Luke Rockhold (3-1) looked great in defeating Nik Theotikos (5-1) via rear-naked choke submission at 3:06 of the first round.

Show Notes

- Not terrible, but the sound quality was shaky all night. There were times you couldn't hear the announcers and other times you could hear them as other people were being interview. Video quality and shots were pretty good, but for an HD Net broadcast, I expected better.

- The house was almost lights-out dark and the few shots of the stands I did see looked like there were a lot of fans dressed as empty seats.

- The entire night featured 13 (!!!), bouts with five making it to broadcast.

- "Big" John McCarthy made his return to refereeing at the event.

Josh Nason has written and maintained Ropes, Ring and Cage since 2007 and can be reached at [e-mail]. If you are using any content or recapping from this site, please include a link to www.ropesringandcage.com. Thank you for your support!