Renato “Babalu” Sobral scored a three round unanimous decision over Robbie Lawler in a 195 lb catchweight fight at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles.
After a good first round by Lawler, Sobral came on strong and landed numerous strikes that broke down Lawler.
Sobral, 193 1/2 lbs of Costa Mesa, CA won by scores of 29-28 on all cards and is now 36-8. Lawler, 195 lbs of Granite City, IL is now 17-6.
Sobral said he would like a rematch with Dan Henderson who defeated him eleven years ago.
“This is something I will have to think about,’’ said Babalu, who triumphed by the scores of 29-28 three times. “Yes, of course, I want to be a champion again but I’m old school and he is my friend and friends last longer than title belts. But we’ll see.’’
“I wasn’t hurt, I just wanted to make him think I was,’’ said Lawler, who suffered damage to his body from a multitude of front kicks. “It was a ploy, a decoy, for him to fight me so I could knock him out.
“I’m disappointed with the result, but I have no complaints. The two takedowns in the first round may have been the difference. I know that I could have done much more. I should have done more.’’
Evangelista Cyborg scored a first round stoppage over Mariusz Zaromskis in a scheduled three round Welterweight bout.
Cyborg hurt Zaromiskis early in round one with some hard strikes. Zaromskis made a desperate attempt at a running high knee that was thwarted by Cyborg and Zaromskis fell to the ground where Cyborg pounced on him with three hard shots and referee Herb Dean stopped the bout at 2:38.
Cyborg, 171 lbs of Brazil is now 18-13 with eleven knockouts. Zaromskis, 169 1/2 lbs of San Jose, CA is now 13-5.
“I am very happy with my performance and this fight,’’ the male Cyborg said. “I’ve had so many first-round knockouts. I can’t say if this was the best, but it was definitely one of the best.
“I want to fight (STRIKEFORCE world welterweight champion) Nick Diaz. He’s the fighter I want more than anybody right now.’’
Tim Kennedy scored a first round submission over Trevor Prangley in a scheduled three round Middleweight bout.
Kennedy, 185 1/2 lbs of Austin, TX won via choke at 3:35 and his record is now 12-2 with half of his wins coming by submission. Prangley, 185 1/2 lbs of South Africa is now 22-6-1.
“I don’t go the distance. In fact, I’m totally against going the distance,’’ Kennedy said. “I’m happy with the end result. He hit me with a good uppercut; that stuff’s not supposed to happen. I have some of the greatest hands in the sport. I just want to start fighting the kinds of opponents I can knock out and start a highlight reel on. I’m tired of fighting wrestlers.’’
KJ Noons scored a three round split decision of Conor Heun in a 160 lb catchweight bout.
Heun almost had Noons out in the first as he had Noons in a rear naked choke. Heun was bloodied under his left eye in the first round and fought through heavy blood flow as he ate a lot of shots by Noons, who is an accomplished boxer.
Noons, 159 1/2 lbs of San Diego won by scores of 29-28 and 29-28 while Heun, 159 1/2 lbs of Hollywood, CA took a cardc at 29-28.
“He’s a very game guy who brought it the whole fight,’’ said Noons, won by the scores of 29-28 twice and 27-30. “I definitely feel I won the fight and I really wanted to please the fans, but I had to work for it. I haven’t used my legs in a while so if felt good to get in some leg kicks.’’
A bloodied Heun felt he’d done enough to get the nod. “I wanted to fight one of the top guys to prove to everybody that I could compete with the top ones, and I think I did that tonight,” he said. “But I’m very disappointed with the decision. Only one judge scored the fight.
“I feel I did more than enough to win although the cuts were definitely a factor. By the third round, I was aiming my punches at the guy in the middle.’’
Noons is now 8-1. Heun is now 8-4.