Griggs TKOs former pro wrestler Lashley at Strikeforce: Houston
Former pro wrestler Bobby Lashley was handed his first MMA defeat on Saturday to kick off the Strikeforce: Houston card. Chad Griggs won by TKO at 5:00 in the second round.
Lashley took Griggs down and worked good, old-fashioned ground and pound from the beginning of the first round, and controlled Griggs for much of the round. On one of the Lashley takedown attempts, Griggs landed an uppercut that opened a large cut underneath Lashley's left eye.
Lashley didn't let the gusher of a cut bother him early in the second round as moved into full mount, raining down blows on Griggs. He continued in this position for much of the round, pushing and dominating Griggs until referee Jon Schorle stood the two up, which was an odd decision. As Lashley's eye bled, referee Jon Schorle brought in the doctor to look at Lashley's eye. The doctor let the fight continue with less than a minute left in the round.
As Lashley shot in for a takedown, Griggs delivered another powerful uppercut, directly to Lashley's cut. Griggs followed that up with punch after punch until the bell rang. At that point, Griggs headed back to his corner, but a beaten, dazed and bloody Lashley had trouble getting to his feet. The referee stopped the fight, calling the TKO for Griggs.
Up until this fight, Lashley had five wins. Only one of those bouts, a decision over Jason Guida, made it past the first round. This time, the cut and the pace of the fight was too much. Fanhouse's Ariel Helwani reported that Lashley was taken from the Toyota Center in a stretcher.
