Nate Marquardt, Luke Rockhold big winners at Strikeforce
Strikeforce crowned a new champion and held onto another during Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Kennedy on Saturday night in Portland.
Former UFC contender Nate Marquardt won the vacant Strikeforce welterweight championship with a knockout of Tyron Woodley. Marquardt controlled the stand-up for the first two rounds and held off Woodley's takedown attempts.
In the third round, Woodley knocked Marquardt down, but couldn't finish him immediately. While Woodley was still working on the ground, the referee stood them up. Marquardt made his move in the fourth, hitting Woodley with three upper cuts that knocked Woodley out for the first time in his career.
[Related: Strikeforce fighter Lorenz Larkin begs for money after win]
Luke Rockhold held onto the Strikeforce middleweight belt with a grinding, five-round decision. Rockhold held off Kennedy's submission attempts and avoided being takedown. He also landed more strikes. According to CompuStrike, Rockhold landed 34 power strikes while Kennedy only landed 16.
The judges saw it 49-46 on all three cards for Rockhold, moving his record to 10-1.
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