SFL Women's 135 lb Champ Colleen Schneider throws a high kick
enroute to a unanimous decision win over Brenda Sanchez

After 34 successful events in India, Super Fight League teamed up with Brian Halquist Productions' CageSport MMA to make their US debut on Oct 4th at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma. With SFL Founder Raj Kundra present, Super Fight League America had 8 professional MMA bouts go down in front of a sold-out crowd, including two title fights. Seattle native and UFC Heavyweight Josh Barnett was in the house, cornering a couple of his fighters who were competing in the two championships.

The main event for the Super Fight League America Men's 135 lb title pitted tough NW bantamweight Cory Vom Baur against Barnett-coached California fighter Victor Henry. The pair engaged quickly, with Henry landing with a series of body kicks. Vom Baur clinched up and got Henry against the cage and took him to the mat with a nice double leg takedown. Henry was able to get up but Vom Baur scored another takedown. From the bottom, Henry went for a submission finish but Vom Baur broke out and disenaged. After a brief exchange on the feet, Vom Baur moved in close and executed a hip toss takedown. But before Vom Baur could do any damage, Henry displayed his excellent ground skils by tying up Vom Baur and maneuvering himself into a position to trap Vom Baur's arm and then straighten it out, elicitiing an immediate tap at 4:43 of the first round. Victor Henry is now the new SFL America Bantamweight Champion, moving to 8-1 as a pro, while Vom Baur falls to 7-4.

The Co-Main Event was for the Super Fight League America Women's 135 lb Title and had Barnett-coached Colleen "Thoroughbred" Schneider taking on Brenda "Boom Boom" Gonzales from Albuquerque NM. The fight went all five rounds with every round going to Schneider who mixed it up with a nice standup game heavy on leg kicks, plus numerous takedowns and submission attempts on the ground. Gonzales on her part was a tough competitor who, while never out of the fight, was unable to get any sustained offense going against Schneider. Just before the end of the 25 minute fight, Schneider had top position on Gonzales and scored with some vicious ground strikes trying to end the bout but Gonzales survived to the bell. In the end the judges all scored it 50-45, giving the SFL America Bantamweight belt to Schneider who is 5-1 in her last 6 fights for a 6-5 overall record.

The evening's first fight, a 160 lb catchweight matchup between Warrior Camp's Jesse Hardenbrook of Spokane and Tacoma's Raven Guice, was a memorable bout but certainly not in a way that the Super Fight League promoters or the fighters themselves would have liked. A good scrap between the two combatants ended suddenly midway through the first round when the the cage door suddenly popped open as the fighters were in a clinch against it and Tacoma's Raven Guice went tumbling through and down the steps onto the casino floor. The cageside doctors immediately attended to Guice who had a gash on the back of his head and they deemed he was unable to continue, turning the bout into a No-Contest.

In one of the best fights on the night, Titan MMA's Cheryl "Kid Kaos" Chan of Vancouver BC and AOBJ's "Relentless" Hadley Griffith out of Lacey WA threw down in the women's 125 lb division. The smaller Chan immediately fired off a couple of leg kicks to open the fight, and then mixed it up by utilizing her speed to move in and out of the pocket throwing head kicks, legs kicks and punch combos. Griffith on her part, held the center of the cage and looked to utilize her reach advantage by getting her jab going and mixing in leg kicks to keep Chan honest. Late in the round, Chan nailed a double leg takedown and then landed a couple of elbow strikes on the ground, but Griffith was able to get it back up to the feet to end the round. The 2nd frame saw Griffith finding her range, moving forward and getting off her jab first and then following with combos. Chan seemed to slow down somewhat but still attacked with inside leg kicks and landed a nice high kick as well. Late in the round, Chan got her 2nd takedown of the fight and took Griffith's back but Griffith was able to fight off the choke to the round ending bell. In the final round, Griffith again stalked Chan around the cage and looked to score with her punches, landing a nice jab that snapped Chan's head back. Chan slipped under a Griffith punch and landed another takedown and immediately connected with some big elbow strikes on the ground. Blood started pouring from Griffith's head as she tried to defend, but Chan sensed the finish was near, threw a couple more elbows before taking Griffith's back and sinking the choke at 2:04 of the third round. An impressive finish for Chan to get her first pro win.

Evolution MMA's Mike "The Juggernaut" Devose of Tacoma and Warrior Camp's Cleo "The Masochist" Anderson of Spokane threw down in a middleweight bout that went the distance. This was a purely standup battle that saw Devose staying on the outside and using his reach and 6-inch height advantage to score with a mixed attack of high kicks, leg kicks, and punches. Anderson on his part stayed in the fight the entire time, landing with kicks to the midsection and straight punches. But Anderson was looking to get inside and mix it up in the pocket, at one point late in the third beckoning for Devose to engage in a brawl. Devose though was too smart to be goaded into it and stuck to his game plan and continued to score throughout. After three rounds, it was tallied 30-27 by all three judges for Devose, giving him his first pro win, while Anderson suffers a loss in his professional MMA debut.

At 155 lbs, United Fight Team's Bobby McIntyre of Spanaway WA scored the fasted win of the night by submitting ACA's Gary "The Cinderella Man" Winslow early in the first round. At the opening bell, McIntyre fired off a push kick which Winslow caught, and drove McIntyre against the cage trying for a single leg takedown. However, McIntyre was able to deftly stuff the takedown and locked on tight d'arce choke which Winslow tapped to at the 26 sec mark. With the win, McIntyre's pro record is now 2-0.

Mike Ross, fighting out of Ivan Salaverry MMA, picked up his first pro win via decision over AOBJ's Trent "The Titan" Tyler in a close battle in the 170 lb division. In the first round, Ross nailed an early takedown but was swept on the ground by Tyler who then got Ross against the cage and nearly finished with a standing guillotine. Ross survived and again got a takedown but on the ground it was Tyler who had position and won the round by going for various submission finishes. In the 2nd, Tyler got an early takedown and worked his positioning in trying to get a fight-ending submission. Ross though defended well and eventually reversed, finished the round out on top position. In the third, it was all Ross who scored in the first minute with some nice kicks and punches on the feet, before nailing another takedown. On the ground, Ross was able to pin Tyler in a crucifix and score with strikes, and though Tyler was able to escape the position, he was never able to get out from under Ross to the final bell. The fight went to the judges and how they scored the 2nd round determined the outcome, with two seeing it for Ross and the third for Tyler, giving Ross the 29-28, 29-28, 28-29 split decision win.

Ashford WA's Adam "The Lone Wolf" Walkemeyer and Tacoma's Mickey "The Machine Gun" Marcinko matched up in a 170 lb contest. The bout opened with Walkemeyer landing with a kick to the body which prompted Marcinko to drop his hands and dare Walkemeyer to take his best shot. Walkemeyer answered with a couple leg kicks before Marcinko closed the distance and got a takedown. Marcinko was unable to take advantage on the ground and the bout was stood up by the referee. The pair both landed punches in a standup exchange, which had them all smiles. Marcinko shot for another takedown but it was a bit sloppy and Walkemeyer took advantage, getting top position, eventually taking Marcinko's back and sinking a rear naked choke at 3:17 of the first. Walkermeyer moves to 2-1, while Marcinko falls to 0-2 as a pro.

Halquist Productions next event is the all-pro boxing card Battle at the Boat 98 on November 15th at the Emerald Queen Casino. On Dec 12th, the promotion has an MMA date at the casino scheduled but no word whether this will be a Super Fight League America event or a CageSport MMA show. Learn more about the two promotions at halquistproductions.com and at superfightleague.com.