Strikeforce invaded the "Fight Mecca" of the Northwest by taking it's Challenger series to Portland's Rose Garden Arena May 21st.

In the evening's main event, Matt "The Law" Lindland turned the tables after fighting a hand battle with self promoted BJJ black belt Kevin Casey who had his back in the first round, repaying the favor by crucifixing him in the 2nd round, then putting some patented Team Quest GNP into his head for the what Matt said in a post-fight interview as Casey was "fighting dirty."

When asked if he ever felt threatened when Casey had his back Lindland said "I just had Dennis Hallman at my gym this week. We trained that exact position, you don't wanna have a guy like that on your back... I just was gonna do what i could to not get choked and find my way on top." The "Law" finally put the rapper out by TKO @ 3:41 of the third round, but in all fairness, Lindland actually has a rap video too... judge the winner of that for yourself.

[Watch the NWFS post-fight interview with Matt Lindland at bottom of this page]

In the Co-Main Event, Lindland's Team Quest training partner Nate Coy lost a close split decision to undefeated wrestling prospect Tyron Woodley. Woodley had never gone the distance until this evening when he faced 2-time Pac-10 champ from Oregon State, Mr. Coy. Portland went to their newspapers when Woodley came out, shunning the entrance of their hometown fighter's opposition. Once the fight started, these two guys both went at it, transitioning and moving with Coy defending submissions and escaping mount.  In a extremely tight fight, Coy couldn't get the take down and Woodley couldn't finish. In the end Woodley eeked out the W by split decision with the scorecards going 29-28, 27-30, 29-28. The partisan crowd for Coy was very unhappy and voiced their disapproval loudly and vehemently. Really though, this was an excellent bout that was very close indeed and both fighters efforts should be applauded.

Roger Bowling earned a big get out of town after fighting his heart out against a tough Bobby Voelker, then getting his eye poked by accident in a fight that was non-stop... and ended in complete rudeness. A post-fight apology wasn't enough from the Ohio-based fighter to settle the booing crowd after the doctor stepped in and ended the fight as Bowling was unable to open his eye. The bout was sent to the judges at 3:33 of the third round with Bowling getting a technical Unanimous decision and improving his unbeaten record to 8-0. The crowd unleashed and let Bowling have it the whole way out which was unfair as he certainly wanted to continue. Hopefully he knows its not all of us 503ers who were acting like complete Jack*ss's and hats off to both guys for 3 rounds of awesome MMA competition.

Another Portland hometown favorite and Team Quest fighter, Pat "Bam Bam" Healy, out-muscled and took a unanimous decision victory over up and comer Bryan Travers from Bakersfield, CA. Travers got after Healy but couldn't seem to get the upper hand. Healy opened up some nice body punching and countering standing. In the end the judges scored it all for Healy 30-27, 29-28 & 29-28 to take Bam Bam's win total to 38. Healy said afterwards, "I'm a huge [NBA Portland] Blazers fan so anytime I can perform in the Rose Garden is a thrill for me... I saw (Blazers center) Joel Przybilla in the crowd so it's nice for you guys to be watching me out here for once." Healy also said he was ready for the champ Gilibert Melendez, and welcomes a fight with either Josh Thompson or Melendez.

A beautiful right hand sent San Jose based fighter Nate Moore to the canvas as Temecula fighter Tarec Saffiedine scored his first career KO at 1:21 of the second round. Tarec trains out of Team Quest Temecula in California alongside former UFC, Pride, and now current Strikeforce fighter, Dan Henderson.

Firefighters Jason Sharp & David Lloyd both work in the same fire station in Portland, train at Alive MMA together and both came into the cage and gave stunning performances right to the end... Sharp with a pro fight against Impact Jiu-Jitsu fighter Pro Escobedo, and Lloyd with an amateur bout that looked to be at pro level (because if you didn't know you wouldn't have been able to tell that some of these guys where amateurs on the undercard!).

Lloyd picked up a unanimous decision over Touch M Up fighter Jay Schafer, and Sharp lost a unanimous decision to Pro, but both men showed great skill and heart, and our hats go off to them as they continue to keep Portland safe.

Pro Escobedo training with Impact Jiu-jitsu out of Portland plans on working his way up the Strikeforce ladder and is happy with his first professional win.

[Watch the NWFS post-fight interview with Pro Escobedo at bottom of this page]

One of the best fights of the night came from Team Quest's Blaine Macintosh vs Ben Morgan from Battleground Washington in an amateur Lightweight matchup. Morgan looked to be in trouble early, but kept slipping out of submissions and bad positions. He started to turn the tides in the third but it was a little to late with Blaine earning a split decision victory over Ben in a razor close fight.

In the evenings opening bouts, Armstrong MMA's Hamza Salim scored an impressive Unanimous Decision win over Lee Flores in a amateur Middleweight contest, while Team Quest's Patrick Whittington took down Jason Lambert and locked on a Triangle Choke early in the first round of their amateur 205 lb bout.