SFL 35: The Aftermath; Results and Reactions

Saturday night myself and two MMASucka.com staff members made the trek down the I-5 to the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington for Super Fight League 35: America.

SFL 35: The Aftermath; Results and Reactions

After finally finding the right Emerald Queen Casino, we were immediately greeted by SFL Founder and Chairman Raj Kundra with a, “Hey it’s the guys from MMASucka.” That was a cool feeling and great way to start the evening.

The main event was a grapple-fest between Victor Henry and Cory Vom Baur. There was nothing slow about this bout — Vom Baur utilized his wrestling to get the fight to the mat, the instant he felt pressure from Henry. This fed right into Henry’s bread and butter — his grappling game. The 27-year-old is a traditional Tae Kwan Do fighter, however since training at CSW with Josh Barnett and Erik Paulson, Henry’s ground game has become top notch. Working for submission after submission, Henry was finally able to nab an armbar at 4:43 of the very first round. The victory earned Henry the SFL America Bantamweight Championship.

SFL Women’s Flyweight Champion Colleen Schneider moved back up to 125-pounds to fight for the SFL America Women’s Bantamweight strap. The five-round, co-main event, was a one-sided affair with Schneider pushing the pace. She used her wrestling, tricky stand-up and flashy spinning attacks to keep Brenda Gonzales guessing for the full 25-minutes. After the five rounds were complete, the judges scorecards came back unanimous and Schneider became the first ever American Champ.

Other notable bouts:

A lightweight bout between two Washington boys, Bobby McIntyre and Gary Winslow, had the crowd cheering early. Their walkout to the cage lasted longer than the bout itself, as McIntyre was able to snag a sneaky D’Arcy choke from the standing position and force Winslow to tap out just twenty-six seconds into the opening stanza.

The lone Canadian on the card was Titan MMA’s Cheryl Chan. “Kid Chaos” was looking for her first professional win after three unfortunate losses in this featured contest against Hadley Griffith. Even though Chan is a natural 115er she was game to stand toe-to-toe with the lanky American. Chan started off with a bang and continued the pace throughout the three rounds, which led to her picking up a rear-naked choke midway through the third and final frame.