There was a certain buzz in the air at the LCO Casino and Convention center on Saturday night. We saw what was the first 8-man 185lb Extreme Challenge Tournament held in over 5 years, the last one of which, also held in Hayword, spawned 6 UFC fighters, 2 of which when on to win UFC titles. And to top that off, the main event of the evening pitted Team Quest star Ed Herman (9-2) versus the former UFC Middleweight champion Dave Menne (41-11-2)

Menne and Herman both came out standing and getting off decent flurries of punches and knees. Herman stuffed Menne’s first takedown attempt and the two clinched with both landing inside knees and leg kicks. The clinching continued back and forth until referee Matt Hughes separated the fighters but the two fighters went at each other once more, and eventually clinched again. Menne ended up landing a right knee from the clinch to the side of Hermans head but Herman reacted by powering Menne against the other side of the cage, separated himself and unleashed a sound jumping knee that landed cleanly onto Mennes chin. Menne reacted by finally getting Herman down with an impressive slam, that brought an end to round one.
It was clear that something was wrong as soon as the round was over, Menne’s face winced with pain, and he was favoring the inside of his right leg. Menne wasn’t able to answer the bell of round 2 due to a reoccurring groin injury which gave the Team Quest fight the victory.

In the middleweight tournament, just about every fighter was slated to win, all of which depending on the team you spoke with prior to the fights. Five men entered into the tournament sporting undefeated records, and only one would end up staying that way. That one fighter was none other than Minnesota’s Brock Larson (12-0).
Larson met Militech product Ryan McGivern (6-1) in the finals, the much anticipated match (with Matt Hughes as guest referee) started off with both fighters circling and showing nothing but respect for each other. McGivern was first to act and surged in with a double leg takedown attempt, Larson used the cage well to defend and stay away from being put on his back. Against the cage is where the two wrestled back and forth both with several submission attempts before Larson gained leverage and secured a tight key-lock that McGivern would end up tapping to at 2:09 of the 1st round. Brock Larson won the stacked Extreme Challenge 8-Man 185 lb Tournament.

Neither fighter had an easy rode to the finals. In the first fight of the evening, McGivern faced off against Tom "Vulger" Jones (4-2) of Tulsa Oklahoma. McGivern used a balanced striking and ground and pound attack in the first round and showed that he could also take a hit after Jones landed several punches with one splitting McGivern’s nose early on in the fight, but in the end, the cut turned out not to be a factor. Come the second round, McGivern showed off to the crowd that he certainly was not just a wrestler as he unleashed 2 solid right high kicks both of which landed to the side of Jones’s head. By the third round, McGivern was picking apart Jones in every aspect of the fight, and after landing several right straights that appeared to hurt Jones, McGivern was also taking Jones down at will and stretched out the unanimous decision victory.

Larson’s first fight of the night had him pitted against Horn’s Team Elite fighter Demarcus Johnson (1-1) of Salt Lake City. Larson came out taking down Johnson and landing several shots while Johnson stayed as active as possible from his back. In the second round, Johnson was looking to keep the fight on his feet. After he threw a kick to Larson’s side, Brock made his presence in the tournament known slamming Johnson to the mat. That brought the crowd (which was filled with Brock Larson fans) to a roar. The third round showed much of the same as Johnson tried to keep the fight standing, but it was Larson who would decide whether or not the fight would stay on the feet as he took Johnson down once more. Larson eventually sunk a key-lock at the 1:02 mark of the round.

In the first semi-final fight, McGivern was slated to face Joey Guel (8-3) of Team Quest (after Guel won his first round fight by RNC over Chris Clements). The Militech fighter got the upper hand immediately by taking Guel down and attacked with a series of short punches and elbows, one of which opened up a huge gash over Guel’s left eye which would end up causing the doctor to put a stoppage to the fight. McGivern was then to wait to see who he would face between Ryan Jenson and Brock Larson.

In the second semi-finals match Larson faced Mid-American Martial Arts fighter Ryan Jensen (5-0), fighting out of Omaha, Nebraska (Jenson defeated Neil Rowe in the first round by RNC). Brock had quite a scare after being in what looked to be a tight guillotine by Jenson for about a minute of the first round but he got back to his feet while still in the guillotine and executed a huge slam that freed himself, from there Brock unloaded downward on the shaken fighter. After a few big hits Jensen turned to his side and tapped out due to strikes at 1:39 of the first round.

This Extreme Challenge event ran perfectly smooth as promoter Monte Cox delivered another night of great fights. Jens Pulver, Rich Franklin, Matt Hughes, and Jeremy Horn were all in attendance taking pictures and signing autographs with the fans and Spencer Fischer and TUF 1 fighter Josh Rafferty were the special guest judges for the event.

Who knows what is next for the fighters who participated in the tournament, all of which are still early in their respective careers. We most likely will see them move onto bigger and better things in the near future.
Results:

Tourney first roundRyan McGivern def. Tom Jones, 9:00, unanimous dec.
Joey Guel def. Chris Clements, :56 Rd. 3 (6:56), rear choke.
Brock Larson def. Damarcus Johnson, 1:02 Rd. 3 (7:02), key lock.
Ryan Jensen def. Neil Rowe, 2:00 Rd. 1, rear choke.
Tourney semifinals: McGivern def. Guel, 2:30 Rd. 1, doctor stoppage due to cut.
Larson def. Jensen, 1:39 Rd. 1, tap due to strikes.
Tourney final: Larson def. McGivern, 2:09 Rd. 1, key lock.
Main Event: Ed Herman def. Dave Menne, 5:00 Rd. 1, verbal submission due to injury.