Yowzers.  Those were some great fights, eh?  Told you so.  I knew Tarec Saffiedine vs Nate Moore would be amazing, as is any fight involving Bobby Voelker.  What a fight Bowling vs Voelker was.  Just ridiculous.

A great night for Strikeforce’s welterweight division too.

I came out with some great action shots, my favorite, and saddest to share, is one of Nate Moore after being knocked out.

As the promotion’s photographer, you get to know all these guys through studio sessions and riding in the vans back and forth to the week’s events — and you just don’t want to see anyone lose.  But of course, it’s inevitable.  That doesn’t stop me from cheering the victor and feeling sympathy for the defeated.

Sorry for not getting any behind the scenes photos in — all the undercards went to decision, which meant about a 5 minute break before the broadcast.  Not enough time for me to run to the locker rooms but I think I made up for it on the cage.  I want to whine, as it was exceptionally dark this time.  Regardless, I did fine.

All in all, a fantastic night, every televised fight held my attention.  Nate Coy’s fans were rowdy, but inventive, pulling out newspapers while Tyron Woodley walked out to ignore him.  Coy shushed his fans after the decision as well.

Styles definitely make fights.  And in the main event, I knew when I saw this on paper that Lindland would grind Casey into the cage.  And so he did.

Here’s my gallery, pared down to my favorite shots from Strikeforce Challengers Portland: Lindland vs Casey.