CFA 12 results: Ashlee Evans-Smith stops Fallon Fox

Underdog Ashlee Evans-Smith put an end to the Fallon Fox hype train, scoring a hard-fought, third-round TKO win over the controversial transgender fighter.

The women’s featherweight tournament final bout took place on the AXS TV-broadcast main card of Friday’s Championship Fighting Alliance 12 event at BankUnited Center in Coral Gables, Florida. Evans-Smith earned a $20,000 bonus check for the tourney win.

As the bout started, Evans looked for an early takedown attempt and slipped a flying submission en route to taking side control. She couldn’t keep Fox on the floor, but she transitioned to the back in a scramble and looked to be in position to score a submission win.

It wasn’t to be.

Fox patiently worked free from the position and back to her feet, where she took over with devastating strikes in the standup department. Evans was wobbled but survived, and she would turn things around in the second.

Utilizing both sharp wrestling and gritty striking on the feet, Smith took over in the second, eventually moving to mount and unloading a barrage of punches late in the frame. With the pro-Smith crowd at an absolute fever pitch, Smith couldn’t hear the bell to end the round and mistakenly thought she had won the fight whe then the referee stepped in to halt the action. Smith jumped into her coach’s arms in celebration, only to find out there was the potential for 15 more minutes of fighting.

Fortunately, it wouldn’t matter.

Evans-Smith once again worked her way into mount in the third and unloaded a non-stop barrage of strikes. Fox (3-1) tried to buck and roll but was unable to escape and was eventually saved by the referee at the 3:15 mark of the third round. An emotional Evans-Smith (2-0) fought back tears as she struggled to put her emotions into words.

“I’m at a loss for words,” Evans-Smith told Pat Miletich. “I really don’t know what to say.”

Sampo retains belt, Escudero edges out Palomino

In the night’s main event, CFA flyweight champion Joshua Sampo retained his belt in dominating fashion, outwrestling striking specialist Sam Thao en route to a clearcut decision win.

Thao was quick on his feet to start, rattling off creative strikes as a puzzled Sampo tried to move inside. As Thao got a little too confident, a missed strike saw Sampo drive him the the ground, where they finished the round. Sampo was quicker to bring the fight to the floor in the second, and he was able to quickly move around to his opponent’s back. However, Thao was patient in the position and eventually escaped back to the feet in the closing minute of the frame.

Sampo again declined to strike in the third, taking his opponent quickly to the canvas and moving swiftly to mount. An arm-triangle choke looked deep, but Thao refused to quit, and Sampo gave the hold to keep firm control of his position.

Thao (7-2) showed heart in the fourth, escaping an early takedown and looking to strike. But Sampo (10-2) quickly reclaimed his preferred position, elevating his foe and dumping him to the floor. The fifth round showed more of the same, and Sampo cruised to a decision win, 49-46 on all three cards.

In the night’s co-feature, “The Ultimate Fighter 8? winner Efrain Escudero earned a unanimous-decision win over former Championship Fighting Alliance featherweight champ Luis Palomino.

Both fighters opened the contest with a moderate pace, searching for openings with their strikes. Palomino appeared to find the greatest success in the early exchanges, as Escudero seemed to hesitate to pull the trigger in several spots.

Palomino continued to look the quicker fighter in the second, moving well on his feet and rifling off punches with quick hands from a variety of angles. However, a gritty Escudero stayed firm in the pocket and pushed forward, looking for opportunities to land clean straight punches.

Escudero picked up the pace in the third, apparently angered after a second warning for inadvertent low blows. He took Palomino to the floor and scored points from top position for much of the round, and when the referee offered a surprising standup for “Baboon,” “Hecho in Mexico” deposited him on the floor once again.

In the end, the third-round performance sealed the win for Escudero (21-7), who was awarded a unanimous-decision win, 29-28 on all three cards, over Palomino (21-9).

Araujo, Cedeno pick up vacant titles

With CFA’s vacant welterweight title on the line, MMA Masters’ Valdir Araujo tapped out a more-experienced Romario Manoel “Junior Killer” da Silva.

Araujo looked sharp early, bringing the fight to the floor and locking in a deep guillotine choke that da Silva somehow outlasted, giving a “thumbs up” as his opponent squeezed the hold. That wouldn’t be the case in the second.

Araujo again took the action to the floor in the frame, and he was able to open up da Silva with some ground-and-pound blows. With his opponent gaining momentum, da Silva looked for opportunities, but Araujo (15-4) again locked up the guillotine choke. This time, it was tight, and da Silva (23-12-1) was forced to tap with 51 seconds left in the frame.

The night’s first main-card contest saw Yoisdenis Cedeno (9-2) use a quick start to outpoint a game Torrance Taylor (13-8-1) and claim the vacant CFA lightweight belt.

Cedeno wowed with several wild strikes, but they largely missed the mark. Still, he was more active than the flat-footed Taylor early on, and he found himself in top position after a few rapid scrambles.

Taylor looked to turn the tide in the fourth, and after shucking off a Cedeno submission attempt was able to work himself to mount. However, he couldn’t string together much offense from the position, and the fight moved to the fifth and final frame.

It was Taylor who again set the tone early, taking the fight to the floor and dropping in short elbows from the top. However, when he looked to take the back, Cedeno scrambled up to his feet. With the fight moving into the clinch, Cedeno was warned several times for grabbing his opponent’s shorts but was never penalized for the infraction. It would prove pivotal, as Taylor’s slow start cost him, and Cedeno claimed a split-decision win.

Championship Fighting Alliance 12 results include:

• Champ Joshua Sampo def. Sam Thao via unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46) – for CFA flyweight title
• Efrain Escudero def. Luis Palomino via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-29)
• Ashlee Evans-Smith def. Fallon Fox via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 3:15 – women’s featherweight tournament final
• Valdir Araujo def. Romario Manoel da Silva via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 2, 4:09 – for vacant CFA welterweight title
• Yoisdenis Cedeno def. Torrance Taylor via split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47) – for vacant CFA lightweight title

For more on CFA 12, check out the MMA Events section of the site.

(Pictured: Fallon Fox)