RFA 16 results: Josh Copeland stops Jan Jorgensen to win heavyweight title

Josh Copeland gave his home fans a good show on Friday, staying unbeaten and winning the RFA heavyweight title in the process.

Copeland stopped Jan Jorgensen with 11 seconds left in the first round in the main event of RFA 16, which took place at 1stBank Center in Broomfield, Colo., just outside Denver.

Copeland and Jorgensen came out swinging right away, with Copeland getting the better of the exchanges. He cut Jorgensen open, but Jorgensen kept coming forward. But it was the Copeland jab that was doing big work a couple minutes in. He backed Jorgensen up with the jab several times and had him bleeding.

Jorgensen seemed to recover midway through the round and tried to fire back. But when he appeared to have Copeland stunned, Copeland fired back big and landed even bigger. With 90 seconds left, the two were warned to keep working as the fight hit the cage wall in the clinch. Copeland worked knees and short punches there.

Jorgensen was in a world of hurt as Copeland continued to cut him open with the punches. But when Jorgensen finally got some separation, he paid for it.

Copeland landed a massive elbow, then a right hand. As Jorgensen started to stumble, Copeland landed several more big shots until Jorgensen was collapsing in front of him.

The win gave Copeland (9-0) RFA’s first heavyweight title and kept him unbeaten. Jorgensen (7-1) lost for the first time in his pro career.

Mercado tops Swain in front of home crowd
Jerred Mercado (12-1) had to endure a little punishment for five minutes in order to get a victory, topping Daniel Swain (11-4) for a unanimous decision. Swain got a good takedown early, then worked for a submission from his back. But he lost the armbar and spent the rest of the round defending against Mercado’s ground-and-pound from his back. A minute into the second, Swain found himself right back in familiar territory, working off his back along the fence. When Swain finally got back to his feet late in the frame, he had to keep a hand on the canvas to defend against Mercado knee possibilities with a front headlock on. Swain came on in the third, but it was a case of too little, too late. While he was able to control the frame, and cut Mercado open, his submission attempts never stuck.

Heatherly survives Cavan onslaught for submission win
Chris Heatherly appeared to be on the ropes in the second after a dominant first, perhaps gassed out. But he took perfect advantage of a defensive takedown from Josh Cavan to choke him out in the second. Heatherly took Cavan down quickly in the first round and took his back standing, and there he stayed for a large portion of the round looking for a rear-naked choke. Cavan defended until Heatherly finally took him down. Cavan popped up quickly, but just into more of the same. It wasn’t exciting, but Heatherly stayed stuck to Cavan like glue. Heatherly went after the same strategy in the second, but Cavan put together some punching offense. Moments later, he unleashed a flurry of big right hands against Heatherly and followed it up with some big knees. But despite the tide turning in a big way with Cavan drilling Heatherly with punches and elbows to go with the knees, Heatherly landed some punches, then got an arm-in guillotine choke as Cavan jumped in for a takedown to defend against the punches.

Salmon stays unbeaten, kicks Chavez upstream
Boston Salmon (2-0) wasn’t having a perfect fight in the first round against Zac Chavez (2-2), at least when it came to staying on his feet. But as Chavez kept after the takedowns, he wore himself out. And Salmon took advantage. He landed elbows in bunches as Chavez refused to let off the single-leg attempt. When he finally did, Salmon kicked him straight in the stomach and put Chavez on the canvas. Then Salmon beat him up until referee Adam Martinez finally stopped it at the 4:47 mark of the fight.

Reneau dominates Riordon for first-round verbal tap
Marion Reneau (4-1) didn’t struggle much at all against Maureen Riordon (0-1), getting a first-round stoppage thanks to an armbar that forced Riordon to submit verbally when she was unable to tap. Reneau took the fight to the ground and started to look for the armbar midway through the round. Then she landed strikes before briefly returning to her feet as Riordon looked for a triangle. But soon after Reneau dropped back in, she was in side control and fairly easily got to full mount. She kept after the armbar and got it – trapping both of Riordon’s arms, forcing her to verbally tap.

Complete RFA 16 results included:

MAIN CARD

• Josh Copeland def. Jan Jorgensen via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 4:49 – to win vacant heavyweight title
• Jarred Mercado def. Daniel Swain via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Chris Heatherly def. Josh Cavan via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 2, 3:20
• Boston Salmon def. Zac Chavez via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 4:47
• Marion Reneau def. Maureen Riordon via submission (armbar) – Round 1, 4:15
• Sid Bice def. Eric Shelton via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

PRELIMINARY CARD

For more on RFA 16, check out the MMA Events section of the site.

(Pictured: Josh Copeland)