Saturday night Strikeforce Challengers put their Lightweights front and center to a National television audience. They undeniably put on a show, including Jason Terry, who wasn’t at lightweight but rather 165 pounds.  We’ll take a look at Terry, Caros Fodor and Justin Wilcox.

You have to think that when Zuffa reached into one of their many, many piggy banks and bought Strikeforce they had nights like this in mind.  A bunch of young fighters, fighting their hearts out, for very little cash.  It was a successful endeavor at that, however, three fighters were especially on top of their game, and the first one was Jason Terry, who fought Cesar Gracie fighter Josh Thornburg. 

This was a catch-weight fight at 165 pounds, and both guys were light on their feet in active throughout the first round.  Terry, trained by Cung Le, used a series of kicks, and combinations to slow down Thornburg and in the final moments of the first round, he delivered an amazing overhand right that folded Josh Thornburg up in slow motion.  It was a knockout victory for Terry who with the win brings his record to a very impressive 10-2 and a notable 5-1 inside of Strikeforce.

It will be very interesting to see where Terry goes from here.  He’s a very talented fighter who could make some noise at 170, or perhaps continue dropping down and fight at Lightweight.  This fight was at 165, so he seems to be moving down.  Strikeforce has a ton of talented Welterweights and Lightweights for him to choose from.  I’d like to see him step up and fight someone like Tyron Woodley or have a standup war with Cyborg Santos.

Caros Fodor has a fitting nickname, he’s known as “The Future.”  That said, he might have to change it to “The Present”, because he continues to impress and Friday night he looked super in defeating “Tarzan” David Douglas by TKO in the third round.

Caros Fodor trains with Matt Hume in Washington, and has been progressing at a fast rate since day one.  He continues to impress and now sports a 7-1 record and a 3-0 record in Strikeforce.  Friday he had a big test with Douglas who has insane kicks, and sported an impressive 8-2 record going into the fight.

Fodor was taken down twice in the first round and gave up his back before escaping a submission attempt and landing in top position.  He managed to land some heavy elbows, now legal in Strikeforce and eventually sets up a nice kimura.  “Tarzan” utilized a rarely seen, but 100 percent legal tactic of holding his own shorts to prevent the submission.  After trying to finish the armbar, Fodor let go and landed some shots as the first round ended.

The end of the fight came in the third round after Douglas had eaten a lot of shots.  Caros had completely taken over the fight, and was dominating Douglas, who ate shot after shot after shot.  The referee stepped in and stopped the fight when Douglas appeared to be out on his feet.  You have to give it to Douglas for toughness, but he was being hurt and the referee definitely was correct in stopping the fight.

The last fighter we’re going to mention is Justin Wilcox.  I’ve never seen a more muscular Lightweight.  He’s a wrestler out of AKA and I used to watch him in lieu of taking sleeping pills, but he’s improving his game by leaps and bounds.

Friday night he was in there with Rodrigo Damm, and it was a showcase fight for Wilcox.  He was supposed to look good, and he absolutely did.  Coming out with a flurry of punches and a high kick that wobbled Damm, it was a different look from Wilcox who previously had 8 decisions in 11 wins.  He landed a huge right hand that dropped Damm, and Wilcox pounced.

Damm spends the rest of the round bleeding from both eyes and trying largely unsuccessfully to dodge incoming shots as Wilcox stood above him.  Wilcox finally dives in with a thudding right, and unloads until the bell mercifully ends the drubbing.

Between rounds, after towelling off Damm’s face, it’s not a pretty site.  The doctor waives the fight off between rounds, and Wilcox has his most exciting win in his career.  This guy is 11-3, on a six fight winning streak, including five in a row for Strikeforce.  It’s time for him to step up the competition level and fight a Lyle Beerbohm, Josh Thomson or KJ Noons.

As long as Strikeforce continues to put on exciting shows, and bringing up young and talented fighters, they should be able to run itself as a sovereign promotion.  With fighters like Fodor, Wilcox, and Terry, they have the talent to do so.