Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante vs Aaron Rosa

Round 1:
Rosa rushed forward right away with punches and Cavalcante clinched. The fighters traded knees to the legs and Cavalcante scored a partial takedown. He landed a series of punches as Rosa got back to his feet. More knees were thrown by both fighters, but the action was sparse. Cavalcante tried for a trip takedown, but Rosa stayed on his feet.

The referee separated the fighters and Rosa threw a one-two. Cavalcante clinched against the cage again and scored with foot stomps, but Rosa answered with more knees. Rosa fought off another takedown and reversed the clinch. Very poor round from two fighters who are known for exciting fights. 10-9 Cavalcante.

Round 2:
Rosa landed weak leg kicks in round two and just missed with a flurry. Cavalcante pushed forward and clinched against the cage, but Rosa broke free. Cavalcante landed a nice counter left hook and Rosa answered with a jab and a leg kick. Cavalcante connected with a looping right hook and a flying knee to the body, then scored a big takedown.

Cavalcante struck from the top, but Rosa did well to keep him from doing anything. The fighters were stood up after an illegal elbow from Cavalcante. Immediately after the restart, Cavalcante floored Rosa with a glancing right hook and a knee, then landed a quick series of punches that forced the referee to stop the fight.

Winner: Rafael Cavalcante by TKO (Knee & Punches) at 3:25 of round two. He improves to 8-2-0.

“King” Kevin Casey vs Chad Vance

Round 1:
The fighters clinched early on and Vance reversed a takedown, but Casey quickly scrambled and took his back. He flattened Vance out and punched the sides of his head to set up a rear naked choke. Vance fought off the choke for a short time, but Casey had little trouble in securing the choke for a very quick tapout. Nice win for Casey.

Winner: Kevin Casey by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 1:41 of round one. He improves to 3-1-0.

Undercard Fights:

“Lethal” Lee Gibson defeated Joe Wilk by TKO (Punches) at 4:39 of round one. He improves to 12-3-0.

Brian Davidson defeated Russell Patrick by TKO (Punches) at 0:29 of round one. He improves to 5-1-0.

Nick Nolte defeated Andy Waters by Submission (Triangle Choke) at 3:45 of round one. He improves to 1-1-0.

Darryl Cobb defeated Gary Tapasua by Split Decision (30-27, 29-28, 28-29) after three rounds. He improves to 2-1-0.

Mike Chandler defeated Richard Bouphanouvong by TKO (Punches) at 2:07 of round two. He improves to 2-0-0.

Lucas Lopes defeated Dominic Brown by TKO (Punches) at 0:45 of round two. He improves to 18-8-0.

While the hype train behind Kim Couture came to a crashing halt, Strikeforce Challengers 5 marked the emergence of two future contenders in the promotion as Kerry Vera and Tyron Woodley both made statements with impressive victories.