Jessica Doerner was looking for a challenge and she got one.
The Minot fighter overcame a quick, first-round takedown Saturday and won her second straight fight in as many career bouts as a professional mixed martial artist.
Doerner slipped the choke attempts from Ashley Omsberg and reversed a second takedown before peppering the Sidney, Mont., native with strikes to end the contest at 4 minutes, 11 seconds into the round.
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Daniel Allar/MDN • Minot fighter Jessica Doerner (purple uniform) reverses a takedown attempt by Ashley Omsberg (Sidney, Mont.) in a bout at Maysa Arena on Saturday.
"This one's more satisfying I think because it was a tougher fight," Doerner said, "and because I was able to work my Muay Thai a little more, which I've been working really hard on and then because I was able to actually see my ground work pay off."
Doerner was one of four area fighters to pick up a win on the Golden Cage MMA card, held at Maysa Arena in front of about 600 spectators.
In the evening's first fight of nine, Minot's Eli Timoteo earned a technical knockout with strikes on Belcourt's Dustin Downes. The bout was stopped at 4:33.
Minot's Jayson Fuentes (5-3) also won in the first round by TKO with strikes, beating Jamestown's Paul Patrick (2-6) at 3:30.
Sawyer's Mike Carpenter (1-0) won, beating Delmar Martell (Poplar, Mont.) with a rear-naked choke at 3:52 in the first round. Martell is 0-4.
In the lone female bout, Doerner reversed a shaky start with persistent work on the mat. Omsberg wedged Doerner against the cage for more than two minutes before the referee ordered the fighters back to their feet.
Omsberg (0-1) went for another takedown, but Doerner ended in full mount. She forced Omsberg to her back and swung away with both fists, connecting on enough blows around the head to force the stoppage.
"She wasn't really hurting me, so I was just trying to take my time and wait for good openings," Doerner said.
Timoteo (3-2) also suffered a takedown early in his bout, but escaped back to his feet and landed a solid left hand and a head kick. Downes (2-1) stumbled back against the cage and Timoteo pulled him down with a brief guillotine choke. Downes was unable to break free after and Timoteo finished it with hammer fists.
"I kind of got away from ground (game)," Timoteo said of his plan. "I figured this guy was a stand-up guy. ... He's got long arms. I guess he's a wrestler and threw me off track."
Said Downes: "He gassed me. That open guard, it took a lot to get out of that. ... He can take a punch. I caught him with that right hook, but I got gassed too much."
Doerner, Timoteo and Fuentes train out of Calavera Martial Arts and Boxing on South Main Street.