Dollaway toils to be well-rounded fighter

Though wrestling has traditionally been one of the strongest bases for mixed martial arts success, C.B. Dollaway realized being one-dimensional will take a fighter only so far in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

“With MMA, it’s no longer where wrestlers can just go in and pound on everybody,” the 27-year-old Dollaway said. “You have to learn everything. You have to be well-rounded. So I just put my head down and started going after it, making my game more rounded.”

Dollaway will take on another successful former college wrestler, Mark Munoz, on a UFC card Thursday night in Louisville, Ky.

After losing by submission in two of his first four UFC fights, Dollaway has won three in a row and is looking for perhaps his best victory yet against Munoz.

“When I first started fighting, wrestling kind of ruled all. I’d be able to go in and take guys down and not have to worry about other parts of my game as much,” he said.

Dollaway said his early success led to cockiness and an inflated sense of his abilities. He said that changed with a submission loss to Amir Sadollah in the championship bout on Season 7 of “The Ultimate Fighter.”

“It sucked at the time. It definitely put me in a low place, but it humbled me,” he said.

Dollaway said the loss forced him to analyze what was wrong with his game and to realize he had to get better.

Dollaway’s last outing, a first-round submission victory over Joe Doerksen, convinced him he is on the right track.

“It’s huge. You’re like, ‘Oh, my game’s getting good,’ but you don’t know how good until you do something like that. It’s kind of like a payoff for all the hard work,” he said. “It just makes you open your own eyes and make you believe in yourself.”

Thursday’s card, which features a main event welterweight bout between Diego Sanchez and Las Vegan Martin Kampmann, will air on Versus (Cable 38).

It will be the first UFC event broadcast in 3-D.

■ STRIKEFORCE — Two titles will be on the line on the “Strikeforce: Columbus” card scheduled to air on Showtime on Saturday night from Columbus, Ohio.

Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante will defend his light heavyweight belt for the first time against former UFC star and Pride two-division champion Dan Henderson.

Marloes Coenen will defend the women’s welterweight title against late injury replacement Liz Carmouche, who is stepping in for Miesha Tate on less than two weeks’ notice.

“I believe when you’re the champion you should fight everyone, so it doesn’t matter who the person is in front of me — I’ll fight them,” Coenen said. “Liz is a different fighter than Miesha. I believe Liz is very talented and she’ll be a big star in the coming years. … It will be a fierce fight, but there will be no problems for me.”

Also on the card is a middleweight battle between Tim Kennedy and Melvin Manhoef.

■ DALEY WINS — British striker Paul Daley stopped Yuya Shira in 1:46 on Saturday in Manchester, England, probably setting up a Strikeforce welterweight title fight against Nick Diaz in April.

Daley, who was banished from the UFC for his actions after a loss to Josh Koscheck last year, had positioned himself for the title shot. But Strikeforce chief executive Scott Coker said Daley’s status as a title contender was at stake Saturday even though he was fighting outside of the organization.

■ KING OF THE CAGE — King of the Cage will bring another professional MMA card to the Eastside Cannery on Saturday.

The California-based organization, whose fights air regularly on HDNet, staged its first card at the hotel in November. Saturday’s card begins at 7 p.m.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509.