HOFFMAN ESTATES | It was a long time coming for John Kolosci to get back to a big-stage cage.

In the end Saturday night, at the sold-out Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, he didn't get the result he was looking for.

Kolosci, a Portage fighter, dropped a unanimous decision to Indianapolis' Shamar Bailey on the preliminary card of Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers.

Kolosci, who quit his job as a computer networker a year ago to train and fight full time, had gone 4-0 in 2009 to work his way back to an opportunity with a major promotion. When Strikeforce came calling for its nationally televised event on CBS, it was the shot Kolosci had been waiting for.

But Bailey used a series of takedowns to score points with the judges and kept Kolosci at bay, despite many attempts by Kolosci to sink in guillotine chokes.

Bailey lost a point for a knee to Kolosci's head while he was on the ground, but all three judges saw him as the winner of each round for a 29-27 result on all three scorecards.

"I just felt like I was in slow motion and always a step behind," Kolosci said after the fight. "I should have pushed the pace on the ground and I didn't.

"I was hoping he'd stand a bit, but I landed some nice shots standing and he just pushed hard for takedowns and got them. He didn't hit me once on the ground. I was basically out-wrestled."

Also on the preliminary card, Jeff Curran of Island Lake, Ill., stopped his four-fight skid with a first-round TKO of Indianapolis' Dustin Neace when Neace suffered an injury and had to verbally tap out.

In other action on the night's preliminary card, Christian Uflacker of Chicago beat fellow Chicagoan Jonatas Novaes by unanimous decision; Nate Moore stopped Eastern Illinois University product Louis Taylor with a second-round TKO; and in a women's special attraction, Marloes Coenen of the Netherlands submitted Roxanne Modafferi just over a minute into the first round with an arm-bar to avenge a loss from two years prior. The win for Coenen sets up a Strikeforce women's title bout with champion Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos.

The 10-fight event was highlighted by a main event heavyweight showdown between Fedor Emelianenko, widely considered the world's top heavyweight, against Chicago native Brett Rogers.

MIXED MARTIAL ARTS

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