BY BRIAN WILLIAMS, New Media Editor YumaSun.com

BLOG 11, YEAR 1

Stirring rendition of National Anthem on guitar to open fourth trip to Paradise Casinos by Total Combat.
Great night. Weather is perfect. Crowd is begging for a first fight - Jamie Schaffer of Brawley vs. Sean Majors of San Diego at 145 pounds.

Majors quickly took the fight to the ground and from there cruised taking Schaffer out with a Guillotine choke at 1 minute, 17 seconds of the first round.

Quick note: Efrain Escudero (10-0) and a former Cibola graduate is not fighting due to his opponent backing out at last minute. Fight between Edgar Garcia of Arizona Athletic Center and Efrain Rodriguez of Undefeated, both are also Cibola graduates and currently living in Yuma, had their fight moved back. It is now the lead in to the main event.

Up next is Jamie’s brother Brian of El Centro vs. George Castro of Tucson in a heavyweight matchup. Castro out of Boxing Inc. totally outclassed brother Brian. Castro scored a quick takedown and pounded his way to the first-round victory that had many in the crowd chuckling.

So, far not much for the fans to cheer for. At least they have the Combat Dolls to keep them entertained.

Third fight goes the distance. Finally two fighters that look like they have seen the inside of a cage. Omar de la Cruz of Alliance MMA of San Diego won a split decision over Aaron Barrios an independent out of Calexico.

Omar started action with high round-house kicks but rarely connected. It allowed him to break through guard of Barrios and then take action to the mat.

Omar and Barrios traded the first two rounds at 185 pounds. Third round Barriors caught one of Omar’s kicks and slammed him to the ground. Omar quickly recovered, wrapping his legs around Barrios’ head. From this position Omar launched some punches to the side of Barrios’ head, eventually causing his ear to bleed.

Judging by the scores (30-27, 29-30, and 28-27), it left just enough of an impression on the judges.

First half of card ended with another dud as Rolando Perez of Alliance MMA needed only 45 seconds before Kenny Mendoza of Team Apocalypse called it quits (verbal submission) in a 145-pound bout.

Joe Ochoa of Arizona Athletic Center from Yuma opened the second half against old-timer Brett Albe of Alliance MMA. After trading a few punches, the heavyweights took the fight to the mat with Ochoa controlling the action from the top.

Albe escaped to his feet and the first round ended to chants of “Joe, Joe, Joe”. Ochoa did enough to take the first round.

Ochoa was unable to capitalize on the energy from the hometown crowd in the second round. Both fighters were content to dance around the middle of the ring, trading jabs. Albe using his Muay Thai background and superior reach connected enough times to take the second round.

Ochoa ended the round with cuts and swelling over this left eye.

Final round - Ochoa wanted to take the match to the mat. Albe obliged with less than 1:30 to go and took control in the final minute by locking up an arm and pounding away.

Albe awarded the unanimous decision 29-28, 29-28, and 29-28. After the fight, Albe with “boos” from the crowd said he would give Ochoa rematch anytime.

Good showing by Ochoa in his professional MMA debut. Albe, a transplant from the East Coast, was a seasoned MMA fighter trying to restart his career.

Dominic Cruz of Alliance made quick work of Kenneth Aimes of Team Aimes out of Yucca Valley. The 155-pound bout ended early in the first round with Cruz taking Aimes to the ground and pounding him out.

In the main event for the Yuma fans, Edgar Garcia came out swinging against fellow Yuman and Cibola graduate Efrain Rodriguez and dominated with a flurry of strikes that Rodriguez could not match.

Garcia improved to 4-0 with the resounding TKO at 1:03 of the first round and looks to Desert Rage Aug. 26 at Cocopah Casino for his next bout.

After the fight ended, Garcia climbed the cage and thanked his screaming fans for their support.

MAIN EVENT

Shannon Gugerty of Alliance owned the first round thanks to a superior ground game. The second round was more of the same against Johnny Torres of IE Grapplers. Gugerty ended it with a Guillotine choke.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 at 6:26 pm and is filed under One Blog at a Time. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.