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Cage of Fire 1 Recap \ Results \ Gallery
April 22, 2006 “El Foro” Jai-Alai Sports Hall Tijuana, Mexico
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Last Saturday night, the promoters of Reto Maximo presented 14 action-packed bouts at Tijuana's (Baja California, Mexico) first Mixed Martial Arts event to be held in a cage - Cage of Fire!
The cage was circular in design and rather stylish in that it had a walk way attached to the outside of the cage so that the ring girls could maneuver on top of it. The venue, “El Foro” Jai-Alai Sports Hall, provided great seating for everyone plus the two giant big screen's (unobstructed) made for for easy viewing (along with the great camera work).
Notables in attendance included Abu Dhabi Champion and PRIDE veteran Dean Lister (who told us he is preparing for his upcoming bout in the UFC against Alessio Sakara), King of the Cage stand-out Thomas Kenney (video interview on Monday), Muay Thai middleweight champion Luis Bio, King of the Cage promoter Terry Trebilcock, lightweight kickboxing champion Jose Guardado and MMA veterans Raul Arvizu & Edwin Aquilar. Plus we can't forget about the Beautiful Ring Girls from Hornee Industreez and El Mexicano. MC for the night was King of the Cage veteran Tony Galindo.
The night started off with a spectacular firework display that made it a Cage A Fire...okay, not really but the fireworks were a nice touch. The first bout of the night saw a couple of 185 lb.'ers go at it - Brandon Cole out of Team Seal in San Diego, California went up against Rigoberto Barboza from Team Bad Boy in Ensenada, Mexico. Cole was easily the more skilled of the two and showed it by landing numerous punches, pretty much at will, but Barboza had the heart of a lion and would not quit. Barboza tried his best to fight back but Cole was too good on this night - and luckily, Barboza's corner saw that too and threw in the towel - Good corner work.
The action continued with a few TKO's due to strikes and a few submissions (one of which was a sweet inverted arm bar pulled off by Enrique Luna on Jake Mitchell) heading into the intermission.
And the bout that would precede the intermission is what we consider the fight of the night - Gilbert Salinas (Riverside Submission \ Joe Camacho's Fight Team) against Chad Fortna (Pendleton Fight Team). These two warriors swung for the fences early on until Fortna slipped throwing a kick - the fight then went to the ground where Salinas tried for an arm bar but Fortna punched his way out and into a full mount. Salinas played great defense and took a little punishment until he was able to reverse Fortna and get the top position (he gave up the top position quickly to bring the fight back to their feet) - Fortna tried a few kicks and came in behind a straight right but Salinas countered well and tagged Fortna a few times until Fortna was able to tie-up and take Salinas down - Salinas worked the guard while Fortna worked the short elbows trying to pass the guard - It looked like Salinas was going to be able to slap on a triangle choke but Fortna was able to slam his way out of it - Fortna was again in Salinas' guard. Salinas then slapped on an arm triangle and was able to roll Fortna holding the arm triangle - it looked tight but once again, Fortna was able to get out of it and put Salinas on his back, into guard. Fortna landed a few hammer punches from the top until Salinas went for another arm bar but Fortna easily escaped and the round ended.
The second round went pretty much like the first - they opened up throwing bombs - Fortna ended up getting the worse of the exchanges but when Salinas went for a submission, Fortna had the Houdini key to escape. Mid-way through the second round, Fortna looked like he was going to be able to pull off a rear naked choke - It looked like he had it tight but it was Salinas was able to fend off the arms - Fortna still had Salinas' back and tried for the rear naked choke for quite a while but Salinas defended well and when Salinas rolled onto his stomach, Fortna took the opportunity to transition into an arm bar but he lost it and Salinas was able to battle back and reverse Fortna to get into Fortna's guard. From there, it looked like Salinas was going to go for a knee bar but Fortna was able to secure one of Salinas' arms and went for the arm bar and looked like he was about to cinch it when the bell rang to end round two.
At the start of round three, both fighters looked a little tired - Again, the fighters went to the ground and Salinas was able to lock in a triangle from the bottom - Fortna battled to get out and Salinas rolled him over and looked to have the triangle tight from the top - We didn't think the Houdini key would fit the lock but we were wrong - Fortna used the cage to roll himself over - Fortna then tried to pick-up and slam Salinas but Salinas loosened his grip and went for an arm bar - Again, Houdini defended the arm bar and Salinas transitioned back to a triangle - Fortna was able to bend his body from the side position and bring around his legs and put Salinas in a leg headlock - that broke the two a part and for a second, Fortna was sitting on Salinas' stomach facing his legs and we thought for sure he was going to transition into a knee bar but Salinas rolled him into guard - Salinas then through an illegal knee to the face of Fortna that caused the match to be stopped momentarily so the ref could warn Salinas. The rest of the round saw the two exchange haymakers with neither landing anything substantial. Salinas pulled out a majority decision win but the standing ovation from the crowd proved that both fighters were winners. We definitely look forward to seeing these two in action in the future - if Fortna can sharpen his stand-up game and polish his ground game while Salinas looks like he just needs a few more outings under his belt for the experience, these two can go far in the fight game.
The rest of the card proved just as exciting as none of the remaining bouts went the distance. The night was capped off with local favorite Mike Seal going up against Arizona's Stacy Hakes. Seal looked to get the early advantage in the bout when he caught Hakes with a right hook that looked like it wobbled Hakes for a second - but Hakes charged in and when Seal slipped trying to kick, Hakes followed him down - Seal was able to get to his knees - Hakes then got Seal in a guillotine and tried to pull guard but Seal was able to transition to half-guard and didn't move for a while, not wanting the hold to get tighter, and was finally able to escape and quickly got full mount -Seal then tried a little ground-and-pound until he decided to stand-up - Both exchanged a few strikes before it went to the ground again. Seal looking to ground-and-pound while it looked like Hakes was trying to set up a triangle - Seal continued with his ground-and-pound and landed a right to the jaw that hurt Hakes - Seal realized this and gestured to Hakes that that was it - Seal got up and walked away - Hakes was grimacing, feeling his jaw with his hand - at this point, it looked like the fight was over. The ref then talked to Hakes and Hakes decided he would continue - Seal looked surprised that the bout was going to continue - Hakes extended his arm and both fighters touched gloves - Hakes then throws two consecutive kicks that miss, lost his balance and retired - it looked like his jaw was really bothering him - good effort on his part though. Seal takes the victory.
With Cage of Fire 1, promoters extraordinaire Tony Perez and Juan Noriega brought cage fighting to Tijuana - and judging by the audience's response and those we talked to, it was an overwhelming success. Once again, Tony Perez and Juan Noriega show why they have the Best shows South of the border. Their next scheduled event, Reto Maximo (in a ring), is set for May 20th - Don't miss it!
To see the pictures full size, just click on the picture
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Fight 1 - Brandon Cole vs. Rigoberto Barboza Fight 2 - Jesse Miramontes vs. Luis Garcia Fight 3 - Anthony Soto vs. Waach Spirit Wolf Fight 4 - Marco Soto vs. Balam Reyes Fight 5 - Antonio Duarte vs. Isaac Peralta Fight 6 - Enrique Luna vs. Jake Mitchell Fight 7 - Chad Fortna vs. Gilbert Salinas Fight 8 - Brandon Gushiken vs. Rick Screeton |
Fight 9 - Jesse Romero vs. Tristan Yunker Fight 10 - Brian Shoffner vs. Omar Figueroa Fight 11 - Joe Herrera vs. Kyle Olsen Fight 12 - Scott Rose vs. James Cooper Fight 13 - Greg White vs. Doug Ridinger Fight 14 - Mike Seal vs. Stacy Hakes |
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(4/28/06) |
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