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Mari's Minute Valor Fighting Recap
October 26, 2006 San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino Highland, California
This past Thursday night, we had the pleasure of attending Valor Fighting - which was held at the San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino in the city of Highland. Now, if you haven’t been to an event at the San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino, you need to go because the arena is one of the best we’ve ever been to plus the gaming isn’t too shabby either…but play responsibly.
In attendance were some great fighters & stars whom I had the pleasure of being photographed with - PRIDE\K-1\UFC veteran KIMO, Women’s MMA standout and Boxing Pro Erin Toughill, WWE & ECW Superstar Rob Van Dam (RVD), adult film superstar Jenna Jameson and former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz. Ortiz, Kimo and Toughill all received an award of recognition in the sport of MMA from Valor Fighting.
RVD & Mari Mari & Kimo Jenna & Mari Erin & Mari
As the crowd filled in and the chairs filled up, before the fights began, we had a 10-bell-ring Moment of Silence for the four fallen fire fighters that passed away in the line of duty earlier that day.
After the somber moment, it was time to proceed with the action - and the first three fights went quick.
Randal Clifford won over Jeff Harwell by TKO in 52 seconds of first round. Dan Marks won over Travis McRoberts by tap out due to a rear naked choke. And Rick Screeton won over Ismael Gonzalez who got caught with an arm bar and was forced to tap out at 24 seconds of the first round.
Fight four featured what appeared to be the crowd favorite in Gabriel Lara against Martin Baczkowski - this fight was a back and forward battle. Both men connecting with great punches but overall, Lara dominated most of the fight and ended it at the 34 second mark of the second round by tap out due to a rear naked choke.
Now for what I think was the best fight of the night - Jamia Williamson taking on Edgar Cruz. These were two heavyweight gladiators who demonstrated the warrior spirit so often talked about in martial arts. Round one was non-stop action - And even though Cruz looked to be at a reach & height disadvantage, he was able to counter affectively and connect a lot of his punches. The highlight of this fight occurred when both fighters connected at the exact same moment with a right hook and both fighters went down from the others punch - a double knockdown - you don’t see that very often. But just as fast as they went down, they both recovered just as quickly. Round two started with a more exhausted Cruz - Williamson dominated the round with knees that connected that dropped Cruz to the ground and Williamson followed up with power punches. In the end, the referee had no choice but to stop fight due to uncontested strikes. Williamson wins by TKO at 2:03 of second round.
Fight six saw Clark Bevans defeat Eddie Saldana by TKO at 1:04 of the first round due to uncontested punches. Saldana took this fight on late notice.
And in the main event of the evening, Justin McCully (with Tito Ortiz in his corner) tangled with Ruben “Warpath” Villareal, who looked ready to fight. Although Warpath connected a few times, McCully was able to take the win with a front choke submission at 3:48 of the first round.
I also want to send out congratulations to Paul Rodriguez who took home the raffle giveaway prize.
In Short, it was another great event at the San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino. And of course, after the fights...well, it was time to gamble. And like always, I lost and Al won. Don't forget to check out the pictures of the event: Fight Gallery.
Until next time, Mari
(10/29/06) |
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