Sun Sports and Entertainment holds inaugural “Mano A Mano” mixed martial arts competition

by Sean Malone of of North Texas Fisticuffs

A raucous crowd of fight fans congregated in the Mesquite Rodeo Arena Sunday afternoon to bear witness to some action-packed mixed martial arts as Sun Sports and Entertainment put on its inaugural “Mano A Mano” promotion in Mesquite. Highlighting some of the most accomplished Latino mixed martial artists in sport, the goal behind Sun Sport’s “Mano A Mano” series is to highlight and cultivate the sport of MMA in the large Hispanic community that resides in Texas.

In the afternoon’s featured main event, light heavyweight Alex Andrade (15-5) of Dallas gutted out a hard fought victory over Eric “Big Head” Davila (21-9) of Lubbock. The action was intense from the opening bell as Davila came out aggressive, landing a hard flurry of punches to the head of Andrade. The aggression prompted Andrade to initiate a clinch and landed some hard knees to the body of Davila along the cage. Andrade decided to up the ante and shot in for a takedown. Davila tried to sprawl but was eventually taken to the mat. Davila managed to make it back to his feet and landed a nice one-two punch combination to end the round.

The second round followed the pace set in the first round with Davila using his strength and striking skills to give Andrade fits. Andrade would weather Davila’s assault to shoot in for a double leg take down that was successful. On the ground the tide turned in favor of Andrade who took advantage by landing some hard ground and pound punches. Looking for a way to deflect the blows, Davila rolled over and gave up his back. Emboldened by the fight Andrade landed a couple of illegal blows to the back of Davila’s head. Andrade was penalized a point and Davila was given a five-minute reprieve to gather his wits.

In the third round, Andrade came out firing, landing a left hook-right combo followed by a high kick that rocked Davila back. Seizing the opportunity, Andrade shot in for the takedown and after jostling for position managed to take Davila’s back where he tapped out after eating a barrage of punches.

Bantamweight Edwin “El Feroz” Figueroa (5-0) of McKinney looked impressive in submitting Navied Sadeghi (3-3) of Houston in the opening round. Sadeghi came out looking to take the fight to the ground and managed to do so early on. After eating a number of hard punches, Figueroa was able to scramble to his feet. Sadeghi was undeterred and took Figueroa to the ground again but this time Figueroa was able to transition onto Sadeghi’s back were he clamped down on a rear naked choke to end the fight.

Austin-based lightweight Warren Stewart (4-8) grinded out a hard-fought unanimous decision over Gerald Lovato (7-6) of Albuquerque, N.M. The fight was a daunting tactical battle that was waged primarily on the ground. In the end, Stewart’s advantages when the fighters were on their feet nudged the judges into give the fight to Stewart. Scores were 29-28 on all three scorecards in favor of Stewart.

Welterweight Anselmo Martinez (4-1) of Brownsville, Texas, looked impressive in his systematic breakdown of Martin Castro (3-4) of Miami before submitting him with a rear naked choke. Behind a measured pace Martinez was able to utilize his punishing strikes to break the will of Castro who was game but out-gunned by the bigger Martinez.

In what may have been the fight of the night, Derek Campos (3-1) of Dallas weathered an awesome display of striking ability by Yosdenis Cedenas (2-2) of Miami in earning a third round submission by rear naked choke. Cedenas came out fast, landing a number of impressive spinning back kicks. Campos was kept off guard with Cedenas fleeting footwork and wide array of strikes. But Campos would not give up and after closing the gap in the second and third rounds managed to take Cedenas down to the ground where the Guy Metzger trained fighter was able to land the submission.

Other results

William Lorentino (3-0) of Miami used his skill on the ground to submit Oscar Granado (2-3) of Loving, N.M. with a triangle choke.

Houston’s Domingo Palarte (1-0) looked impressive in submitting Adolpho Ortega (0-1) with a debilitating arm-bar in the first round.

Juan Tatum (1-0) of Fort Worth clamped on a triangle choke of all triangle chokes when he submitted Albert Martinez (0-2) of San Marcos, Texas, in the opening round. The choke was on so tight that Martinez was out and didn’t even know it until the referee has called a halt to the fight.

Heavyweights Ben Medina (0-1) of Amarillo and Aaron Garcia (3-2) of Lubbock engaged in a surprisingly spirited three round battle that had the crowd on its feet in appreciation, Though closely contested, in the end the judges gave the fight to Garcia by a split decision with scores of 29-28, 29-28, and 28-29.

Houston’s Jesus Rivera (2-0) earned a first round TKO over Rick Guzman (0-1) of Odessa, Texas.