Palencia & Zavala advance in CAMO tournament in a challenging weekend

Christian Palencia and Gio Zavala, who advance in the first annual CAMO (California Amateur MMA Organization) state tournament, shine brightly as the two stars of an otherwise difficult weekend for Legends MMA. The event took place on September 11^th at Siren Studios in Hollywood, under the Total Fighting Alliance (TFA) banner.

Palencia and Zavala were two of six Legends fighters scheduled to enter the tournament. The other entrants were Chris “Blvd” Brady (135 lbs.), Tommy Gavin (155 lbs.), Eddie Jackson (170 lbs.), and Eugene Marenya (170 lbs.). The roster dropped to five when Marenya was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to injury. However, pending a medical clearance, Marenya will be the alternate in the next round of the tournament, scheduled for October 2^nd at the Fight Academy in Pasadena.

For Zavala, the advance to the next level was bittersweet, as his win came by forfeit after his opponent, Tom Kemp of TapouT, withdrew within minutes of the scheduled fight. According to backstage reports, Kemp was warming up with his trainer, doing some light jiu-jitsu, when he re-aggravated a previous knee injury.

The news was beyond disappointing to Zavala, who had one of the largest fan followings in attendance that day. Promoter Todd Meacham brought Zavala out to the cage to explain the situation. On the upside, Zavala automatically advances to the same October 2^nd show as Palencia and Marenya.

“I just wanted to thank everybody that came out to watch me. I trained for this fight. I’m really sorry. I trained really hard. I know this guy’s a good fighter, but, you know, things happen, man,” said the disheartened light heavyweight.

135 lbs. – Chris Brady vs. German Balthazar (Big John McCarthy’s Ultimate Training Academy)

Brady looked to set the pace of the match early with low kicks and combos. Balthazar circled and offered some low kicks of his own, knocking Brady down with a right and clinching up against the cage. Toward the end, Brady shot in for a takedown, but Balthazar caught it and turned it into a trip takedown of his own.  The second round saw Brady stay on Balthazar with kicks and combos. Balthazar scored another takedown off a body kick, but opted to keep the fight standing and backed away. They continued to trade low kicks throughout. Brady was quick to press and clinch up in round three, grabbing double overhooks on Balthazar, who turned it into another trip takedown. On the ground, Brady threw punches from “double-bagger” guard before kicking Balthazar off. They clinched on their feet, giving Balthazar the opening to take Brady down again via hiptoss. Brady was immediately back on his feet, but Balthazar then scooped a double-leg takedown. Brady tried to push him back with upkicks, but Balthazar crowded him and threw rights to end the round.

Judges awarded the match to Balthazar by split decision, off two scores of 29-28 for Balthazar and one 30-27 score for Brady.

155 lbs. – Tommy Gavin vs. Paul Blancaflor (Spiritwolf MMA)

Both men sized each other up for a while, with Gavin charging in with pawing shots, that Blancaflor sidestepped. Gavin shot in from afar for a double let takedown and was caught in Blancaflor’s guard. Blancaflor kept control of his neck and closed the guard, sitting up and rolling into top position before Gavin was forced to tap at 1:31 of the first round.

170 lbs. – Eddie Jackson vs. Bill Cooper

Cooper refused to touch gloves at the onset, which got a rousing chorus of boos. Both men were careful to engage at first, as Jackson circled form the outside. Cooper charged in with a combo, throwing Jackson off balance to the ground. As Jackson got up and reached for a single-leg, Cooper grabbed a guillotine choke and jumped guard. Jackson tried to fight out of it, but was forced to tap out at 1:21 of round one.

155 lbs. – Christian Palencia vs. Shane Watts (TFA Fight Crew)

Palencia fired the first blows with a jab-kick combo, but Watts retaliated with punches that pushed him back to the cage. Palencia came back with a two-punch combo that bounced Watt into the cage, and caught him with another knee as Watts fell to the ground, prompting the referee to immediately stop the action at 0:14. Palencia was awarded the win by TKO.

Unfortunately, Legends’ woes continued on two other shows this weekend as well. On this same night, in Pueblo, CO, light heavyweight pro Adriano Camolese lost to Eliot “The Fire” Marshall via unanimous decision (29-28 for all three judges) at Bring the Thunder MMA. On Thursday, September 9^th, middleweight Matt “Lion of God” Horwich lost a frustrating split decision to Eric Schambari at Bellator 28 in New Orleans, LA on Thursday night.

 

 

Hawaii Sweeps TUF 11 Finale 3-0

Story By: Jay Tan- MMA Hawaii Staff Reporter – Photos by Silton Buendia

Despite the fact that three different fighters came from three different camps, Travis Browne, Brad Tavares, and Chris “The Crippler” Leben all gave the Islands proud reason to celebrate last night, as each won their respective matches decisively at the UFC’s 11th “Ultimate Finale,” at the Palms Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

The event was the “Ultimate Fighter” season 11 finale, and was headlined by Court McGee vs. Kris “Savage” McCray, in a match to determine the reality show winner. In the end, McGee submitted McCray by rear naked choke at 3:41 of round two, earning him a six-figure contract with the UFC.

In the opening match, Honolulu-native Travis “Hapa” Browne defeated James McSweeney by TKO. Browne, who currently resides and trains in San Diego, was making his UFC debut with the match, riding in on a nine-match win streak, including victories in King of the Cage, Bellator Fighting Championships, and Gladiator Challenge.

The fight itself started out slowly, with both men sizing each other up and trading occasional strikes. Midway through the round, Browne dropped McSweeney with a left hook and pounced on top to fire a series of lefts. He worked briefly for an Americana, but transitioned to full mount and ground-and-pounded with punches until referee Kim Winslow stopped the action at 4:32 of the first round, awarding Browne victory by TKO.

The match that Hawaiians were perhaps buzzing most about was Hilo-born / Kailua-trained Brad Tavares vs. Seth Baczynski, both members of the TUF season 11 cast. The fight was in fact a rematch from a quarterfinal bout between them, which ended when Baczynski hit an illegal strike (kick to the head of a grounded opponent) on Tavares.  Because of the kick, Tavares was awarded the win by DQ and advanced to the semi-finals.

Despite the illegal strike, there was no bad blood between the two. In SpikeTV.com bonus footage, after the match, Baczynski was shown chasing after coach Chuck Liddell and Tavares, apologetic and repeating “I’m not a dirty fighter.”

Both men were all business in the first round, as Tavares hit his trademark hip toss off Baczynski trying for a takedown. Baczynski did later threaten with a triangle choke, as he would again in the third, but Tavares was dominant in the first, riding the back for most of the first and some of the third. Round two saw Tavares get the takedown and punish on the ground until Baczynski would escape to his feet, where Tavares would repeat the process. Baczynski came alive in the third, shooting for takedowns, throwing punches from bottom, and cinching what seemed like a very tight triangle, but Tavares weathered the storm and walked away with the unanimous decision victory.

Despite the triangle chokes, Tavares maintained that he was not going to give up voluntarily, saying he was “never close to tapping.  Close to going out.  I didn’t expect him to get it.  He’s got skills.”

Finally, Oahu-transplant Chris “The Crippler” Leben defeated wrestler Aaron Simpson by TKO in the first round.

Simpson scored two takedowns in the first round, the second of which he peppered Leben’s head with punches, but to no seeming effect. Around 1:20 in the second round, Leben and Simpson came alive with flurries, with heavy “Leben” chants emanating from the crowd. After taking several shots to the head, Simpson shot in for a takedown, but Leben caught it and fired lefts from a front facelock. Simpson escaped and ran, falling forward and off balance, at which point referee Josh Rosenthal called a stop to the action.  Leben was awarded the match by TKO / referee’s stoppage at 4:17 of the second round.

After the match, Leben simply said “You know what, that’s what I do.  What am I supposed to say, I hit him in the face because that’s my job.”

For his efforts, Leben was awarded $25,000 for Knockout of the Night.

This article originally appeared under National MMA News at MMAHawaii.com on June 20th, 2010.