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.

 

 

CAMO Event Round Up for 4.16.10 to 4.18.10

Total Fighting Alliance expands to amateur ranks

With the floodgates of amateur MMA in California wide open and flowing freely, it’s ironic that one of California’s most senior officially-licensed promotions, Todd Meacham’s Total Fighting Alliance (TFA), didn’t hold their first amateur MMA event until this past weekend.

But TFA 17, which took place at the Hawthorne Athletic Exchange (HAX) at Hawthorne Airport, marked another milestone for the three-year old regional promotion, as it creates a breeding ground from which Meacham can nurture talent for his pro shows.

“This was the easiest show I’ve ever done, and I’m gonna do more of them because of that,” beamed TFA matchmaker Todd Meacham, adding “you might not see me pay $1,000 to hold my license for the pro level anymore. All’s I might do is CAMO shows, period. And watch what I do with it. I’ll blow the UFC out of the water.”

The nine-match amateur MMA show was highlighted by furious heavyweight action.  The last match of the night, Danish strongman Jens Grau vs. Danny Radovic was a frantic battle of behemoths, but it was Jesse Escobedo and Kipeni Luto who claimed credit as showstealers of the night.  Their wild back-and-forth clash, which went halfway into the third before Escobedo caught Luto by submission, was touted by fans as the match of the night.

“They were both trying to showcase their skills, but at the same time, they were both going back to what they knew, and that’s street fighting. . .  I thought that roof was going to come down in that building, because of so much excitement,” Meacham lamented.

One pairing that Meacham will likely look to rematch is Rocky Bice vs. Michael Morrow, which ended rather abruptly. What was expected to be a knock-down-drag-out battle concluded 23 seconds into the first round, when Morrow slipped on the mat, giving Bice the window to pounce and earn a TKO victory.

In the days following the fight, an article on the TFA website suggested plans for a rematch, which Meacham, who strongly believes in Bice’s abilities and star power, confirmed as a possibility, saying “I feel that they need to fight again. I don’t think that Michael Morrow got to do what he’s capable of . . . I think that they can a have a back-and-forth fight.”

Match results from TFA 17 on 4/17/10 are as follows:

165 lbs. – Joey Guevara def. Justin Rodriguez via decision.

160 lbs. – Jason Gonzales def. Brian Jimenez via TKO, R1, 0:32.

145 lbs. – Craig Cook def. Juan Estrada via TKO, R1, 1:53.

158 lbs. (catch weight) – James Distler def. Edward Chavez via split decision.

170 lbs. – Bradley Crihfield def. Ryan Escobedo via submission, R1, 1:43.

240 lbs. (catch weight) – Jesse Escobedo def. Kipeni Lutu via submission, R3, 0:54.

160 lbs. – Brandon Anderson def. Shane Watts via submission, R3, 0:54.

195 lbs . (catch weight – Rocky Bice def. Michael Morrow via TKO, R1, 0:23.

235 lbs. (catch weight) – Jens Grau def. Danny Radovcic via TKO, R1, 1:09.

Although his website lists June 19^th as the next TFA date, Meacham also suggested doing a co-promote show with his previous promotion, sometime in July.  Regardless, Bice and Grau, dubbed ‘Todd’s Golden Boys of TFA,’ are confirmed to be featured attractions.

“They sell a lot of tickets, they put on a good show, people like to see them, they’re both successful businessmen, and those are the people I like to sell tickets to,” he explained.

For more info on upcoming amateur MMA action, visit http://www.camo-mma.org/events.