Oliveira wins PFC title, two others move into position
Posted on | March 25, 2008 | No Comments
LEMOORE, Ca. — From a five-second Palace Fighting Championship debut, to a 5-round PFC World Light Heavyweight Title fight, Jorge Oliveira made good on his second-chance opportunity.
Oliveira bounced back from a 5-second knockout at PFC 6 to Arroyo Grande’s Glover Teixeira to capture the PFC World Light Heavyweight championship on March 20th at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino.
Oliveira (3-2-1) defeated Sacramento’s Jeromy Freitag (6-6) by unanimous decision.
“I still don’t think that my performance is there yet,” said Oliveira, who had Freitag rocked on several occasions in the 5-round bout but failed to follow up and finish the fight.
“There are still a lot of things I need to tighten up in my game. I really didn’t know too much about [Freitag]. I had him hurt really bad at least once, but I didn’t want to go in too wild.”
Instead, the Brazilian born fighter that now trains in Los Angeles played it safe. He peppered Freitag with shots, landed the much harder shots and was a bit more active when the fight hit the ground.
“I think that [Freitag] is a great fighter,” Oliveira said. “I trained a lot harder for this fight than I did my last. I got a second chance, and I wanted to come in here and show the fans what kind of fighter I really am.”
The light heavyweight title fight was the only belt up for grabs on the 12-bout card, which was the seventh straight sellout for the PFC.
But two other fighters did gain No. 1 contender spots and will title shots later this year.
In a sizzling featherweight bout, Fresno’s Jorge Evangelista (6-2-1) defeated Oregon’s Enoch Wilson (8-4-1) by split decision.
The victory put Evangelista in position to fight PFC World Featherweight title-holder Art Arciniega (6-1) of Oakdale.
“This wasn’t the type of fight that I was expecting,” said Evangelista, who avenged a loss by his brother by Wilson.
“I think it was kind of reverse of how I thought the fight might go.”
In what was easily the fight of the night, Evangelista and Wilson put on a striking and grappling clinic for fans, who are still debating who actually won the razor close split decision.
Evangelista probably stole the fight with his takedowns in the first two rounds, though, and then held off a lengthy heel-hook submission attempt in the final period.
“I think that my wrestling won the fight for me,” Evangelista said. “[Wilson] was really keeping me off balance with his jab. That’s something that I need to work on for my next fight.”
The pair were locked on the ground for virtually the entire third round, as Wilson sunk a heel hook and worked vigorously to finish the fight. Evangelista obviously took damage in the round, as he could hardly stand after the fight and needed help out of the ring.
“I wasn’t going to tap. I just put my mind some place else. Believe it or not, I kind of just go to a meditation state,” Evangelista said. “I kept my mind off he pain and meditated. I can’t even really remember most of the round.
It was a quick finish in the middleweight title eliminator, as Merced’s Phil Collins (6-3) defeated Lemoore’s Mike Martinez (3-2) by heel-hook at 1:16 of the first round.
“I did what I said I was going to do,” said Collins, who had been training for a fight with Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Justin Levens (9-8) of Newport Beach.
Levens was unable to compete, because of an injury sustained in training.
“I have to give the kid [Martinez] a lot of credit for stepping in on short notice. I think he is a young, up-and-coming talent. He’s tall and strong. But I did what I had to do when you overmatch some one and that’s finish the fight fast.”
Martinez pushed the pace of the fight early, landing a leg kick and then taking Collins down with a double-leg takedown that nearly sent the two through the ropes.
“It was like a football tackle. That kind of hurt,” Collins said. “But I just caught my breath, took my time and waited for him to step in the middle, I rolled through and then popped it.”
Martinez tried to pass Collins’ guard, but the crafty veteran setup a sweep and then locked the heel to end the fight.
“[Martinez] just needs to work on his jiu-jitsu a little,” Collins said.
Martinez, who took the fight on just five days notice, says he will be back.
“I thought that Collins’ experience definitely shined through in this fight,” Martinez said. “I felt like I was the bigger, faster and stronger fighter. I just have some things to work on. I will be back in the gym on Monday.”
Collins will have to wait until September for his shot at the title, as current champion Visalia’s Kenny Ento (9-3) has a pair of bouts scheduled already. He will fight an opponent to be announced in a non-title bout in April on a night of championship boxing at the Palace and then tangle with talented submission specialist Nate Loughran (7-0) of Santa Rosa in May.
The bout with Loughran will be a title bout and is expected to be one of the better match ups of the year.
Much like Hanford’s Luis Gonzalez (1-0) did in October, Las Vegas’ Ulysses Gomez (1-0) helped put the 125-pound division on the map in the PFC by submitting Cambria’s Greg McDowell (0-1) at 41 seconds of the first round.
“I really just wanted to get the fight over with,” said Gomez, who was frustrated with having to miss his mother’s birthday and the fact that they mistakenly played the wrong music for his entrance.
“They played the wrong song and I was missing my mom’s birthday. I just wanted to get in there and finish the guy. I wanted to do it for my mom.”
Gomez made an impression on all those in attendance, as the Grapplers Quest and World Pankration Champion, took McDowell down immediately and took his back just as fast, finishing the fight with a rear-naked-choke.
“I was trying to put him in this move [Marc] Laimon teaches called the ‘gift wrap’,” Gomez said. “After the takedown I was in side control and had his arm trapped. He was either going to get punched in the face or give up his back. He gave up his back, so I choked him out. At one point he was hitting me in the face, and I was thinking go ahead and keeping punching because in a second I’m going to choke you.”
Also in flyweight action, Georgia’s David Mitchell (2-0) defeated Dinuba’s Daniel Pinedo (1-2) by submission at 2:07 of the first round.
Mitchell did something he’s never done in a fight before, pulling guard in the first minute of the match. Pinedo worked his top game, landing a flurry and then trying to sink a guillotine choke, but Mitchell slipped out.
“It felt great out there. Pinedo hit like a mule. I wanted to stay standing, but he scooped my hips early and I had to pull guard and that’s the first time I’ve ever done that in a fight,” Mitchell said. “I just worked my jiu-jitsu once I got out of the guillotine and was able to take his back and finish the fight.”
Mitchell eventually took Pinedo’s back and the fight ended soon after.
In other bouts;
— In Teixeira’s second appearance in the PFC, the Pit trained light heavyweight has still yet to complete a round.
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Teixeira (6-2) won by technical knockout over San Diego’s Buckley Acosta (4-5) at 1:00 of the first round.
“It was a good fight. He came out swinging and landed a good shot,” Teixeira said. “You’re in a fight so that kind of stuff happens.”
After Buckley landed a heavy right hand that caught Teixeira off balance, Teixeira recovered scored a takedown, mounted and then finished the fight with an onslaught of right hands.
“I wanted to keep the fight standing,” Teixeira said. “But when it went to the ground that was also good for me. It might not have been as exciting as the last knockout, but it was a good win for me.”
—Wasco’s Manuel Quezada (1-0) knocked out Madera’s Charles Hodges (0-3) at 1:02 of the first round.
Quezada a former accomplished kick boxer put the heavyweight division on notice with his standup game.
“I want to fight MMA as often as [PFC President] Christian [Printup] will let me,” said Quezada, who is 22-4-1 as a boxer. “It felt great out there tonight. I was a little nervous when he started the round by rushing me.”
But the nerves quickly vanished and Quezada landed several offensive techniques, including several crushing left hooks that ended the match.
“A lot of people don’t know I got my start in kickboxing and I’m a second degree black belt in taekwondo,” Quezada said. “The kicks and all that come natural to me.”
—Bakersfield welterweight Bryan Travers (10-1) made quick work of Merced’s Joel Crawford (0-5). Travers submitted Crawford at 2:50 of the first round.
Travers, who was originally scheduled to fight for the PFC World Welterweight title against Arizona’s Richie Hightower, used an overwhelming strength advantage on the ground to setup some brutal ground-and-pound and then finish the fight with a kimura.
Crawford stepped in on less than 24 hours notice, as Hightower opted out of the fight due to an unnamed illness.
—Turlock middleweight Jeremiah Metcalf (7-4) beat Fresno’s Jimmy Dexter (2-5) by submission at 1:47 of the second round.
Metcalf controlled the fight with his ground game, taking Dexter’s back several times. But the game Fresnan was able to fight off some rear-naked-choke attempts.
Eventually Metcalf’s submission attempts paid off, as he sunk a rear-naked-choke midway through the third period.
—Sacramento lightweight Danny Castillo (4-0) made an impressive PFC debut with a submission of Merced’s Andy Salazar (0-3) at 1:24 of the first round.
Castillo landed a vicious left hook that wobbled Salazar, knocking him to the canvas where Castillo quickly applied a rear-naked-choke to end the fight.
—Tulare heavyweight Rafael Del Real (5-8) won a split decision over Tulare’s Carlton Jones (1-4).
Del Real was able to out duel his good friend Jones in large part due to his leg kicks. Jones flurried at times, but was able to put continuous pressure on Del Real.
—Stockton lightweight Brandon Jinnies (3-7) defeated Bakersfield’s Robert Breslin (3-8-1) by unanimous decision.
With the victory, Jinnies picked up a 2-fight contract with the PFC.
On May 8th the PFC will bring you PFC 8, as Ento battles Loughran for the PFC World Middleweight title, a rematch between former PFC champ Porterville’s Shawn Klarcyk (7-2) and current 135-pound champ Oakddale’s Rolando Velasco (5-0), the PFC debut of World Extreme Cagefighting and International Fight League veteran Devin Cole (7-6) of Oregon, a grudge match between Lemoore’s Andrew Martinez (5-1-1) and Tulare’s Roy Arriola (1-2) and PFC World Featherweight Champion Arciniega will defend his belt against an opponent to be announced
For ticket information go to palacefightingchampionship.com or
www.myspace.com/tachipalacefights
Also that the next installment of PFC on Comcast SportsNet will debut this Saturday, March 29th at 8 p.m.. The TV main event is the grueling heavyweight fight between Sacramento’s Brad Imes (10-4) and Coarsgold’s Anthony Ruiz (20-10) from PFC 6.