SPORTS WRITER WINS MMA BOUT HANDILY
Posted on | October 23, 2007 | 1 Comment
Project completes MMA journey
LEMOORE, Ca. — The fighting sports writer created his own story.
Jeremy Luchau won by submission in the first round over Lemoore’s Michael Satumbaga on the Palace Fighting Championship mixed martial arts card Thursday night at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino.
Luchau, a Hanford Sentinel sports writer, slammed Satumbaga to the mat, and landed a dozen to the head before ending the lightweight bout at 1 minute, 22 seconds with a rear naked choke.
With the victory came a ton of relief.
“I’ve been writing about it, doing self promotion for 17 months,’’ said Luchau, who has shared his experiences training for the bout in a Sentinel column called “The Project.” “I didn’t want to lose to anybody.’’
Satumbaga, who specializes in Muay Thai, prefers fighting in a stand-up style.
“I had a game plan if it went to the ground,’’ Satumbaga said. “I was hoping I could hold him and scramble out. But he got me in the back position.’’
Despite his defeat, Satumbaga called the experience “fun.’’
The Fresno State engineering fighter took the fight on just a week’s notice after Luchau’s original opponent — Shahob Nasrabadi — pulled out.
Luchau had originally planned his “Project’ to be a one-fight deal. But he’s planning to enter the ring again.
“I’ll fight again, probably in about six months.’’
Luchau said he loved the feeling of being in the ring.
“I felt strong, I didn’t look sloppy,’’ he said. “I felt like I knew what I was doing and everything.’’
Thomas “Wildman” Denny showed up dressed for war; and a war is what he got.
Denny entered the ring wearing a helmet, simulating a Spartan warrior.
“A big movie with us has been ‘300,’’’ he said, referring to the motion picture about the Spartans’ epic stand at the Battle of Thermopylae. “One of our themes is a line from the movie: ‘Come back with your shield, or on it.’’’
Denny didn’t have to return to his corner lying on his shield. But he did have a bit of trouble with Olaf Alfonso’s guillotine choke.
“It was a war, back and forth,’’ Denny said. “That guillotine took a lot out of me.’’
Alfonso (5-8), from Ensenada, Mexico, got into position to finish Denny (23-15) with a guillotine in round one.
But the Hesperia fighter survived, and battled back well enough to gain an edge in rounds two and three. He bloodied Alfonso, and had him on his back when the bout ended.
“I finished on top, I was happy about that,’’ said Denny, who won 29-28 on all three official scorecards.
Hanford’s Kenny Ento used a triangle choke to finish off Justin Levens in the first round and claim the vacant PFC middleweight title.
“It’s the first move I learned,’’ Ento said of the triangle. “It was that, the arm bar, and then the left hook or something.’’
Levens, of Newport Beach, gave a good account of himself before the stoppage. He particularly impressed Ento with his kicks.
“I’ve never been kicked that hard in my life, not in training or anything,’’ said Ento, who was also penalized a point for twice grabbing the ropes.
Levens had Ento on his back near Levens corner, but Ento reversed things nicely, strapping his legs around his opponent’s neck to force a submission at 2 minutes, 25 seconds of the round.
Ento, nicknamed “the Dragon,’’ improved his record to 9-2. The 6-foot-2, 185-pounder formerly trained in Hanford, but is now working out in Exeter. He said Levens was one of the three toughest fighters he’s faced during his career.
Levens, known as “The Executioner,’’ dropped to 9-7.
Before Lemoore’s Poppies Martinez entered the ring for his fight, a group of children dressed in bright Native American garb, danced around the ring.
Their dance might have taken longer than Martinez’s fight.
The “Tachi Kid’’ captured the PFC interim lightweight title with a first-round technical knockout victory over Brandon Jinnies.
“I’m always confident,’’ said Martinez, of Lemoore. “I don’t go into the ring to lose. I’m in there to win.’’
That confidence showed right off the bat, as Martinez worked Jinnies to the ground, and pounded the Stockton fighter until the bout was stopped on strikes at 1 minute, 23 seconds of the round.
Martinez improved to 12-3-1. Jinnies, a late replacement, fell to 2-7.
Jeromy Frietag (6-5) of Sacramento won a five-round split decision over Lodune Sincaid (10-5) of North Hollywood to capture the vacant PFC light heavyweight crown.
In the second round, when Frietag pummeled Sincaid with a series of knees to the body Sincaid responded with a knee of his own — which caught Frietag in the groin.
Given time to recover, Frietag struggled for much of round three, but managed to weather the storm and battle back in rounds four and five. The official scoring was not announced.
Hanford flyweight Luis Gonzalez stopped Josh Beasnette of Merced in 43 seconds.
Gonzalez, an acclaimed competitor in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, swamped Beasnette just seconds after the bell, taking him down and firing a flurry of punches before the bout was stopped.
The effort left even a battered bloodied Beasnette (0-2) applauding after the bout.
In Other bouts:
—Lemoore’s Mike Martinez (2-1) finished off Rocky Molina (0-2) of Visalia in the second round of a middleweight bout. The end came shortly after Molina backed away complaining that he’d been poked in the eye. Martinez then landed a series of big right hands, which sent Molina down. Martinez leaped on his foe and continued to throw until the bout was stopped on strikes at 2:53 of the round.
—Jimmy Dexter (2-3) of Fresno took a unanimous three-round decision over Dewey Cooper (2-1) of Las Vegas. Cooper, is a champion kickboxer who also owns an undefeated boxing record. But Dexter’s superior grappling skills enabled him to win every round.
—Mike Moreno (3-1) of Parlier floored Fresno’s Chaondray Johnson (0-1) with a left kick, then battered him until the bout was stopped 20 seconds into the first round of middleweight matchup.
—Another Parlier fighter, Jorge Evangelista, knocked out Vernon Phillips (0-2) of Sacramento with a right kick 2:35 into the opening round of a featherweight bout. Before that, Evangelista (5-2-1) repeatedly caught Phillips with leg sweeps.
—Nate Loughran (6-0) of Santa Rosa stopped Brian Warren (9-9) of San Bernardino with a rear naked choke at 2:53 of the second round of a middleweight bout.
—Mark Munoz (2-0) of Sacramento pulled out a three-round decision over Fresno’s Tony Rubalcava in a fiercely fought light-heavyweight matchup.
—Phil Collins (5-3) of Merced scored a third-round TKO of Marc DeLaCruz (2-2) of Visalia in a middleweight bout.