It is a busy week of fights for New Mexico and tonight is another night full of action featuring our local, hard-working athletes. Rocktagon 30 will take place in El Paso, Texas tonight and will be the third event in as many nights to feature some of New Mexico’s MMA talents. On Wednesday night, the UFC’s Fight Night featured Isaac Vallie-Flagg and last night, Triple-A-MMA held a show in Fort Worth, Texas featuring three of New Mexico’s up-and-coming fighters.
Now tonight, three fighters from FIT NHB are expected to be in action in El Paso as Tim Sosa, Turrell Galloway and Oliver Parker will all be in MMA competition inside the Buchanan Event Center.
Most notable of the bunch, Tim “Timbo Slice” Sosa will look to pick up his first career professional win after a very successful amateur run that saw Sosa accumulate more than 10-amateur victories. Sosa will take on Alan Lerma who stepped into this fight as a late replacement for Joe Torrez who has garnered national recognition for a home invasion in which Torres killed one of the four intruders breaking into his home.
Galloway and Parker are experienced professionals who started their careers prior to 2010 and have now look to get back on the winning track as both fighters come into the night losing their last fight.
Judgement MMA’s Amada Lovato was expected to compete before her opponent came in 8.5-pounds heavy at weigh-ins. Jessica Kennett would weigh in at 123.5 for her 115-pound bout and the Texas Athletic Commission shut down the possibility of the fight continuing as it is state rules to prevent that type of weight discrepancy.
Another notable name fight fans might recognize is Jeremiah “Paco” Castillo. While he isn’t a local, Castillo has some intense connection to the New Mexico area. Castillo fought Santa Fe’s Josh Montoya in just his second pro bout and would go on to fight Mikey Lovato, Erik “Goyito” Perez, Frank Baca, Gerald Lovato and Nick Urso during his 20+ fight career.
Quick Results From Rocktagon 30 and our post-fight thoughts directly below:
Main Event:
Billy Colon defeats Daniel Miller via Submission (Arm Triangle Choke)
Undercard:
Desmond Hill defeats Oliver Parker (FIT NHB) via TKO (Strikes) Round 2 – 4:01
Patrick “Skar” Dixon defeats Carl Perry via TKO (Strikes) Round 1 – 0:20
Amanda Lovato vs. Jessica Kennett *Bout Canceled – Kennett came in 8.5 pounds heavy*
Julio Hinojosa defeats Anthony Stevens via KO (Punch) Round 1 – 0:13
Jesus Urbina defeats Jonathan Lopez via Split Decision
Omar Acosta vs. Joseph E. Gonzalez-Provencio
Turrell Galloway (FIT NHB) defeats Paco “Paco” Castillo via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) Round 2 – 2:23
Alan Lerma defeats Tim Sosa via Decision (Split)
Post-Fight Thoughts:
- There is a lot of thoughts coming out of the Rocktagon 30 show including some very questionable promotional practices on the part of the company. The first two fights of the night had round clocks stating the rounds were five minutes long and each round came to an end at the 2:00 mark, which made each round three minutes long. According to a fighter competing tonight, the contracts were signed for five minute rounds.
- Bushido MMA had another successful night in El Paso which isn’t surprising considering their talent level from within that gym and their dominance in the region. While their fighters found success tonight, the big news out of El Paso is that Alida Gray will be fighting #1 ranked Jessica Aguilar tomorrow night on NBC for the World Series of Fighting Title.
- Speaking of WMMA, it is a shame that we weren’t able to watch Judgement MMA’s Amanda Lovato make her highly anticipated professional debut. Her opponent Jessica Kennett should be suspended by the athletic commissions she applies to as this is the second time she has missed weight and missing by 8.5-pounds is downright unprofessional. Due to Kennett missing weight, fight fans were robbed of potentially one of the evening’s most exciting fights.
- In the main event, Billy Colon showed why leg locks are good …. and bad. During a scramble, Daniel Miller latched on to a leg lock and Colon abandoned rolling as an escape by latching on to his own leg. Just when it looked like Miller was digging deeper into his own submission, Colon would wiggle his way loose. Colon would sit up on the leg lock and show Miller why leg locks are so dangerous landing big punches. In a very slick move, Colon punched his way smoothly into an arm-triangle choke for the win. That was the highlight of the night for sure.
- FIT NHB had a great showing despite going 1-2 on the night. Their lone winner, Turell Galloway put on a beatdown on the very tough veteran Paco Castillo. Galloway opened up a cut on Castillo so bad that it ended up being one of the most bloody fights I have ever seen in over seven years of watching MMA. The crimson mask on Castillo was a sight to see and Galloway did well dealing with it, eventually wearing Castillo down for the submission.
- There is something to be said about the ringside physician but I know I will be in the minority when I say he should have stopped the fight. People, especially ones in attendance won’t often share the sentiment of a doctor stoppage but the doctor allowed Castillo to talk him into allowing the fight to continue. There was a lot of blood loss and the cut was seeping into the eyes profusely.
- Tim Sosa was robbed in his fight with Alan Lerma. There is very little anyone can say to sway my belied that Sosa undoubtedly won two of three rounds in their bout. Sosa landed a healthy dosage of kicks in the first round and did significant damage with strikes off of his back while hunting submissions all round long in the second. He attacked with arm bars and triangles, as well as an ankle lock that really cemented the fact that Sosa was more offensive and dictated the pace of the round.
- This is where the three minute/five minute discrepancy in rounds really gets me heated. Sosa with five minutes very well could have opened up in the first round while he had his striking rhythm going and in the second round he would have had plenty of time to continue to hunt for submissions from bottom position.
- Oliver Parker stepped up on short notice to fight the hyped Desmond Hill; representing FIT NHB we knew he’d be prepared but even then he still impressed. His wrestling and clinching stifled everything Hill had to offer for fourteen minutes showing that Parker despite not having the ripped physique of Hill, was just as talented. Unfortunately, Hill caught a big shot on the chin of Parker late in the second and capitalized for the finish.
- The show overall was decent, containing several exciting bouts. There were two quick finishes; a 13-second and 20-second knockout finishes from Julio Hinojosa and Patrick Dixon. Accomplished grappler Jesus Urbina also scored a victory which bounces him back into the win column.
- The knock on the night definitely was the cage-side commentating crew for comparing one of the undercard fighters to a young Mike Tyson winning his Heavyweight Title. I understand the need to keep viewers captivated but between that and Arturo Gatti comparison to Paco Castillo, some stretches are just disrespectful to the sanctity of combat sports.
