“Slam” and “Mangler” Retain KOTC Titles
SAN JACINTO, Calif., Dec. 1 — As the temperature fell in the
California desert, King of the Cage turned up the heat at the
Soboba Casino with a 17-bout slate that saw Aaron Witherspoon and
Manny Tapia (Pictures) defend their KOTC belts.
With his KOTC welterweight strap on the line, Witherspoon squared off with previously undefeated Dave Terrel (Pictures). The opening round featured a very technical duel as both men tried to find their striking range.
For the better part of the round the fighters attempted to gain the upper hand in the clinch with the majority of the strikes coming via knees to the inside of Witherspoon and Terrel’s thighs.
Witherspoon opened up a bit as he got more comfortable in the cage in round two. He scored with a pair of right hands that left Terrel grasping for a clinch. Witherspoon backed out and scored with a leg kick that echoed loudly throughout the arena. As Terrel retreated, the Colin Oyama-trained Witherspoon darted forward and dropped him with a right hand.
Following the drained Terrel to the mat, “Slam” tried in vain to finish the fight with punches from the top. A very tough Terrel managed to tie him up well enough to survive the round. The crowd did not appreciate Witherspoon’s inability to finish and began to boo as the round came to a close.
The final period started with a refreshed Witherspoon pursuing Terrel as the latter circled away from the former. With Terrel in what seemed to be survival mode and Witherspoon unable to track him down the crowd let the fighters know they weren’t happy as the boos grew louder and louder.
The crowd’s demeanor soon changed as referee Cecil Peoples got a little too close to the action and tripped as he tried to retreat. Peoples rolled into a backwards summersault and quickly jumped to his feet raising his hand to acknowledge the cheers from the fans.
Yet the fans were not as pleased with the combatants as the pace slowed to a crawl. Witherspoon tried to engage at times and even managed to land a decent combination of punches and a series of knees from the clinch, but that was the extent of the action in the closing period. After three rounds Witherspoon was awarded the unanimous decision victory.
Fresh of a big win over veteran Alex Stiebling (Pictures), Fernando Gonzalez (Pictures) was impressive once again in his bout with talented striker Omar Luv (Pictures). The first round was all Gonzalez, as he consistently moved forward, pressuring Luv while scoring with his powerful left hand.
After an inside trip takedown, Gonzalez bombed away with numerous heavy flurries from the top position. A game Luv, though on the receiving end of some serious punishment, kept fighting back and eventually returned to his feet in the closing seconds of the first stanza.
Gonzalez attempted to throw his opponent back to the mat but ended up on the bottom. The bell sounded before Luv could take advantage of his good fortune.
The second period opened and closed in a hurry as Gonzalez landed a beautiful left hand to one of Luv’s eyes. Crashing heavily to the mat and holding his eye in apparent pain, Luv was in no position to defend the finishing flood of strikes Gonzalez rained down, leaving him no option but to tap.
Referee Nelson “Doc” Hamilton pulled the flailing Gonzalez off, giving him the submission win at just 28 seconds of the second round.
Manny Tapia (Pictures) had his hands full with a game Richard Montano (Pictures) as he tried to defend his KOTC flyweight title. Montano refused to play the roll of overmatched challenger, instead he pushed the pace and landing a handful of solid strikes in the first round.
Tapia could not notch the takedown he so desperately wanted as Montano repeatedly sprawled to deny him. In the closing moments of the period Tapia finally got his foe to the mat, eventually taking his back before the bell sounded.
The second round saw Montano land a number of stinging punches that left Tapia bleeding from the nose. The champion fought back by attempting a guillotine choke that never seemed close. He followed the failed submission with a textbook double-leg takedown that led to some ground-and-pound.
As Montano tried to make it back to his feet the “Mangler” delivered a pair of hard knees to Montano’s face before he managed to escape his clutches. A weary Montano appeared to make the decision it was time to lay it all on the line.
Montano wailed away with a flurry of punches, one of which, a right hand, clipped Tapia on the jaw that sent him reeling to the mat in a futile attempt to score a takedown as the bell rang out the end of the second frame.
The final round saw Tapia dig down deep in hopes of retaining his belt. He opened the round with a big slam takedown right into side-control. From there it was only a matter of time as he began the fight-ending assault. After softening Montano up with a slew of strikes, the “Mangler” moved to mount and continued the barrage.
Montano could not withstand the onslaught and eventually gave up his back. That was the position in which the fight ended as referee Hamilton intervened at the 3:24 mark of the third round, halting the bout as Tapia was pounding away at the prone Montano.
Main Card
Jarrod Rollins forced Richard Solis (Pictures) to verbally submit due to an armbar at 4:59 of round two.
Charlie Kohler (Pictures) made Donald Molinara tapout to strikes 47 seconds after the opening bell.
Kyle Olsen finished Fred Leeve by triangle choke at 3:54 of the first.
David Kiley armbarred Frankie Guerrero at 3:36 of round one.
Mike Guymon (Pictures) submitted Josh Ramage by triangle choke 1:52 into the fight.
Shad Smith (Pictures) stopped Kei Maeda at 1:58 of round one.
Buckley Acosta (Pictures) scored a technical knockout over Tim Alberty at 1:18 of the first.
Taylor Schmidt pounded on Dustin Mast to win via verbal submission at 1:09 of the second period. John Delao (Pictures) caught Adrian Perez (Pictures) in an armbar at 3:23 of round one.
Undercard
Shawn Laugher stopped Brian Sivoa in the first.
Calvin Bell forced Jeremy Ybarra to submission from strikes at 3:54 of round one.
Michael Sandec made Art Ramirez tapout to strikes at 3:37 of the opening period.
Ben Beebe took a split decision over Tim Mendoza after two rounds.
Sean Mcafferty won by rear-naked choke over Dave Zudica just 35 seconds into their bout.
With his KOTC welterweight strap on the line, Witherspoon squared off with previously undefeated Dave Terrel (Pictures). The opening round featured a very technical duel as both men tried to find their striking range.
For the better part of the round the fighters attempted to gain the upper hand in the clinch with the majority of the strikes coming via knees to the inside of Witherspoon and Terrel’s thighs.
Witherspoon opened up a bit as he got more comfortable in the cage in round two. He scored with a pair of right hands that left Terrel grasping for a clinch. Witherspoon backed out and scored with a leg kick that echoed loudly throughout the arena. As Terrel retreated, the Colin Oyama-trained Witherspoon darted forward and dropped him with a right hand.
Following the drained Terrel to the mat, “Slam” tried in vain to finish the fight with punches from the top. A very tough Terrel managed to tie him up well enough to survive the round. The crowd did not appreciate Witherspoon’s inability to finish and began to boo as the round came to a close.
The final period started with a refreshed Witherspoon pursuing Terrel as the latter circled away from the former. With Terrel in what seemed to be survival mode and Witherspoon unable to track him down the crowd let the fighters know they weren’t happy as the boos grew louder and louder.
The crowd’s demeanor soon changed as referee Cecil Peoples got a little too close to the action and tripped as he tried to retreat. Peoples rolled into a backwards summersault and quickly jumped to his feet raising his hand to acknowledge the cheers from the fans.
Yet the fans were not as pleased with the combatants as the pace slowed to a crawl. Witherspoon tried to engage at times and even managed to land a decent combination of punches and a series of knees from the clinch, but that was the extent of the action in the closing period. After three rounds Witherspoon was awarded the unanimous decision victory.
Fresh of a big win over veteran Alex Stiebling (Pictures), Fernando Gonzalez (Pictures) was impressive once again in his bout with talented striker Omar Luv (Pictures). The first round was all Gonzalez, as he consistently moved forward, pressuring Luv while scoring with his powerful left hand.
After an inside trip takedown, Gonzalez bombed away with numerous heavy flurries from the top position. A game Luv, though on the receiving end of some serious punishment, kept fighting back and eventually returned to his feet in the closing seconds of the first stanza.
Gonzalez attempted to throw his opponent back to the mat but ended up on the bottom. The bell sounded before Luv could take advantage of his good fortune.
The second period opened and closed in a hurry as Gonzalez landed a beautiful left hand to one of Luv’s eyes. Crashing heavily to the mat and holding his eye in apparent pain, Luv was in no position to defend the finishing flood of strikes Gonzalez rained down, leaving him no option but to tap.
Referee Nelson “Doc” Hamilton pulled the flailing Gonzalez off, giving him the submission win at just 28 seconds of the second round.
Manny Tapia (Pictures) had his hands full with a game Richard Montano (Pictures) as he tried to defend his KOTC flyweight title. Montano refused to play the roll of overmatched challenger, instead he pushed the pace and landing a handful of solid strikes in the first round.
Tapia could not notch the takedown he so desperately wanted as Montano repeatedly sprawled to deny him. In the closing moments of the period Tapia finally got his foe to the mat, eventually taking his back before the bell sounded.
The second round saw Montano land a number of stinging punches that left Tapia bleeding from the nose. The champion fought back by attempting a guillotine choke that never seemed close. He followed the failed submission with a textbook double-leg takedown that led to some ground-and-pound.
As Montano tried to make it back to his feet the “Mangler” delivered a pair of hard knees to Montano’s face before he managed to escape his clutches. A weary Montano appeared to make the decision it was time to lay it all on the line.
Montano wailed away with a flurry of punches, one of which, a right hand, clipped Tapia on the jaw that sent him reeling to the mat in a futile attempt to score a takedown as the bell rang out the end of the second frame.
The final round saw Tapia dig down deep in hopes of retaining his belt. He opened the round with a big slam takedown right into side-control. From there it was only a matter of time as he began the fight-ending assault. After softening Montano up with a slew of strikes, the “Mangler” moved to mount and continued the barrage.
Montano could not withstand the onslaught and eventually gave up his back. That was the position in which the fight ended as referee Hamilton intervened at the 3:24 mark of the third round, halting the bout as Tapia was pounding away at the prone Montano.
Main Card
Jarrod Rollins forced Richard Solis (Pictures) to verbally submit due to an armbar at 4:59 of round two.
Charlie Kohler (Pictures) made Donald Molinara tapout to strikes 47 seconds after the opening bell.
Kyle Olsen finished Fred Leeve by triangle choke at 3:54 of the first.
David Kiley armbarred Frankie Guerrero at 3:36 of round one.
Mike Guymon (Pictures) submitted Josh Ramage by triangle choke 1:52 into the fight.
Shad Smith (Pictures) stopped Kei Maeda at 1:58 of round one.
Buckley Acosta (Pictures) scored a technical knockout over Tim Alberty at 1:18 of the first.
Taylor Schmidt pounded on Dustin Mast to win via verbal submission at 1:09 of the second period. John Delao (Pictures) caught Adrian Perez (Pictures) in an armbar at 3:23 of round one.
Undercard
Shawn Laugher stopped Brian Sivoa in the first.
Calvin Bell forced Jeremy Ybarra to submission from strikes at 3:54 of round one.
Michael Sandec made Art Ramirez tapout to strikes at 3:37 of the opening period.
Ben Beebe took a split decision over Tim Mendoza after two rounds.
Sean Mcafferty won by rear-naked choke over Dave Zudica just 35 seconds into their bout.
