Commission Troubles Can’t Stop Total Combat

TIJUANA, Mexico, July 30 — In what has been termed “a small miracle,” Total Combat returned to Tijuana, Mexico after being shut down by the local boxing commission.

In a delicate balancing act promoter Diana Ocampo and matchmaker Erik Delfiero had to carefully convince the Tijuana commission that mixed martial arts is a safe and professional venture, while making sure that rival promoters, who have the “home town advantage,” did not sabotage their efforts.

The ninth installment of Total Combat, appropriately titled “Resurrection,” took place at the Baby Rock nightclub this past Saturday. The show was put together on two weeks notice and the card was admittedly filled with up-and-comers.

However, with commission members looking on, the show went off with little trouble and the fights were very exciting. The only complaint I had was the chaos, in and around the stage area. With dancers, VIPs, fighter entourages and the media all sharing the same small space, I felt like I would have to choke out half a dozen people just to get a couple of decent pictures per fight. This is a sign that Total Combat has out grown Baby Rock and needs to find larger venues for future events.

The main event had grappling extraordinaire Toby Imada (pictures) facing Tijuana’s Lozado gym standout, Akbar Arreola. Surprisingly Arreola was able to fend off the grappling superiority of the championship wrestler and jiu-jitsu specialist in the first round. And by employing excellent timing, the Tijuana native used strikes to deliver a significant amount of damage to Imada.

The second round began with more of the same as Arreola frustrated Imada with well-timed punches and a few brutal kicks. It appeared that Arreola’s sprawl-and-brawl tactics could possibly give him the fight, but after being frustrated time and time again, Imada finally took Arreola down and kept him there.

Employing speed and technique, Imada stacked his opponent and began delivering huge punches to Arreola’s face until the bell rang. Arreola apparently did not want to suffer such a barrage again and he refused to come out for round three. Many stated that Arreola “wimped out,” but for a Mexican fighter to quit in Tijuana his will must have been totally broken by Imada’s relentlessness. Imada picked up the TKO win between rounds two and three.

“War Machine,” a fighter with a large following in San Diego and on MySpace.com, took on Andrew Ramirez (pictures) of the Street Boxing Academy in Corcoran California. Living and training in Las Vegas with Cobra-Kai, “War Machine” began his fighting career in San Diego having the distinction of being the last person to actually pass the Lion’s Den tryout (check out the “Rookie Card ‘Lions Den Tryouts’” article in the Sherdog.com archives).

In addition to the enormous crowd support that “War Machine” garnered, Ramirez was probably a little intimidated as he watched his opponent walk into the ring with PRIDE Bushido fighter Phil Baroni (pictures).

As the bell rang to begin the first round, “War Machine” appeared to be waiting for his opponent to make the first move. When that didn’t happen the Machine just threw a haymaker and began to grapple with Ramirez.

The fight quickly went to the ground where “War Machine” got mount and then back-mount. After a barrage of punches to the side of Ramirez’s head his corner literally threw in the towel stopping the fight. “War Machine” stated that a fight between him and Eric Apple would be a good match-up.

Dean Lister (pictures) student Shannon Gugherty (pictures) made short work of Simi Valley’s Anthony Griffen. After an initial exchange, Gugherty armbarred his opponent halfway through the first round. Gugherty continues to face better and better opponents but he seems to keep outclassing them. Perhaps a big jump in competition is necessary for the young grappler.

In what many consider to be the fight of the night, Bubba Johnson of Fightworx took on Josh Griggs of Team Quam. These two fighters left it all in the ring. The fight was competitive and bloody, at least for Griggs.

At first sight one may think Griggs to be a wrestler due to his build, but he is in fact a very good striker who can both give and take a shot. Johnson was very robotic in his fighting style, consistently answering his opponent’s engagements with direct damage. This fight was very evenly matched but in the end Johnson came away with a decision victory.

Zack Taylor, the young Tony Galindo (pictures) prodigy, continues to impress. The 17-year-old faced some adversity early on as his opponent, Caled Smith of Brawley, Calif., proved to be resistant to Taylor’s high-flying strikes and also slammed Taylor extremely hard. However, Taylor did not seemed phased and during a quick ground scramble Taylor secure an armbar from the bottom forcing Smith to tap in the first round.

Being a trainer and sparring partner for many San Diego fighters for years, many wondered when San Diego Fight Club’s Frank Salgado would make his professional debut. Well he did just that, facing Ulysses Cortez of the 5150 Fight Club. The heavyweight fight was all action with Salgado utilizing superior striking and Cortez attempting takedowns at every opportunity. Even when the fight went to the ground Salgado’s guard neutralized any offense that Cortex could muster.

Salgado admitted that he was nervous going into the fight and stated that his adrenaline was out of control. Salgado could easily fight at 205 and probably should considering the very large heavies that are currently roaming MMA circles these days. Salgado having good head movement was also content to drop his hands from time to time. A better striker than Cortez would have taken advantage of this. All and all it was a good fight for two big guys. Salgado looked good and he picked up the unanimous decision.

The most controversial fight of the night had Rick Screeton facing Mexico’s Yahir Reyes (pictures). The fight was very competitive and when Screeton secured a triangle choke on Yahir, one of Yahir’s friends at ringside yelled to the referee that Yahir had tapped out. When the referee came over to separate the two fighters, Yahir claimed that he had not tapped.

Screeton became angry as the referee restarted the fight in the middle of the ring with Yahir inside of Screeton’s triangle. Of course the difference between a successful triangle and an unsuccessful one is often a matter of centimeters. Yahir escaped the new triangle and went on to heel hook Screeton to pick up the win.

After a thorough review of the tape the fight was ruled a No Contest, as there was no convincing evidence of Yahir tapping or not tapping. However it was Yahir’s friend who stated that he tapped and a possible finishing hold was taken away from Screeton.

Brandon Adams of Team Manitude sunk a rear-choke in round one to defeat Jose Pidilla of Chula Vista, Calif.

Ed “9mm” Ratcliff made his professional debut against Josh Olivas of El Centro, Calif. Ratcliff, another former Lions Den “Young Boy,” got into martial arts as a child when he learned karate from his mother.

Entering the ring in a traditional karate gi, Ratcliff showed that his training at City Boxing has paid off by out striking Olivas early on. When the fight hit the ground, Ratcliff hit one of the strangest armbars I have seen in MMA competition. Ratcliff actually missed the arm, but when Olivas could not escape from the position Ratcliff frantically sat up and made two attempts to grab the arm.

It looked as if he was handling a hot piece of coal. Finally with his opponent’s arm secured Ratcliff was able to force the tap giving him his first victory. Ratcliff even capped off the fight with a jumping spinning back kick, which the crowd seemed to enjoy.

Rolando Perez showed dominance early by pulling off a rear-choke on his opponent Raymond Gomez in the first round.