Matt Bessette Pulverizes Rey Trujillo to Retain CES MMA Featherweight Title

CES MMA featherweight champion Matt Bessette was on point in his latest title defense, as he stopped Rey Trujillo in between the second and third rounds of their CES MMA 44 main event on Friday at the Twin River Casino in Lincoln, Rhode Island.

Bessette shredded Trujillo’s face with punches, elbows, kicks and knees, only to see the journeyman refuse to quit. Even when “The Mangler” latched on a few choke attempts, his challenger slithered out of danger and returned to his feet. Neither a right hook to the jaw that folded Trujillo midway through the second round nor a furious barrage of punches to the body and head at the conclusion of the frame could put him away.

A short-notice replacement for the injured Jeremy Spoon, Trujillo staggered back to his corner, blood pouring from cuts around eyes and from his nose. There he would stay. The cageside physician examined Trujillo and advised referee Kevin MacDonald to call off the fight.

In the heavyweight co-main event, Greg Rebello bludgeoned Kevin Ray Sears before submitting him with a brabo choke late in the third round.

“Ribz” nearly took out Sears in Round 2, where he had him badly hurt with a series of body punches. Rebello also advanced to full mount on a number of occasions and threatened with a pair of arm-triangle chokes and a guillotine, all while hammering away with strikes. With seconds ticking away in the final round, Rebello scrambled into position for the fight-ending choke. Sears initially defended the submission, but Rebello shifted his hips, cut off the flow of blood and forced the tap at the 4:47 mark.

Meanwhile, Ultimate Fighting Championship castaway Sean Soriano tore Jacob Bohn to shreds at 145 pounds and chopped down his counterpart with an endless stream of leg kicks. Soriano slammed one kick after another into Bohn’s lead leg until he was forced to verbally submit at 3:21 of the second round.

Elsewhere, rising welterweight contender Emmanuel Walo took a unanimous decision from Jon Manley in their three-round battle at 170 pounds. All three judges saw it 30-27 for Walo, who recovered after being staggered by a volley of clean punches early in the second round.

In other action, light heavyweight Mike Rodriguez put away Alec Hooben with punches and elbows at 4:46 of the first round; Carlos Candelario continued his climb in the flyweight rankings, as he stopped Timothy Wheeler with punches, hammerfists and elbows 72 seconds into the first round; and Justin Sumter took a unanimous decision from Brian Sparrow in their three-round encounter at 185 pounds, earning 30-27 scores across the board.