BAGUIO CITY – Save for Russel Lloyd Belway who won the Junior Boxing Lightweight Championship Belt, visiting fighters upset the local warriors particularly in the kickboxing and mix martial arts in the main card of the FullCon Fighting Championship-Warriors Legacy last February 20, 2016 at the Baguio Convention Center.
Belway who is barely 19 years old knocked Out Jose Tagoctoc in the second round of their scheduled five round fight. Belway who train at the Universal Martial Arts under Sensei Edwin Aliong completely dominated his opponent from Team New Blood Manila with his combination and power punches into the head and the body. Belway who traced his roots from Besao MP scored a knockdown at the start of the second round and another mandatory 8 counts at the middle of the round. The referee finally stopped the fight at one minute 20 seconds in the second round after barrage of punches unleashed by the Igorot boxer into the head of Tagoctoc undefended and was on the verge of collapsing.
Louie Mateo was knocked-out by Jun Paterna barely 1min in their Super Fight in the kick boxing of the main card of the tournament. A former RP boxing champion, Paderna patiently eludes and plays safe by throwing his jabs against Mateo before unleashing a left hook, right at the chin his opponent that sent him to the canvass. The referee immediately intervened and declares for the KO to the shock of the overwhelming pro-Mateo crowd. It took a few minutes before Mateo was able to get up through the assistance of the paramedics and his corner men. “We are dismayed on the outcome of the fight but we also have to understand that Mateo is now maybe the oldest active fighter in the country” says a fight fan who happened to be one of those hundreds of former kickboxing students of Mateo . He is now 49 years old maintaining a gym in Makati and another in Valenzuela.
The first debacle on the home team actually happened first when Randy Basinga of Universal Martial Arts lost his Welterweight Kick boxing Championship match. Jeff “the hitman” Biron of Team Real Men won via a Knock Out in the 3rd round of the scheduled 5 round fight. Basinga was actually battering Biron in the first round and the two fighters were fairly even in the second round. In the third round however, Basinga went overly aggressive and was caught by the right hand of Biron for the first knock down and a left cross at the middle of the round. Basinga instead of running from the fight engaged Biron for a blow by blow exchanges before getting caught with another short jab and straight to the chin just 3 seconds before the end of round three.
In the final upset of the night, Michael Fangki was submitted via a rear naked choked by Drex Zamboanga of Team Real Men (Manila) in the second round of their MMA Bantamweight Championship belt match. Fangki a young jujitsu and wrestling fighter who trains with Coach Christian Gazmin of Tribal Submission Torogi went toe to toe against MMA grappler and striker Drex Zamboanga in their first round scheduled for five round fight. Zamboanga first landed on top of Fangki but the latter was able to intelligently defend himself. The Igorot MMA fighter was able to threaten Zamboanga with a well place triangle choke but the visiting fighter was saved by the bell as the time expires. In the second round, Fangki went for a takedown but defended well by Zamboanga and instead when the two landed in the floor, the visiting fighter was on top on a dominant position. In the scuffles to the end of the round, Zamboanga was able to secure his both hands for a rear naked choke which forced Fangki to tap just a few seconds before the end of the round.
In the supporting matches; For MMA- Gabriel Andres of Tribal-Submission Torogi won via a triangular arm bar against Val Arceo of Fight Corps MMA in the second of their scheduled three round fight. Ricky Dulag of Team Max Fusion won via a referee stoppage at the 2nd round against Romar Banguilig also of Tribal Submission Torogi.
In the Kickboxing Juniors Division-Nelson Bantiyan of Team Maranatha won via unanimous decision against Arman Bispera of Brotherhood Martial Arts in Aurora, Aurora Province, while Frenzel Allen Golocan of Universal Martial Arts won a unanimous decision agaionst Noel Gullod of San Vicente Free-style Martial Arts. Arjay Bisperas Bisperas also of Brotherhood Martial Arts won a unanimous decision against Brendan Mangaoile of Team Maranatha.
For Boxing – Roderick “Wonderboy” Hilario the rising star of Universal Martial Arts dominated Mark “Makman” Matida of Highland and won via a unanimous decision. In junior boxing matches- Gabriel Villanueva of tribal Submission won via unanimous decision against Enrico Zapanta of Team Maranatha while Christian Simeon won via a unanimous decision against Arjay Bispera of Brotherhood Martial Arts. The event is FullCon’s 4th since it’s launching last May 1, 2015 as a local fight league aimed at providing an arena for young and upcoming players in Boxing, Kickboxing and Mix Martial Arts (MMA).
By Joel B. Belinan
