Electrifying debut win for Benghit

Renz “The Intense” Benghit scored a unanimous win over Guam’s Frank “Hellboy” Quidachay in one of the nine undercard bouts offered in last Friday’s Rites of Passage 18: Warpath at the Saipan World Resort’s Royal Taga Hall.

Renz “The Intense” Benghit, right, celebrates after being declared as the winner by referee Alverick Alvarez, center, in his match against Guam’s Frank “Hellboy” Quidachay in their undercard bout in last Friday’s Rites of Passage 18: Warpath. (Jon Perez)

Benghit and Quidachay, who were both making their debut, did not disappoint the fight fans that braved the stormy weather brought by Typhoon Chan-Hom, which left the Marianas early Monday morning.

The Tinian bet and Quidachay battled through three five-minute rounds with neither fighter backing down and giving it their all to get the crowd up on their feet. It was really an intense bout as both fighters traded blows and tried to force each other into submission for two rounds. Theirs was the only fight that went the full distance.

Quidachay, the Team High Blood Pressure Guam member, had several chances of ending the duel in the third having the advantage as he tried to force Benghit to tap out. Quidachay, with less than two minutes left in the third, looked headed for the win when he got Benghit pinned down and cornered in another attempt to force his opponent to submission.

But Benghit, like in the earlier rounds, again managed to get out of trouble until the final bell, leaving the judges’ scorecards to decide the outcome of the electrifying bout.

Benghit celebrated when referee Alverick Alvarez raised his hand, as the former was announced the winner of the bout, while a look of frustration was seen on Quidachay’s face.

Meanwhile, Trench Tech’s Cole Morrill and Guam Muay Thai’s Mike “the Medic” Pacini also debuted with wins in a pair of fights that lasted two rounds, while five earlier contests only needed one round to finish.

Morrill forced RedAntsAcademy’s Jones Langu (1-2) to tap out with 1:46 left in the second round via armbar, while Pacini defeated Ko “Pak Pak” Palacios via referee stoppage with 1:45 to go.

Wesly “Baby Bully” Ponio, Jeff Garcia, and Ryan “Snoflake” Perez opened up the night’s event with first round wins over Kier “The Radical Kidd” Agda, Daniel Flow Motion” Floor, and Fradley Jepen in their kickboxing matches.

Ponio scored a referee stoppage win with 1:41 in the first round against Agda; Garcia defeated Floor by verbal submission; and Perez scored a technical knockout win over Jepen.

Mike Muna, in one of the six full contact mixed martial arts fights, defeated Matthew “Mighty Mouse” Sablan via keylock with 2:15 left in the first round, while twins Jonathan “The Outlaw” Camacho and Jadrien “The Last King” Camacho lost by guillotine choke against Team Zalaka’s Timothy Salas and TrenchTech’s A.J. “Smalls” Aldan, respectively.

Jonathan tapped out with 1:26 remaining in the first round, while Jadrien surrendered in the 2:56 mark also in the first round.

Cousins “Shiska” Bob Alvarez and Roman “Sonic Boom” Alvarez had an exhibition match in Brazilian jiu-jitsu as part of TrenchTech’s promotion of the art of grappling and submission fighting.

In other news, TrenchTech promoter Cuki Alvarez said that Ning “The Slicer” Cepeda is doing fine after being accidentally kicked on his balls by Eric “Gatty” Gatmen in their lightweight title match.

Alvarez added the ultrasound showed Cepeda suffering from bruised testicles. “The doctors at the Commonwealth Health Center said it is not that serious and he will be fine in a couple of weeks. He just needs some rest and is now recovering from that blow.”

Gatmen and Cepeda were locked in arms while standing when the former accidentally hit the latter’s balls in an attempt to deliver several knees to his opponent. Cepeda dropped down to the canvass wincing in pain, prompting referee Alvarez to immediately step in and stop the fight. The match was declared no contest.