Wusstig wins title match; Nuique ends skid

Mark “The Dark” Nuique holds down Pete “The Beast” Cepeda via rear-naked choke during the second round of their MMA bout in last Saturday’s Rites of Passage 19: Seek and Destroy held at the Royal Taga Hall of Saipan World Resort. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Spike 22 Guam’s Rob Wusstig took the lightweight title belt, while Trench Tech’s Mark “The Dark” Nuique snapped his losing skid as the two MMA fighters triumphed in last Saturday’s Rites of Passage 19: Seek and Destroy held at the Royal Taga Hall of Saipan World Resort.

Wusstig prevailed in the all-Guam title bout after a technical knockout win against High Blood Pressure’s Ryan “The Predator” Toves at the 1:37 mark of the second round. Wusstig used his better grappling skills against Toves to pin his opponent down and then peppered the latter with punches to the head and body. Toves tried to get out of trouble a couple of times, but could not as the beefier Wusstig maintained his top position and kept pounding on the former, prompting referee Cuki Alvarez to stop the fight.

Meanwhile, Nuique earned a victory against Zeng Zung’s Pete “The Beast” Cepeda via rear-naked choke just five second left in the three-minute first round. Nuique took the win despite being held down by Cepeda in the majority of the match.

Nuique, who took a one-year break from the octagon cage after his sorry loss to Guam’s Ernie Santos in Rites of Passage 17, was caught by Cepeda and they grappled down the canvas with the latter attempting to stop the eventual winner with his own RNC move. Cepeda was still in control of Nuique at the 10-second warning bell before the latter got out of the Zeng Zung bet’s hold and gave the former a dose of his own medicine. Referee Keith Nabors then stepped in to stop the fight in favor of Nuique, while Cepeda remained down at the canvas, taking a while to get his normal breathing back.

The victory over Cepeda ended Nuique’s string of losses. The Trench Tech fighter won his first eight MMA fights before dropping his next four. In his last defeat, Nuique was way ahead on points, as he punished Santos with a flurry of punches, but the Guam bet went on to win via RNC at the 2:29 mark of the third and last round.

Meanwhile, Zalaka’s Andrew “Top Gun” Sablan also had a triumphant return to the eight sides after posting the fastest victory in ROP 19. The lanky Sablan defeated Eric “The Sandman” Reyes of Ground Fu-Guam via standup guillotine choke at the 2:55 mark of the opening round.

Reyes caught Sablan and tried to slam him down, but the Zalaka bet resisted and instead held on the former’s neck. Reyes tapped out, awarding Sablan his fourth win in five fights and first since his last appearance in the octagon cage in 2008.

Other results in ROP 19 will be reported in Saipan Tribune later this week.