MMA exhibition beamed live from LibDay Festival grounds

Trench Tech Gym owner Cuki Alvarez and his wife Mari Alvarez demonstrate self defense techniques to the crowd at last weekend’s mixed martial arts exhibition at the Liberation Day Festival grounds. (Contributed Photo)

Skywalker Communications Group continues to introduce innovative ideas and last Saturday president Dr. Bo Hu, Saipan Mayor, David M. Apatang, the Liberation Day Committee, and Trench Tech Gym owner Cuki Alvarez opened the fun-filled evening with a whole hour of mixed martial arts exhibition.

It was a night of many firsts as it was the first time Alvarez and Trench Tech aired any of its events live over the Internet, first time for mixed martial arts to be the highlight of the night at the festival grounds, first time for Mari Alvarez to showcase her MMA skills in a public event, and the list goes on.

“Through innovative thinking and research, Skywalker decided to utilize the new features on two of the most popular web platforms to allow the world, particularly those from the CNMI now living abroad to watch the festivities unfold and be part of it,” said Bo.

Powered by IT&E, the Liberation Day festivities can now be viewed live Skywalker’s YouTube account or on the CNMI Liberation Day Festival Facebook page. The exhibition also featured commentary from Vicente Salas and Bob Webb.

Apatang, who has a black belt in Judo, was one of the many entertained spectators gathered in front of the stage on Saturday.

Some of the night’s highlights included exhibition matches between brother and sister, boyfriend and girlfriend, and of course, husband and wife. Cuki, an MMA practitioner for 15 years and his wife, Mari, yet to debut, put on their gloves to demonstrate their skills and techniques.

At the festival grounds, Cuki and Mari also demonstrated a few maneuvers for women to get aggressors off of them when pinned to the ground, especially in forced situations.

Trench Tech brought it to the festival grounds on Saturday, and left it all on the mat with 16 fighters ranging from 13 year olds and above. The crowd was treated to various techniques, skills, focus, respect, self-discipline, control, and good sportsmanship.

“It’s all about respect for the sport, for your opponent, and respect for one’s self that keeps me coming back for more,” said a fighter.

“Our slogan; we create friendship through fighting,” says Cuki, because fighting not only teaches us how to protect ourselves and our family but also teaches us how to respect each other and stay healthy.”

“It is a great honor to work together with event organizers in the CNMI like Cuki the level of care he has for his trainees and the CNMI as a whole is admirable and inspiring,” said Bo, who even asked for a short lesson after being impressed by the skills shown by the fighters.

He then adds that he look forward to working more with Cuki in the future in the near future, possibly another exhibition, as well as with more local businesses, organizations, and the community. (PR)