Iakopo-Wusstig title match headlines Trench Warz 20

Stanley Iakopo, seen here facing Shane Alvarez in last Saturday’s BJJ tournament at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium, will return to the octagon cage via Trench Warz 20: Full Trottle as he collides with Guam’s Rob Wusstig in a lightweight title bout next month. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

The anticipated return to the eight sides of Trench Tech’s Stanley “The Raging Bull” Iakopo may happen next month as he is pitted against Guam’s Rob “The Real Deal” Wusstig in the lone title fight scheduled in Trench Warz 20: Full Trottle.

Iakopo, whose last appearance in the octagon cage was more than eight years ago, was supposed to challenge Wusstig for the lightweight crown in the Rites of Passage 20: Conquer at The Warehouse in August this year. However, his duel with the Spike 22 standout was canceled after he sustained an injury (broken ribs) while playing American football against Team Guahan a few weeks before their Aug. 18 bout.

Iakopo, who just came from a third place finish in last weekend’s Art of War 11: Submission Grappling/BJJ Tournament, hopes to pick up where he left off when he fa-ces Wusstig in the Dec. 9 event. The Trench Tech fighter, according to sherdog.com’s record, won his only MMA match before taking a long break. He defeated Arnold Balbin via rear-naked choke just 49 seconds into first round of their three-round bout in Rites of Passage 4: The Uproar held last Feb. 16, 2008.

Wusstig, on the other hand, won five of his 15 fights and had a split in his matches this year. He stopped (TKO/elbows) Ryan Toves in Rites of Passage 19: Seek and Destroy last April 22 before losing to Japanese Daisuke Hoshino via unanimous decision in Real Fight Championship 5 last June 12.

Meanwhile, 11 other fights are scheduled (subject to changes) in next month’s Trench Warz 20 that will be held at the parking area of the Marianas Business Plaza.

In the lone kickboxing match, it will be Guam Muay Thai’s Chris Tabligan against Trench Tech’s Vince “The Clinch” Masga.

For the MMA action, Down2Scrap’s Jadrien “The Last King” Camacho will start the 10 pairings as he takes on Vida BJJ’s Franklin Santos. The remaining matches will have Justin “Ichi Banger” Quichocho of Guam Muay Thai vs “Tabi” Jay Muña of Predator Combat; Jeffery Garcia of Trench Tech vs Torsten Rosser of Guam Martial Arts Academy; Frank Meno of High Blood Pressure vs Eric “Gatty” Gatman of Guam Muay Thai; Ray “Major” Duenas of Team Chaos vs Kier “The Radical Kid” Agda of Trench Tech; Junar Jesus of High Blood Pressure vs Danny Cruz of Trench Tech; Jeff Mesa of Spike 22 vs K.J. Villagomez of Bad Ass BeachBoys; Nick Cruz of Trench Tech vs Joey Boy Crisostomo Jr. of Spike 22; Juan “Hot Pocket” Lizama of Ground-Fu Guam vs Andrew “Top Gun” Sablan of Team Zalaka; and Vince Campos vs Enrique Torres of Team Chaos.

Event organizer Trench Tech has also listed five standby fighters: Andres “The Tanapag Beach Bad Boy” Camacho, John Tudela, Leon Quinata, Ryan Ngirbabul, and Larry Naputi.