Previous Story
Nuique eyes to keep fighting form
Mark “The Dark” Nuique, left, tries to block the several knee shots of Austin Petrus of Guam Muay Thai during the semi-main event bout in last Friday’s Rites of Passage 23: Beatdown at the Marianas Business Plaza. (Jon Perez)
Mark “The Dark” Nuique is hoping to keep himself sharp and in fighting form so he could avoid another string of losses in mixed martial arts events.
Nuique spoiled Austin “Auzzy P” Petrus’ debut with a unanimous decision win over the Guam Muay Thai warrior in one of the two semi-main events in the Rites of Passage 23: Beatdown held last Friday at the Marianas Business Plaza.
“Right now, I just got to keep my sword sharp and stay focused. I’m actually looking into Brazilian Jiu-jitsu tournaments. As for MMA fights, I’ll leave that up to my coach [Cuki Alvarez],” Nuique told Saipan Tribune.
Nuique improved to 10-7 with the win. Five of his victories were by knockout, while four by submission and one by decision. Two of his seven defeats were by TKO—the last against Sang Hyun Park in last year’s ROP 21: Throwdown—and five by submission. His loss against Park was his third straight since winning over Pete Cepeda by rear-naked-choke submission in ROP 19: Seek & Destroy on April 22, 2016. Nuique, before his win against Cepeda, also lost four straight bouts from 2012 to 2014.
In ROP 23, Nuique had to grind it out against Petrus, as the two were evenly matched pound-for-pound with the Guam fighter giving the local warrior a hard time in every hit and take down for the entire three, five-minute rounds. In the end, Nuique was declared the winner via UD, with all three judges scoring the fight at 29-28.
“Auzzy is one tough warrior. The Guam Muay Thai camp is tough as nails as well. So, I prepared myself for what I was going to get into,” he said. “No one knows what would be the outcome of every match. No one ever expects to go the distance so that’s where preparation kicks in.”
Nuique added that time has been his number one enemy, as he was occupied in the past with a dozen other things.
“The desire [to train] has been there. Putting in the time needed was just my problem. Now that my head is cleared and I have straighten things up, it would be nothing but grind time from here on for about four months,” Nuique added, hinting an upcoming fight.
