Two amateur fighters elevated to pro level

Marinas Elite’s Vince V.J. Pua and Zalaka’s Joe Duenas were offered professional mixed martial arts contracts after their impressive performances in last Friday’s Trench Warz 14: Ground Zero at the Royal Taga Ballroom of Saipan World Resort.

Undefeated Pua notched his third win in a row after besting Team Chaos’ Joy “2-Negif” Fred (2-1) via TKO at 1:27 of the first round.

Pua slipped out of the gate, setting up a takedown for Fred, but Pua recovered and managed top position on the ground. Pua used his superior wrestling skills to gain side control and then took Fred’s back. From the mount Pua dished out some vicious blows until Fred gave up.

To his account, Fred was literally called out from the crowd, as Pua’s original opponent did not show up; it was Fred’s first loss in three fights.

Duenas (2-0) defeated Frank “The Crippler” Atalig (1-1), of Team Haga, at 1:40 of Round 1 via Guillatine choke. After the fight, Trench Tech president Cuki Alvarez said he would consider calling Duenas up to the pro-level after one more Rites of Passage bout.

In the three pro bouts waitlisted from yesterday’s issue, Trench Tech’s Shane “Pikaboo” Alvarez improved his unbeaten streak to six after defeating independent fighter Kev “The Rev” Esteves (1-4) via tap out by a flurry of punches from the rear mount position at 2:52 of the first round. Esteves managed an early headlock, but once Shane Alvarez broke free he wasted no time turning the table on his foe.

Trench Tech light heavyweight Martin “Ning-Bo Slice” Cepeda (4-3) tapped out South Side Syndicates’ Rob “Pitbull” Palacios (2-5) with a Kimura arm-lock submission at 3:33 of the first round.

It was another last-minute change as Cepeda had to wait over 10 minutes to see who was willing to face him inside the octagon.

Cepeda slammed Palacios three times before mounting him at the center of the cage. From there Cepeda went for a Kimura hold twice and locked it in on the second try.

Haga’s “Jungle Boy” Jordan Ogo (4-1) got redemption over Predator Combat’s flyweight “Tabi” Jay Muna (5-13) with a rear-naked choke submission at 2:15 of the opening round. Muna looked good early, managing a series of takedowns before pinning Ogo on the ground. However, once Ogo slipped free, he swiftly took Muna’s back and choked him out. These two fighters met in Art of War 6 last April.

In other amateur results Trench Tech featherweight Josh “Chaos” Duenas broke into the win column on his second try, defeating Marianas Elite’s Josh Cruz (1-4) via rear-naked choke submission at 1:13 of the first round. Duenas looked very clean in the shortest match of the night.

Guam’s Rob Alvarez (2-0) of Mongmong Toto Maite defeated Zalaka featherweight Zack Reyes (0-1) at 1:40 of round two via referee stoppage.

They came out swinging after an even first round and Alvarez used some nice footwork to cut Reyes off in the cage. The fight later went to the ground where Alvarez mounted Reyes and took his back. By then Reyes was gassed and the referee called it off after he would not hit back.

In addition, Zalaka flyweight Jacob Ilo (3-1) and Tinian featherweight Regino Mundo (3-0), of Zeng Zung, had their hands raised after besting brothers Marlon (0-2) and Glen Gardee (0-1) of Double DD’s Elegion during the opening K-1 kickboxing exhibitions.

Ilo defeated Marlon via TKO at 2:17 of the first with a flurry of strikes, while Mundo bested Glenn via verbal submission after a knee to face at 1:39 of the first round.

Notably, Zalaka’s Lyle De-Leon Guerrero (3-1) won via default over no-show independent bantamweight Roman Cabrera (0-2).

Trench Tech Purebred Promotions organized Trench Warz 14 under sponsors Pepsi, Miller-Lite, Monster Energy, Konflikt MMA, Budget Rent-A-Car, Century Hotel, Hagu Next, and Docomo Pacific in conjunction with the Department of Public Health.

One dollar from each ticket sold was donated to NMI Crimes Stoppers toward the reward for the safe return of missing sisters, 10-year-old Faloma and 9-year-old Maleina Luhk.

Rites of Passage 11: Onra is Trench Tech’s next event, which is scheduled for Sept. 9.