Catindig gets break in ROP 19

Marc Catindig, left, hits Denny Jepehn during the second round of their kickboxing bout in Rites of Passage 19: Seek and Destroy held last Saturday at the Royal Taga Hall of Saipan World Resort. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Debuting fighter Marc Catindig got lucky in Rites of Passage 19: Seek and Destroy after winning over Denny Jepehn in last Saturday’s lone kickboxing bout at the Royal Taga Hall of Saipan World Resort.

Catindig was handed the victory via verbal submission at the 2:30 mark of the second round as Jepehn signaled to referee Keith Nabors that he could not continue the fight.

Jepehn had difficulty breathing after colliding with Catindig in the second round and following eventful first which saw the former peppering his foe with kicks and strikes on the body and face. Jepehn was clearly ahead on points when he waved the white flag.

Meanwhile, Timmy Salas, Justin “Ichi Banger” Quichocho, Jones Langu, Vince Torres, Jay Muna, Chris Tabligan, Sloppy “Joe” Lee, and Marc “Dos Ekkis” Vidaurri won their respectively MMA bouts.

Salas, an independent fighter, used his quickness to score points via punches on Jonrey “Illest’ Gilles body en route to a unanimous decision victory in their 120-lb duel and the first MMA fight of the night.

In the second MMA bout, Quichocho of Guam Muay Thai earned a TKO win (kick and flurry of strikes) versus Team Zalaka’s Bradley “Kaboom” Manalo at the two-minute mark of the first round.

Torres of Team Rage also recorded a TKO victory (flurry of strikes) just 31 seconds into the first round of his 155-lb showdown against Guam Muay Thai’s Khalil “Nunu’ Toves, while in a heavier bout (160lb), Langu defeated the former’s stable mate, Jonah Pangelinan via split decision.

In the lone 135-lb bout, Muna stopped Ground Fu’s Shane Torres via triangle choke at the 1:33 mark of the final round, while High Blood Pressure Guam’s Tabligan posted an earlier win after employing a rear-naked choke on Team Lights Out’s Derek “Hot Shot” Naog with only 17 seconds left in the second round.

In the last two MMA bouts before the lightweight title duel between Ryan “The Predator” Toves and Rob Wusstig, Lee and Vidaurri both won via TKOs.

Lee kicked fellow Trench Tech bet Francisco “Pakpak” Palacios down and unleashed a series of punches, prompting referee Cuki Alvarez to step in and stop the fight at the 1:56 mark of the opening round. Vidaurri, on the other hand, used his knees to hit Ryan “Ttrouble” Ngirbabul on the face and body en route to the TKO victory just 26 seconds into the second round. Nabors stopped the fight as blood began to flow from Ngirbabul’s nose after getting a lot of punishing shots from the Guam Muay Thai fighter.