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Familiar faces sign up for Art of War 10
Jordan Manglona, top, competes against Tinian’s Paul Ayuyu in the bantamweight division of last year’s Art of War 9: Grappling and Submission. Manglona will be seeing action as a lightweight this Saturday. (Jon Perez)
Almost all of the fighters who signed up for Art of War 10: Grappling and Submission are regular fixtures in various mixed martial arts events on Saipan.
Trench Tech promoter Cuki Alvarez is organizing the open house grappling tournament this Saturday, Dec. 19, from 10am to 4pm at the Trench Tech Gym in Garapan.
The grappling and submission event, based on an initial list, attracted 56 individuals spread out in the flyweight, bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, and heavyweight divisions.
A.J. Aldan leads the cast in the 200-125lb category and will be joined by twins Jadrien and Jonathan Camacho, Jimmy Kaipat, Damon Brel, Timothy Salas, Pilling Terlaje, and E.J. Hemley.
Hemley will also compete as a bantamweight along with Keoni Castro, Denny Jepen, and Lorenzo Attao.
Alvarez said that he plans to combine the flyweight and bantamweight divisions depending on the final outcome of entries.
Attao, last year’s AOW 9 top flyweight, will also see action as a featherweight together with Jepen, Josh Duenas, Tabi Jay Muña, Mark Nuique, and Mike Muña.
Cousins Shane and Roman Alvarez will lead the competitive lightweight class that also has Vince Masga, Jasper Van De Maas, Lucas Nutting, Rich Aldan, Elden Dela Cruz, Jordan Mangloña, Jamal Mresbang, Neil Camacho, Jeff Garcia, T.J. Tudela, and Scott Jo.
Derick Naog, Ken Tanzawa, Joe Lee, and Dane Salazar will be joining Shane, Roman, and Van Der Maas in the welterweight division.
Van Der Maas and Tanzawa also entered the middleweight category and they will compete against Kier Agda, Renz Benghit, T.J. Castro, Phil David, and Ken Santos.
Former wrestlers Adam Harris, Joe Ocampo, Slade Adelbai, the returning Kelvin Fitial, Josh Castro, and Mark Mendiola headline a tough heavyweight class.
An absolute gi open division, meaning all weight classes and belts, will be the final event to be contested in this weekend’s competition.
