Grudge match highlights ROP 17

Spike 22’s Ricky Camp, wrangles up Marianas Elite’s Vince “Vincesanity” Pua in the Rites of Passage 12: Unstoppable held in 2012 at the Saipan World Resort. (Saipan Tribune)

Toves is looking to avenge his loss to Pua when they collide anew in the lightweight title fight on Aug. 22 at the Royal Taga Hall of the Saipan World Resort. The Marianas Elite fighter earned a TKO win (slam) over Toves of HBP Guam at the 2:47 mark of the first round of their bout in Trech Warz 15: Supremacy on Dec. 26, 2011.

Including his victory against Toves, Pua holds an impressive 3-1 win-loss mark. Incidentally, Pua absorbed his lone loss in his recent recorded fight on ROP: 12 Unstoppable versus Guam’s Ricky Camp. Camp pulled the plug on Pua at the 1:32 mark of the opening round after employing a rear-naked choke on the latter. Before his defeat to Camp, Pua won over John Ogarto during ROP: 10 Bad Intentions (March 11, 2011) off a RNC (1:30, first round) and against Joy Inias Fred at Trench Warz 14: Ground Zero (June 17, 2011) off TKO (punches, 1:27 of the first round).

Pua has a better record than Toves, who according to sherdog.com, has no wins in six bouts with five losses and a draw.

The Pua-Toves title match is one of the 17 bouts line up in ROP 17. The list also includes three kickboxing duels, 12 preliminary MMA fights, and one super fight.

The semi-main event will have the flyweight super fight between Trench Tech’s Mark “The Dark” Nuique and HBP Guam’s Ernie Santos, while the three K1 bouts will feature Jayvin “The Prodigy Santos of Ultimate Martial Arts vs Matthew “Might Mouse” Sablan of RedAnts Academy; Jorell “Elusive” Meno of UMA vs Jamaal “The Striker” Mresbang of Tea, StrikeForce; and Paul “Showtime” Muna of Countershot vs Shane “Pikaboo” Alvarez of Trench Tech.

For the preliminary MMA bouts, independent fighter Leo “Lion Kinhg” Mendiola will debut against Down2Scrap’s Jay “BonBon” Camacho in the curtain-raiser at the 125-lb catch weight. Next up will be another 125lb bout that will feature Zalaka’s Allen “The Silver Bullet” Aguon, who is still looking for an opponent.

Completing the list of MMA bouts are Tan “Titan” Taisacan vs Lucas “Irish Zombie” Nutting; Dustin Smith vs Garry “Dissa” Ray; Ray “Faluwasch” Teregeyo vs Jon “Outlaw” Camacho; Peter “Short Fuse” Ayuyu vs Jumeel Tamano; John Tudela vs Mike Mediola; Renz “The Intense” Benghit vs Jun Taitingfong; Ethan “Typhoon” Reyes vs Jordan “The Machine” Manglona; Rocky “Rockstar” Quichocho vs Myron “The Natural” San Nicolas; Daniel “Flowmotion” Floor vs Vince “The Clinch” Masga; and Eric “Gatty” Garman vs Keith “K OZ” Ogo.

All fights are subjected to changes and tickets for the event are still on sale at $25 for general admission and $40 for VIP. For more information, contact Cuki Alvarez at 483-4MMA.