Newcomer tops veteran in Trench Warz 20

Referee Mike Ulloa, center, raises the arm of Larry “The Pain” Naputi, left, after winning against Mark “The Dark” Nuique in the Trench Warz 20: Full Throttle held last Friday at the Marianas Business Plaza. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Larry “The Pain” Naputi won his MMA debut after beating Mark “The Dark” Nuique in the Trench Warz 20: Full Throttle held last Friday at the Marianas Business Plaza.

Naputi engaged Nuique in a standup fight, winning the exchange of punches as the latter opted to verbally submit to the former before the start of the third and last round of their action-packed 155-lb bout. Nuique sustained a couple of lumps to his face, while blood also flowed from his nose midway in the second round after taking too much punishment from Naputi.

Despite yet another loss, Nuique, who fell to a 9-6 win-loss record and still winless this season, the Trench Tech fighter put up a gallant stand against the debuting Naputi. Nuique, whose nine wins included five via TKO, accepted the invite to face Naputi less than a day before fight night. The Trench Tech veteran then held his own against the solid punches of Naputi in the first round, connecting several strikes that wobbled his foe a bit.

The exchanges continued in the second round with Naputi getting more points late in the match as he cornered Nuique and peppered him with punches to the body and face. Nuique then got out of trouble and tried to bring the fight to the ground, but Naputi got up and unloaded a few more punches to the former, who eventually waved the white flag before the start of the final round.

Meanwhile, another first-timer—Jesse “The 6 Shooter MMA” Mesa—won his debut on the octagon cage.

Mesa prevailed in the opening MMA fight of the night that had Frank “The Crank” Camacho showing professionalism after a bizarre turn of events on the eight sides. Mesa, after getting hit by an illegal kick from Andres “The Tanapag Beach Bad Boy” Camacho of BadAss Beach Boys, got up disoriented and threw wayward punches on “The Crank.” The third man on the ring was hit by the few early strikes from Mesa, dodged the next ones, and was hit by a left straight before he embraced the latter’s head and stopped him from throwing more punches.

Mesa was awarded the victory just 16 seconds into Round 1 due to disqualification on Andres Camacho, who floored the former with a right cross and still went for a left kick with his foe already down.

In other results, the rematch and lone kickboxing bout between Vince “The Clinch” Masga and Derrick “El Peligro” Rangamar ended in a draw.