Previous Story
Two in a row for Torres
Joey Crisostomo, left, wraps his legs around Vince Torres to prevent the latter from pinning him down during the second round of their bout in ROP 20: Conquer last Friday at The Warehouse. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
Team Liquid Soul/Rage’s Vince Torres earned his second straight victory in Rites of Passage after outclassing Spike 22 Guam’s Joey Crisostomo in their lightweight bout in ROP 20: Conquer last Friday at The Warehouse.
Torres, who prevailed in his ROP debut in April this year after a TKO win over Khalil Toves in the first round, this time went the distance against Crisostomo, settling for a split decision after three tightly fought rounds. The first and second judge scored the bout, 30-27 and 29-28, for Torres, while the second picked Crisostomo the winner, 29-28.
The match started with the debuting Crisostomo accidentally hitting Torres on the groin. The Saipan bet, fortunately, recovered quickly and engaged his foe in a grappling match the rest of the way. Torres, in the closing minutes of the opening round, tried to employ a triangle choke on Crisostomo, but the latter managed to get free.
In the second round, both fighters had more exchanges on the ground, as they switched positions and tried to neutralize each other’s movement. However, no one was willing to give in. In the closing minute of the third and final round, Crisostomo appeared to have a good chance of stopping Torres with a rear-naked choke, but the Team Liquid Soul/Rage’s fighter survived and stood up. The bout ended with Torres throwing a couple of punches to Crisostomo’s back, while the latter was trying to hold down the former.
Meanwhile, other winners in ROP 20 were Don “The Body Builder” Mendiola, Jordan “The Machine” Manglona, JJ “Superman” Ambrose, Giovanni Taitingfong, Feric “The Medic” Aguon, Blaise Delos Santos, Ko “Pak Pak” Palacios, and James Rego.
Rego of Purefood Guam used his long arms and legs to score a submission win via triangle choke on Team Strike Force Saipan’s Ken Santos at the 1:14 mark of the second round. Palacios also won via submission (arm lock) over Team Chaos’ Ray “Major’ Duenas just 1:21 into Round 1. Delos Santos and Aguon got TKO victories over Willdon ‘The Beast” Camacho and “Sugar” Sean Castro in Round 3 (59 seconds) and Round 2 (1:43), respectively. Taitingfong, on the other hand, used a RNC to finish off Gerard “The Killa” Quichocho at the 1:36 mark of the second round.
In one of the three K-1 matches. Mendiola was awarded the win after the second round when Dicky Feria, a last-minute replacement for Alfred Santos, did not answer the bell in Round 3. The last two kickboxing bouts went the distance with Manglona and Ambrose earning unanimous victories over Hayashida Yuuma and Ken “Kamakazi” Tanzawa, respectively.
