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Tachi Palace Fights 1 - Results
Home » Fight Galleries » Tachi Palace Fights 1 - Results
We would like to apologize, due to some unforeseen circumstances we were unable to provide you with pictures from tonight's event. We will definitely make it up to you guys on December 3 at TPF 2.
Lemoore, CA - Thursday night fights, the inaugural Tachi Palace Fights 1 - Most Wanted took place tonight outside on the grounds of the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino. This was the Casino's first go at a new promotion without the presence of former frontman, Christian Printup and I have to say it didnt seem any different. Some changes were the 5 min rounds and the return of a cage that had been gone since the WEC days, although the cage was the Gladiator Challenge's square-ish cage which I seem to love much better than the octagon style cages.
The card consisted of 9 bouts, one of which featured women's boxing star Jessica Rakoczy and local fan favorite Chad "Money Shot" Mendes. It was still decently stacked after all the changes that were made since the introduction of the initial card just a few short weeks ago.
Francisco "Cisco" Laredo and undefeated Chris Tangonan opened up the night with a 3 round battle. Laredo landed more punches and controlled Tangonan most of the fight on the ground. In the third they were both landly some solid strikes with Chris scoring a takedown with some ground n pound to end the fight. The fight could have gone either way, I saw it the way two of the three judges did, 29-28 in favor of Laredo.
Making his way back to the center stage was Michael "Mayday" McDonald who dominated the first round win against Carlos Garces. After the first initial strikes it was apparent that Garces was not going to win this fight. McDonald was just in a different league and it showed after he dropped Garces to the canvas and had the fight stopped at 2:06 of the first round. McDonald win by TKO.
There is always a hype between fighters making a jump from one sport to the next and this was no different as Jessica Rakoczy, the Las Vegas female boxer made her pro debut in MMA tonight. The crowd and excitement behind her name was present but her MMA ability was not. Michell Ould, who now holds a 4-2 record, cleary showed Jessica that she should stay in boxing and not come back. In the moments that the fight was on its feet, Rakoczy showed signs of life but Ould quickly changed that after taking Jessica down to the canvas. Once on her back, Rakoczy had nothing in her arsenal to defend and was getting nothing from her coaches besides "punch your way out of it". The fight quickly ended at 1:40 in the 2nd round due to TKO strikes.
The 185 lb championship contender bout, Phil Collins impressed me and certainly a few others. Phil faced jits specialist Leopoldo Serao who looked a bit sluggish than when he met up with Jaime Jara last year. Phil had a sprawl for 90% of Serao's takedown attempts and when he did end up on his back, Phil sweeped or kept Serao from getting any damage. Phil Collins landed more and was more active on the ground besides the kimura and rear naked choke attempts by Serao late in the second round. I had this fight going 30-27, maybe 29-28??? but definitely Phil The Pain with the win. Unfortunately, I am not a judge and the judges saw the fight in Leopoldo's favor in a split decision victory 29-28, 28-29, 29-28. Congrats Leopoldo, hopefully the Palace gives you a title shot like it was offered before on the other promotion.
The most exciting fight of the night came as most of us expected. The little men, 125 lbs of pure energy and raw MMa power, Ulysses "Useless" Gomez against Martin "Tarzan" Sandoval. Both fighters stuck to their game plan in the first round, Ulysses going for the takedown and submission, Sandoval trying to keep it up top where his striking and power would rule. The first round was very difficult to score but I gave the edge to Gomez because of the multiple takedowns. Sandoval landed some clean shots and stuffed any submission attempt by Ulysses in the first round. But all of that defense seemed to have winded Tarzan as he was visibly breathing hard coming into the second round. As Gomez went for a takedown both fighters clinched. Ulysses followed it up with a knee that struck Tarzan in the head and sent him down to his knees. Moments later, Ulysses took Martins back and sunk in a rear naked choke. Tarzan tapped at 36 seconds of the 2nd round. Great fight, congrats to both fighters for Most Exciting Figh of the Night!
Poppies Martinez with only a few weeks of training was handed another easy win as he faced Sergio "Suave" Salcido. Both fighters looked out of shape and definitely out of technique when it came to striking. I understand Poppies has been going through a lot in his personal life so he was forced to sit out of the gym for quite some time. Even with the lack of training, Poppies pulled off the rear naked choke win at 3:21 of the 2nd round.
Joe Soto always seems to surprise me when he fights and tonight was no different. Soto was a few levels above his opponent Mike Christenson as he landed leg kicks and punches at will. Soto then got a double leg takedown/slam that he followed up with ground n pound. He then gave the crowd something to really cheer about when he locked in the gogoplata and finished it off while mounted on top of Christenson. Soto wins by submission at 2:06 of the first round.
War Machine and David Mitchell gave the fans 3 solid rounds of back and forth striking. War Machine going for haymakers every chance he had landed a few but Mitchell countered back on every haymaker attempt and landed more punches throughout the fight. Mitchell also showed a great rubber guard that prevented War Machine from doing much damage while in David's guard. I leaned more toward War Machine as the fight came to an end as he seemed to push the pace a bit more than the exhausted Mitchell. The fight went to the judges scorecards, who saw the fight as a split decision in the favor of the still undefeated David Mitchell.
Chad Mendes won a unanimous decision victory over veteran fighter Mike Joy. Chad Mendes' super solid wrestling and takedowns helped him secure an easy win as Joy fought from his back the entire fight. Even though Mendes said he wanted to keep this on his feet, he quickly went for the takedown after a few seconds into the fight. It didnt matter either way as Mendes dominated on top and on the bottom. Mendes improves to 5-0 and I can not wait to see who they put him up against next.
