Nacua dismantles French foe

CEBU, Philippines- Cebuano mixed martial artist Lando ‘Alamid’ Nacua of Yaw-Yan Cebu ArDigma hurdled one of the hardest fights he ever had, banking on a  spectacular rear-naked-choke to outlast the tough-fighting Paul ‘The French’ Carrere of France in the main event of the Cebu Extreme Fight League:The Beginning last Saturday night at the jampacked Cebu Coliseum.

Carrere displayed superb striking skills, but Nacua’s ground expertise took its heavy toll on the Frenchman. Nacua caught Carrere with only 40 seconds left in the fight.

The 24-year-old Nacua started out strong with a takedown and ground and pound strikes on Carrere, but the French showed great recovery and big fighting heart.

Carrere, a Muay Thai fighter, had his moment in the second round when he kept the fight standing up, wisely preventing another takedown from Nacua. His knee strikes to the head visibly hurt Nacua.

But with crowd cheering up for him, Nacua courageously went for a takedown, then maneuvered a perfect placed rear-naked-choke that forced Carrere to tap out at the 3:20 mark of the final round.

“I know he (Carrere) was tough, but he exceeds my expectation,” said Nacua. “I just followed out game plan to the letter and pressured him with my take downs and I am happy it worked. God really gave me that extra strength.”

In the equally-exciting supporting main event,  Roy ‘Agilon’ Bajar of Yaw-Yan Simaron MMA outgrappled knockout artist Niño Rio ‘Tatus’ Saoy of Tatus Muay Thai enroute to a unanimous decision victory.

 Saoy connected some vicious head kicks, but Bajar utilized his mastery in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to gain dominant positions in the ground and take full control of the match.

Aside from Nacua and Bajar, seven other Yaw-Yan fighters under the tutelage of Yaw-Yan ArDigma CEO and Founder Master Benigno ‘Ekin’ R. Caniga, Jr. also won their respective fights.

Angel ‘Lawin’ Sanchez, a registered nurse, needed only 43 seconds to destroy Bridgette ‘Rising Warrior’ Torbiso of Durex Dragon KBC in the women’s’ division, while 10-year-old Ken ‘Simaron’ Caniga prevailed via first round TKO over Benedict ‘Little’ Torbiso.

Earl ‘Texas’ Surigao stopped Bryan ‘Heat’ Otida of Arcomjukai, Ran-Ran ‘Tirador’ Lugo forced Etan ‘Loverboy’ Badayos of Warrior MMA to quit in the second round, Rexan ‘Matador’ Colong subdued Paulo ‘Goodboy’ Rinen of Tatus Muay Thai, Joed ‘Agila’ Bulotano demolished Ronelio ‘Brave’ Calasang in the second round, while Jed ‘Buhawi’ Alvarez won by default against Kirk ‘Pipebomb’ Andam of Cebu MMA.

In the other bouts, Johnjier ‘Excalibur’ Torbiso bowed to Dumaguete’s Ervin ‘Immortal’ Mosico, John ‘Little’ Dulap of Project X won via second round submission against Ronilee ‘Blackbull’ Castro, David ‘Venum’ Po of SOMA KBC outsmarted Roel ‘Tigbas’ Arcipe, Dreamer ‘Nightmare’ Hong whacked Bryan ‘Scarecrow’ Po, while Michael ‘Undisputed’ Rebayos of Redneos Gladiator knocked out Marciano ‘Wolf’ Torion of Arcomjukai KBC. (FREEMAN)