Hailing from Guam and representing team Under World Xtreme, Cruz endured three full rounds in the octagon and won by unanimous decision.
Taking Sablan down in the first round, Cruz had the edge against his opponent. He was struck with a couple jabs from Sablan, but immediately recovered. Sablan survived a rear-naked and guillotine choke attempt from Cruz, but was too dazed to stay in the offensive.
Weakened punches from Sablan gave Cruz the advantage in the final round. Resilient strikes combined with a clean knee to the head ultimately won him the judges’ favor.
“I just pushed, and my corner men kept yelling and telling me what to do. I didn’t want to get knocked out or submitted,” said Cruz.
The ‘fight night fright night’ themed event enjoyed the presence The Ultimate Fighter Season 12 contestant JJ Ambrose, who faced Masakazu Taguchi. The PureBred Japan fighter snuck a right jab to his opponent’s cheek, but couldn’t withstand Ambrose’s barrage of punches. At one minute in the first round, Ambrose was declared the winner after knocking out Taguchi.
“It was really exciting – that was my first KO. Japanese fighters are tough so I knew when going in there that I was going to mix it up a little bit. I’m glad it turned out the way it did. I wanted to mix up my game a little bit.
I’ve always been a ground fighter, and I just thought that I needed some stand up, so training with them definitely upped my game for this fight. When he hit me I took it personal, so it made my punches a lot stronger.
You gotta get angry sometimes. I just wanna thank the people of Saipan for being so good to me. It’s great to have support,” said Ambrose.
In the Guam vs. Saipan super heavyweight match, Pete Miyasaki crushed Moses Buekis via technical knock out at 28 seconds in the first round.
Thomas Cruz, another Guam representative, submitted Trench Tech’s Fasi Jesse in the first round via armbar.
Jesse had the upper hand at first, landing fists on Cruz from a full guard. Cruz retaliated with a few kicks before finishing Jesse on the ground.
Though lasting in the octagon for a full three rounds, Rob “The Real Deal” Wusstig took his sixth loss when Tomoya Kato earned the judges’ favor.
Trench Tech’s Mark Nuique still remained undefeated after beating CJ Takai via referee stoppage. Unleashing a barrage of strikes caused Takai to burn out in the first round, giving Nuique the chance to take him down.
Jason Kirklen, another fighter from the mainland, forced Predator Combat’s Martin Cepeda to tap out after getting him in a triangle choke hold one minute in the second round.
Also shining in Trench Warz 13 were Slade Adelbai, Derrick Rangamar, and Darrel Salas. Rangamar won against Craig Borja via rear-naked choke, while Adelbai slayed Edwin Castro with punches. At 3:40 in the second round, Trench Tech’s Darrel “The Derailer” Salas conquered Wenyu Bamba via referee stoppage.
ZengZung Tinian’s Joe Ray Manglona and John Moses both made their debuts last Friday, with Manglona landing his first win. At one minute and 31 seconds in the first round, Moses was forced to tap out after getting caught in a triangle choke hold.
Prior to their match was a kickboxing bout between “Tabi” Jay Muna and “Badd” Brad Palacios. Muna landed more hits in the first round, catching Palacios off guard with some punches. It was Palacios’ open body kick that took Muna out, causing the referee to stop the fight at round two.
