Following his victory in Las Vegas where he won gold medal in the 195-pound intermediate division of Grapplers X, Keli “The Rukiz” Manglona NMI’s first MMA title belt holder seemed to have sparked the fire among promising fighters on Tinian.
Seven more fighters from the island that Manglona represented in Gorilla Warfare MMA’s Confrontation in November last year have come out to follow his foot steps.
Johmar Untalan, Jerry Mundo, George ‘Kamikaze’ Manglona, Carl Cepeda, Sigfried “Ziggy”Enriquez, Craig Borja and Pete Cepeda are among the new breed of MMA fighters who will prove themselves in the Rites of Passage 8 Fearless at the Saipan World Resort on Friday.
Fighting under the sponsorship of Zengzung Clothing, the Tinian rookies will face their counterparts from Saipan and Guam.
Untalan will face Josh Martin in 145 lbs; Mundo will fight Saipan’s Jason Teregeyo in 135 lbs; Manglona versus Ben Duenas in 160 lbs; Cepeda will face Guam’s Mike Taitano in 160 lbs; Enriquez is matched with Frank Demapan in 130 lbs; Borja versus Guam’s Frank Benavente in 145 lbs., and Pete Cepeda will face Denri Mality in 155 lbs.
Josh Castro, the owner of Zengzung Clothing disclosed in an interview yesterday that each of the young guns from Tinian was teeming with desire to prove themselves in MMA when he met them recently.
Originally from Tinian and Guam, Castro a jujitsu fighter who won gold medal in the U.S. a couple of years ago and is spending his vacation on Tinian said three of the promising fighters asked him to share his knowledge with them.
“I’m not by any means an MMA fighter but I might know a thing or two about jiu-jitsu. I’ve trained a little bit at Legion BJJ in Las Vegas and currently training at Trench Tech here on Saipan . I’m not a trainer in Las Vegas but I can share with them what I know. Even in sharing with them, I learned a lot myself as well,” Castro said.
In a few sessions they started, these guys, he said showed him the willingness and dedication to learn the MMA. The Tinian fighters, he added have some of the biggest hearts in the Marianas.
Despite the lack of legitimate MMA training facility or actual certified trainers the Tinian’s magnificent seven still train as hard as they can with each other in order to perfect the craft. They also helped themselves with some MMA books and internet videos that also gave them enough confidence and determination to show the Marianas that they can exist in the world of MMA.
“This is one of the purest forms of ‘backyard training’ that I know of. A friend’s house, the beach, fiesta grounds, no matter were it’s at they will train. They can’t just go to a gym and sign up.
Castro would like to thank The Rukiz Manglona, Frank ‘The Crank’ Camacho, Cuki Alvarez and the whole Trench Tech family for paving the way for MMA in the CNMI and the inspiration, support, and guidance to the ZengZung Family’ and the fighters from Tinian.
The other fight cards in the ROP 8 include Derick Manglona vs. Josh Cruz in the 135lbs; Kev Esteves vs. Mark Nuique; Jay Muna vs. Brad Palacios; Rick “Too Slick” San Nicolas vs. TBA, and the triple main event that features fighters from Korea that include Young Nam “The Hippo” Gu vs. Chris “No Luv” Laayug; Kang “Dr. Kang” Bum Chang vs. Fasi “Quikdraw” Jesse and Hyun Kyu “The Ace” Lim vs. Slade “The Rage” Adelbai.
The official weigh-ins will be on Thursday, Feb. 11 at the Club V from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
