Although it is going to be the first time that he will fight Syl Teregeyo, and it’s Gorilla Warfare’s first event, he knows that the things that will ensue in the cage will basically be just the same.
All he has to do, “The Rage” Adelbai said in an interview, is to maintain the skill he possessed even before he got into mixed martial arts.
He was talking about the “ground and pound” the kind of weapon he has been successful of using against his opponents. It is basically about taking down the opponent and punch him repeatedly until he surrenders by tapping out.
Taking into account what he had mastered prior to his cage fight career, the 27-year-old fighter still keeps on his belt, the other ground fight techniques—neck choke, arm locks, leg locks and arm bars.
Wrestling, the game where he started makes up most part of his fights. Like MMA, Adelbai said it about applying pain to an opponent until he submits.
Adelbai was a member of MHS Wrestling Club in 1995 and had just competed in Micro Games on Guam in 1999 and South Pacific Games in Palau in 2001, when Cuki Alvarez who was at the time organizing the Trench Tech Team, took him in.
He said he and Jose Ocampo, his wrestling coach in MHS was with Alvarez when they started the Trench Tech in 2005.
Adelbai defeated his first opponent in Trench Warz I “Fight Night”, Trench Tech’s first event, via referee stoppage.
In that fight, he said he tasted his first victory using wrestling techniques in ground fight.
And as more fights came, Adelbai recalled he started to realize how important it is to learn more.
In his next fights, he said he started using different styles defending on how his opponent fights.
“I have learned to read my opponent’s moves and look for his vulnerability,” he said.
Once the bell rings and the fight starts he said, “I face the man right away.”
“I aim for the leg and take him down,” he added, when fighting a much taller opponent which has been always the case.
“I you’ve seen my fights, you would have been surprised with my opponents. They stood 6’ 3” to 6’ 4” tall and usually weighs 200 to 300,” he recalls.
Adelbai’s one biggest problem is height. He said he was 270 lbs fighting in heavyweight division when he started, and stands only 5’ 9”.
“Now I’m 180 lbs only and fighting in light middle weight,” he said.
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SYL “The Deal” Teregeyo is among the MMA fighters who have learned their lessons too well.“When I started, I like doing stand up fights and I always aim at knocking out my opponents. But as I go further with MMA, I learned it’s not just about that.” Teregeyo said in a separate interview yesterday.
Starting out as fighter for Choke Chain in 2006, Teregeyo had his first MMA victory in Trench Warz 4 in Aug. last year when he defeated JD Reyes via submission.
The 24-year-old fighter recalled, he beat Reyes with his guillotine choke—technique in ground fight.
“You see, I was aiming to take him down in standup fight but it turned out I beat him otherwise,” he said.
Ground fight was also how he won in his second fight in the Pacific Extreme Combat “Preba Ho” against Jeremy Fitial via referee stoppage.
Teregeyo was doing the ground fight but lose to Ed Santos via decision when he fought in Geran-Haga in Guam.
In his fourth fight, he lose again to this time, to Jason Tarkong in the Trench Warz 6 –“Mass Destruction”.
And those losses he said had given him a lot of lesson to learn—you can not concentrate on one kind of fight.
“I started learning much about ground fight after I lose to Jason,” he said.
Teregeyo said that if you are best in standup fight, you have to match that ability in ground fight.
Keeping that in mind, Syl “The Deal” Teregeyo claimed his third victory during his fifth fight, putting Robert Palacios to submission in the Trench Warz 8 Kontra last June 26.
“Now I know my ground fight is doing good,” he said.
Teregeyo get into MMA when coach Pete Sablan and Jose Palacios who are part of his community circle.
He recalled that he was just playing basketball and football then, when he walked in Choke Chain Gym and “I just wanted to give it a try.”
Now Teregeyo has had good tries and with those, he learned a lot.
In the Art of War held last April 10, Teregeyo won a gold medal.
“It is not an MMA but simply a grappling and submission fight which does not involve full contact, just a ground fight,”
“I would like to thank the Marianas Elite Gym and my coaches and the rest of the Marianas Elite fighters for helping me prepare for the Gorilla Warfare,” he said.
