The middleweight heavy hitters fought it out in the first round with several jabs, hoping to knock out the other opponent.
Unfortunately for Manglona, he was momentarily caught off guard with one of Cruz’s strikes, throwing him off balance and sending him crashing towards the ropes. Cruz took advantage and landed several more fists on Manglona, who tried to protect his face from any more damage.
Dazed, Manglona kept his focus and quickly turned the game around. He dominated Cruz with a guard, followed by a quick shift to rear mount. With a few hits to Cruz’s head, Manglona seized his opportunity and finished him off with a rear naked choke hold at 1:48 into the first round.
Keli Manglona received a standing ovation from his fans, after proving himself worthy of retaining his title as GWMMA’s middleweight champion.
Manglona shared his victory of the night with Swain Cangco, defeated Sully Stone via TKO in the first round. Though Stone was roughly seven pounds heavier, Cangco dominated him from a mounted position with continuous strikes to his face.
While Stone suffered his first defeat, Cangco now improved his record with four wins and one loss.
“Bad” Brad Palacios pummeled Derrick “Pinchy” Rangamar in the first round via TKO as well, after offering several blows to Rangamar’s head.
Robert Palacios showed an amazing display of his ground game after catching Neil Taisacan in a rear naked choke early in the first round.
Nearly all the fighters caught their opponents off guard with crafty submission techniques, like Edwin Castro who swiftly forced Jack Crisostomo to tap out with a guillotine choke 2:18 in the first round.
Other victors of the night included Tinian’s Peter Sakisat who won via rear naked choke, Derrick Chen via TKO, and Soane Pua who stopped Scott Santos in the second round with another guillotine choke.
With an astonishing win, Middleweight Champion Keli Manglona later told Variety that he plans to take a break after this event. Manglona hopes to work more on his ground game to come back more prepared for his future fights.
Manglona first earned his middleweight belt last November at GWMMA’s Confrontation, after defeating Syl Teregeyo.
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