25 Sep Onra:September25th.08
Fighters on the rise at global level
By Roman Dela Cruz • For Pacific Daily News • September 25, 2008
Editor’s note: This column is about mixed martial arts, and it will appear on a biweekly basis on Thursdays.
Hafa adai.
Some mixed martial arts news for you: Joe Duarte, despite performing valiantly, lost his fight in “The Ultimate Fighter,” but is en route to Canada for competition on Oct. 24. An excellent post-fight interview is available at www.fokai.tv.
Justin “the Shocker” Cruz’s fight in Pure Combat was postponed to later this year, but the “Shocker” landed a spot in Total Combat 31 against Danny Martinez of Arizona. Unfortunately, he suffered his third loss at 4 minutes and 27 seconds in the second round by doctor stoppage.
In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Sonny Vida captured gold in the Blue Belt Masters 165-pound Division at the U.S. BJJ Nationals, and Charles Gracie provided Guam another BJJ black belt in promoting Danny Afleje of Bruddas Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Guam and Shoyoroll Brand’s Bear Quitugua have released a BJJ instructional DVD called “The Lost Techniques of the Half-Guard.”
Guam received another invitation to Philippine BJJ Competition in the Domincau Absoluta in Manila Oct. 25 and 26. While Purebred/Lloyd Irvin Academy has more than a dozen guys in training for the Campeonato Asiatico in Tokyo in late November.Here’s a few things to think about: Duarte fought for Spike TV and the “Shocker” fought live for MTV3. Local promoters and companies are sponsoring and coordinating events overseas, while Mike Fowler’s Instructional and Guam Promotional DVD continues to send a ripple effect across the world’s BJJ community.
As much as the sport has evolved and is evolving on Guam, it is gratifying and inspiring to see how our athletes are pursuing bigger things and how our local fighter athletes and industry are appealing to broader and growing audiences.
As we move forward in international professional combat sports notoriety, it is great to see that we are consistently and diligently watering our roots in individual martial arts and amateur combat sports through more frequent competitions and community support for these competitions and their competitors.
In watching the performance level, and the increasingly fast learning pace of our youth, it is only obvious that though the international arena is growing more competitive, Guam’s and the Marianas’ fighters are developing at the same pace as others in the international arena.
