STFC 27 Results

Jose “Luke” Flores defeated Yail Elijio via KO (knee) at 0:12 of the first round.

Eduardo Bustillos defeated George Powery via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:14 of the first round.

Victor Martinez defeated Michael Lytle via TKO (strikes) at 1:59 of the third round.

Edgar Verdin defeated Andrew Garza via unanimous decision.

Miguel Vega defeated Leroy Martinez via unanimous decision.

Saul “El Mero Mero” Elizondo defeated David Armas via unanimous decision.

Monica Flores defeated Maria Lopez via TKO (strikes) at 1:17 of the second round.

It was the first women’s main event in STFC history, and Monica Flores made the most of it last night.

Houston’s Monica Flores came out aggressive against Austin’s Maria Lopez in the opening stanza. Flores was landing some good right hands on Lopez, that lead Lopez to try to clinch. Lopez tries to take Flores down to the mat, but Flores reverses that and ends up on top herself on the ground. During a scramble, Flores gets back up and throws a kick on Lopez, who is still on the ground. Lopez gets back up, but Flores is just following her around in the cage, using feints to set up her significant strikes in the form of punches and kicks. The round came to an end with Flores in complete control.

The second stanza, it was all over for the ATX native. She showed heart and guts, but Flores was stalking her all around the cage. Landing not just jabs, but powerful and damaging right hands on Lopez. After a certain point, it just looked liked Flores was not answering back with another strikes of her own, and referee Jacob Montalvo had seen enough, and stopped the fight at 1:17 of the second round, awarding Flores the TKO victory.

In what was the best fight of the evening, Roma’s Saul “El Mero Mero” Elizondo went back and forth with Houston’s David Armas. They clinch early, land some strikes in there, but they soon separate. Elizondo lands a good right hand that causes a flash knockdown, but Armas recovers and pushes Elizondo against the cage. Elizondo is able to throw Armas to the mat at this point, getting half-guard. Elizondo takes his back, while Armas throws back elbows, reminiscent of Roger Huerta vs Alberto Crane. Armas finds a way to slip to the slide, and get on top of Elizondo. The round ends with Armas landing some good right hands on Elizondo.

Armas opens the middle-stanza with a jab, and tries to take off Elizondo’s head off with a wild swing. Leglick by Armas looks good, but Elizondo answers back with a great head kick. Both guys get in an awesome exchange, with Armas landing some brutal shots on Elizondo against the cage. Elizondo was hurt during that exchange. They clinch but Armas is able to land a double leg takedown on Elizondo. Elizondo has a high guard, and he transitions into an omaplata. As Elizondo tries to sweep him, Armas counters, but Elizondo comes back with a guillotine choke. Armas escapes that, but Elizondo goes for another omaplata. He uses that to set up a kimura, that he then uses to transition to a triangle. Armas tries to powerbomb out of it twice, but can’t shake of Elizondo. When the round coming to an end, Elizondo tries to sneak in an armbar but can’t get it through.

In the third round, Elizondo goes in with a legkick and presses Armas against the cage. Armas reverses and pushes him back against the cage. Armas forces a wild exchange, that he gets the better of. Elizondo responds by getting close in clinch, leaping up and snatching a guillotine choke on Armas. But Elizondo can’t get it complete and Armas escapes and is now on top. Armas tries some ground and pound, while Elizondo works an omaplata from off his back. Elizondo gets a great sweep, and winds up in mount. He then takes Armas’ back, and tries his best to force a rear-naked choke, but the time expires before he can actually lock it in. Judges ruled the fight, a unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) for the kid from Roma, TX.

Two Valley natives took on one another, as Mission’s Leroy Martinez battled Brownsville Miguel Vega in bantamweight competition. Vega starts off the fight by working a jab, but Martinez forces him against the cage for a clinch, that Vega eventually reverses by putting Martinez against the cage. Martinez lands some good knees in the clinch before they are eventually separated. Vega starts again, with another jab, and attempts to get a muay thai clinch to land a knee. The rest of the round is Vega using his boxing to control the striking aspect of the fight.

The first big moment of the second round was a big right hand from Martinez that caught Vega off guard. Vega responds back with an uppercut, and a legkick. Martinez rushes in to clinch against the cage. Martinez does his best to outwork Vega in this frame, forcing himself to land some good punches and kicks on Vega. Good pressure from Martinez.

In the third frame, Martinez lands a legkick but that is followed up by a Vega punch. Martinez instigates a clinch, and gets a takedown but the fight goes back up to its feet. Vega then forces Martinez against the cage, and gets the takedown. He gets side control but Martinez gets back up. Vega gets yet another takedown. With Vega on top of Martinez, on the ground, Vega works in some strikes to take the round and the fight via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28).

Edgar Verdin mentioned in his post-fight interview that he took this fight on three-days notice. The Houston native made his STFC debut taking on McAllen’s Andrew Garza, a local favorite in the Valley MMA scene. In the opening frame, Garza chased Verdin but couldn’t land much of note. On the other hand, Verdin was landing some snappy legkicks on Garza. During an exchange, Garza tries to force some punches but it’s Verdin who gets the better of the crossfire of strikes. Garza finally lands a big right hand that makes Verdin back off, but Garza doesn’t follow through, he instead pushes forward to clinch with Verdin. Verdin uses some underhooks to defend a takedown and lands some hard elbows, as the round comes to an end.

The round starts with Verdin showing his superior striking technique, landing some more legkicks. At one point, Verdin snaps off a neat combination of two jabs and a legkick. Garza swarms him with a lot of punches and presses him against the cage, for another clinch. Verdin starts working strikes in the clinch, including a great knee to the body that drops Garza. Verdin goes after him with vicious elbows, but Garza survives the round.

Garza opens the last round with some strikes of his own, including a good body kick. Verdin returns fire with a sweet-splattering headkick that buzzed Garza. Verdin went for the kill with an incredibly flurry of violence; strikes galore. Garza, who was eating some big punches, goes for a clinch to try to recover. After a while, the referee separates theme, leading to Verdin landing a nice uppercut. The round comes to an end, and the judges, rightfully, award Verdin the unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27.

In the third bout of the evening, Pharr’s Victor Martinez stepped into the cage to take on Austin’s Michael “The Archangel” Lytle. As soon as the fight starts, Lytle rushes forward, pressing Martinez against the cage. Martinez uses underhooks to defend the takedown, and to set up some damaging strikes (knees and elbows). Those strikes force a separation in the clinch, as Lytle was not liking them at all. Lytle starts throwing kicks, but Martinez lands some good counters, including one punch that rocked the ATX native. Lytle reacts by going for another takedown as the round closes.

The story of the second round was all about Martinez’ counters. Martinez was able to time Lytle’s kicks in the first frame, and further exploited those openings as the fight unfolded. These were vicious, right-hand counters that were clearly hurting Lytle. Martinez, seemingly confident, threw a lead right hand that shook up Lytle in the final minute of the second frame.

The third round was brutal. Lytle goes in for a takedown, but eats another knee from Martinez. A wild exchange breaks out, with Lytle taking the brunt of the damage. Lytle clinches, hoping to recover, but Martinez forces Lytle to the mat. Martinez asks him to stand back up, and he gets his wish. Another nasty knee from Martinez, to Lytle, is the beginning of the end. A panoply of strikes from Martinez followed — punches, knees, elbows, kicks, body blows. Lytle is out on his feet at his point, and it’s getting gruesome. Referee Jacob Montalvo has seen enough, as he intervenes at 1:59 of the third round, awarding Martinez the TKO victory.

Mexico’s Eduardo Bustillos impressed us with a win over Brownsville’s George Powery. Bustillos immediately took the fight to the mat, and it was all Bustillos from there. He shook of Powery’s leglock attempt, to eventually pass guard. From side control, he secured mount. A quick blitz of strikes, leads to Powery turning over, exposing his back. Bustillos slips in his forearm underneath Powery’s chin, grabs a hold of his bicep, to lock the rear-naked choke for the submission victory at 2:14 of the first round.

Jose “Luke” Flores, of Mission, TX, made his professional debut against Laredo’s Yail Elijio in lightweight competition. It didn’t take long for the Texas Rage in the Cage Amateur Champion to get to work, as he landed a vicious knee on Elijio. A few strikes on the ground were the final nails in the coffin in this. Stoppage came at 12 seconds of the first round.