STFC 41 Preview

By Leo A. on February 2, 2017@bang_biscuit

Historically, February has been an excellent month for STFC cards. In 2013 there was the huge double main event card featuring Frank Trevino taking on Joseph Daily for the middleweight title and Danny Salinas defending his lightweight title against Diego Ferreira. In 2015 there was another double title main event featuring Fabian Saldivar is his first title defense against Eduardo Bustillos and Luke Flores battling it out with Victor Martinez for the vacant lightweight title. Now in 2017, Valley fight fans will be treated to another huge double main event with a Luke Flores headlining the card as he defends his title for a second time.

Luke Flores vs Sonny Luque (Main Event)

Entering his 7th year as a fighter(3 1/2 years as a pro), Flores has been on a steady hot streak. When he first made his pro debut at STFC: Carnage he immediately made his presence known by taking out Yail Eligio in 12 seconds. A few months later, Flores fought for HERO FC(what happened to them?) and pulled off an impressive kneebar submission victory in the 1st round on a mat canvas that doubled as a slip-n-slide. Flores would go on and fight one more time before he got the chance to fight for the vacated STFC lightweight title against Victor Martinez. Since capturing the title in 2015, he has fought for Bellator and has defended the title once. Flores’ stock should be at an all-time high right now and should be getting interest from the national promotions. I feel like I’ve been saying this since Luke beat George Powery but it’s baffling how a talented fighter could be overlooked, especially when you take into account those same promotions have offered contracts to fighters who were less decorated. There was a movement a few weeks ago to get Dana White to come to STFC 41 for his UFC Fight Pass show, “Lookin’ for a fight”, but no word on if White is making the trip to the Valley.

Regardless, Flores is still at the top of the lightweight division and will be taking on Sonny Luque from Laredo. Luque last visited STFC back in 2014 when he was paired up against Fabian Saldivar. Luque didn’t hang his head when his hand wasn’t raised after this fight, he went on to fight for Combate Extremo and won their interim lightweight championship. Since then he has been riding a four fight win streak(which includes a kickboxing match).

Both fighters will be walking into the cage with momentum on their sides but only one will be walking out with the STFC lightweight title over their shoulders.

Fabian Saldivar vs Edgar Diaz Guzman (Co-Main Event)

When Saldivar went down in the fourth round of his featherweight title defense against Josh Montalvo in the Summer of 2015, you could hear a pin drop. There laid one of the most talented fighters in the Valley screaming in pain as the doctor popped his shoulder back in placed. While sitting on the shelf “The Pride of Santa Rosa” stayed busy by sharpening his grappling skills while he rehabbed his injury but suffered a setback during training camp for his return bout last year. Now, almost two years later, one of the faces of STFC is back and isn’t backing down from any competition in his return bout. The former Marine will take on Edgar Diaz Guzman who just took Luke Flores not only past the first round for the first time in Flores’ pro career but also took Flores’ to the distance and it was only Guzman’s third professional fight. Guzman definitely raised a lot of eyebrows when he fought Flores and that was without a full training camp. With the STFC featherweight title vacant, this fight could determine who is punching their ticket to a title match or a number one contender fight.

Victor Martinez vs Jorge Cabral

STFC will be welcoming back Victor Martinez after making his debut for Combate Americas last year. Martinez put on an impressive showing but was unable to escape with the victory. Martinez will be locking up with Jose Cabral in a lightweight clash. Before Martinez’s last bout he was riding a two-fight win streak after taking out some of Texas’ most seasoned fighters during that stretch. Martinez has been on the shelf since April and was scheduled to fight for Combate Americas again in October but that fight was scratched. Martinez’s opponent, Jose Cabral, was last seen fighting in a STFC cage in 2014 which also happened to be the last time he fought. The two and half year layoff will be factor for Cabral come Friday night and I would expect Martinez to get his hand raised.

Rest of the Card

The other bouts will feature a stable of some of the Valley’s favorite fighters. Undefeated Robert Aguirre will be stepping in the cage against Isaac Matamoros who is also undefeated but has not seen the cage since almost two years ago at STFC: Battle at the Beach. There seems to be some bad blood here so I would expect this fight to filled with tension and excitement. Speaking of blood, Eli Rodriguez of Cinco Elite, will be returning after putting on a FOTY blood filled performance against Peyton Burns and will be taking on STFC veteran, Jorge Cortez. Julio Viramontes will also be putting his undefeated streak and 100% finishing rate at stake when he steps into the cage against Nicolas Gay.

Be sure to get those tickets NOW!