After a long feeling out process to start the fight, Sahakyan began to find his tempo in the middle of the opening frame, and by the end of the round he seemed to have his longer opponent figured out. Coming into the second round Sahakyan kept his foot on the gas pedal and his effectiveness on the ground certainly showed through as he submitted his opponent at 1:24 of the second round.

As with most of his fights, Buckner came out hot and heavy in the first round looking to land big shots on his feet, but his opponent Carlos Elizarraraz kept up a great tempo and controlled much of the cage position throughout the fight. Buckner did score when he was able to break away, but the underdog Elizarraraz implemented a grappling heavy game plan that seemed to have Buckner frustrated, however when the judges scorecards were read, Buckner walked away with the split decision.

This fight was over a year in the making, as the pandemic cancelled the amateur state championship a year ago. So why not face them off for their pro debuts. In the first round Faris came out very aggressive looking to break down the much longer Hernandez. However, Hernandez did a great job staying composed and worked effectively behind his reach. Faris continued to pry his way inside until a blind uppercut from Hernandez caught Faris flush on the chin. Quickly smelling blood in the water Hernandez pounced on his wounded opponent and scored the TKO victory in the very first round.

Nakatani charged out of the gate like a race horse at the out of the gate, meeting his opponent before he could even pass the half way mark of the cage. Controlling the cage Nakatani starting peppering Gomez with nasty calf kicks that mmediately changed ‘The Brawlers’ demeanor. The undefeated Nakatani was able to break down the distance and scored a thunderous slam that appeared to injure Gomez’s shoulder. Nakatani continued his onslaught with vicious ground and ound until the referee stepped in at 3:12 of the very first round.

Aaron Lafarge was able to withstand a very difficult first round to come from behind to score the upset victory by submission in the second. His opponent Artur Arutyunyan certainly made it no picnic hurting LaFarge several times, with heavy hands in the opening frame. LaFarge kept looking for away inside his opponents reach and paid a heavy price early on. However, between rounds LaFarge was able to regroup and reset enabling him to come out a different fighter in the second round. Quickly he began to wear down the tiring Arutyunyan before snatching a choke that forced the tap at 3:31 of the second round.

Arnold Jimenez came into this fight with a game plan in place and boy did he ride that pony all the way to end walking away with a unanimous decision on all three cards. Bonilla, was just never able to get going as Jimenez looked to bring the fight to the mat every time ‘El Matador’ let his hands go. Once grounded, Bonilla had no answer for Jimenez who did enough with his dominant position to cruise to the decision win.

In an eye opening pro debut former Olympian and World Champion Greco-Roman wrestler Maxsim Manukyan showed how an Olympian level athlete can quickly transition to the sport of mixed martial arts. Manukyan started off the bout displaying a dizzying array of spinning back kicks that had his opponent bloodied before he made entry and slammed Joseph Keith to the mat with such violence that it was reminiscent of Rampage Jackson’s Pride days. Keith immediately covered up as Manukyan reigned down heavy punches forcing the referee to stop the fight at 1:46 of the first round.

In classic matchup that put striker vs grappler, the early moments favored the striker as Mike Segura did an excellent job picking off his shorter opponent as he continued to press the action. Those moments however were few and far between as the wrestling and jujitsu heavy attack from Dominick Clark told the majority of the story for the fight. Clark did an amazing job of controlling Segura on the ground and although he was not able to score the submission his dominance earned him a unanimous decision on all three of the judges scorecards.

The opening round started off with both fighters pushing a very methodical pace. Neither fighter wanted to be the first to make a mistake. Shahbazyan looked to establish his range with long kicks and his jab, as Murrietta looked to break down that range to get inside and land a homerun shot. “Mo-town” didn’t need that long at all as he stepped inside and dropped Shahbazyan with a clean shot. As Shahbazyan tried to regain his wits, Murrietta continue his assault and his IQ changing ground and pound forced the stoppage at 3:01 of the very first round.

Both fighters came out looking to feel the other out. Padilla continue to stalk Brock, dictating the pace. However, Brock looked sharp in the counter punchers role, and scored often against the charging Padilla. The dance continued very much the same way for first two rounds with both fighters finding success at times, In the end it came down to the judge’s scorecards and they awarded ‘Dangerous’Devon Brock who used his victory as a soap box to call out the LXF lightweight champion in his post fight speech!

Clearly the favorite and in front of his home crowd, ‘The Ghost Pepper’ had seemed to have everything working in his favor, and then Samuel Alvarez punched him in the face. Gonzalez kept walking down Alvarez like a zombie and seemed content to eat a few shots, in order to dish a few out. In the second round the strategy began to pay dividends as Alvarez began to tire, even though he threatened with a few submissions from bottom position. Gonzalez continued to bloody up Alvarez and cruised to the unanimous decision. After the fight, Gonzalez asked his girlfriend to marry him, and of course she said yes.