BRAWL 3 COMPLETE RUNDOWN: CASTRO WINS IN FINAL MMA FIGHT

An action packed Brawl 3 at the Dusit Thani Ballroom. Scroll down for the latest from each and every match.

Brawl Lightweight Title – Alex Castro (155.6) vs. Takumi Ishihara (169.9)

Ishihara came in at a whopping 15 pounds overweight. In fact, he was medically seen early Friday morning. Castro is game and still ok’d the fight. It’s past midnight and no one has left the ballroom, awaiting for this fight. Happy Saturday to all. Here comes the fireworks. Pride rules: 10-min 1st round, 5-min 2nd round

Takumi Ishihara (3-3) from Japan vs. Alex Castro (9-9) from Agat via The Yard. Referee is Wayne Matanane, The crowd is pumped.

1st round: High kick by Castro. Castro has him on the ground. Ishihara gets it back to the feet and has cage control. Referee breaks it up and resets. Castro lands a right that drops his opponent.

A few more minutes of ground and pound and Castro finally finishes his foe to seal his MMA retirement fight as champion.

After the fight, Castro dedicates this fight to Kyle ‘Boom’ Reyes.

Brawl Welterweight Title – JJ Ambrose (167.3) vs. Yoichiro Sato (169.3)

JJ Ambrose (37-10) from Tamuning via Steel Athletics against Yoichiro Sato (23-13-2) from Japan. Pride rules: 10-min 1st round, 5-min 2nd round

1st round: Ambrose with a solid straight kick to the gut. Sato comes back with a hard left hook. Sato right hook and Ambrose down low with a leg kick. Ambrose with a takedown and sustains the top position, throwing in some rib shots from both sides. A hard right from the top by Ambrose. A couple more bombs from Ambrose from up top. More than a minute from full guard, Ambrose continues to work the body.

Over the halfway mark, Ambrose is still working the and totally controlling from the top. Sato tries a guillotine from the bottom, but the hold doesn’t last long. Another hard shot to the face by Ambrose. JJ still in total top control after a few minutes as the round comes to a close. Ambrose clearly takes the 1st round, but we need a finish to win in Brawl.

2nd round: Ambrose with a hard leg kick. Sato later returns a right hook into a clinch. Fight goes to the ground with Ambrose in control once again. Ambrose in full guard and Sato is trying to pull of a neck hold. Referee Jacob Guerrero stand up the fighters but Ambrose quickly brings it back to the ground in top position once again. The fight ends the same way.

Yup, it’s a Brawl draw.

Brawl Bantamweight Title – Shunichi Shimizu (133.9) vs. Hae Won Lee (134.0)

Shunichi Shimizu (37-26) from Tokyo against Hae Won Lee (3-1) from Korea. Pride rules: 10-min 1st round, 5-min 2nd round

1st round: Exchange of low kicks by both to get things going. A lot of dancing and posturing before Shimizu attempts a takedown, but failed. Shimizu finally gets back position standing. Fight gets back to boxing stance. A low blow pauses action.

Halfway in, a lot of posturing and no real damage dished out. Shimizu drags Lee to the ground, but action immediately gets back to the feet. Shimizu drags Lee down again but Lee gets up and starts kicking the downed Shimizu ala Pride. Both stand up again. Round ends with not much damage on either side.

2nd round: Lee delivers a hard low kick and solid left. A straight right by Lee wakes up Shimizu. The crowd is waiting for some action. Shimizu finally flattens out Lee and drops soft punches, not enough to stop the fight. Referee D’Angelo is right on top of it. More soft shots doesn’t merit a stoppage. Lee somehow escapes and gets to his feet to end the round.

A Brawl draw is the official result.

Grappling – Frank Camacho (184) vs. Anthony Cruz (197)

Ten minute, submission only bout. This is a rematch in which Cruz beat Camacho via armbar in January. Anthony Cruz from Chalan Pago (21-4) via Heights Academy vs. Frank Camacho from Yona (23-10) via Purebred Jiu-Jitsu. Two very respectful martial artists.

Battle immediately goes to the ground as Cruz sits and welcomes Camacho to engage. Though Camacho gets to his feet, Cruz insists on staying on the ground to grapple from below. Cruz has control of the right leg. The match gets to the feet, but Cruz sits back down. Interesting strategy by the top-ranked BJJ player on island.

The chess match continues as Camacho game plans from his feet. Cruz nearly entangles Camacho with his legs, Camacho wiggles out and resets. Cruz, again, tries to go after the legs. Now the bout is on its feet and Cruz has back control. Cruz with a takedown and goes for the finish. Camacho somehow reverses the control with two minutes remaining.

Cruz gets back control again from the standing position as we reach the one-minute mark. Cruz drags down Camacho with time running out, attempting another finish but Camacho pulls out once again. The bell sounds for a draw, but not after a high level display of grappling. Good job guys!

Army Combatives Match – Jerome Carriaga (165) vs. Rico Respicio (171)

Rico Respicio from Yigo via Atos Jiu-Jitsu Academy against Jerome Carriaga from Agana Heights via RM Sports. Both wearing Army combative uniforms.

Both combatives battle to a 10-minute draw.

MMA – Micah Lopez (159.0) vs. Jeff Mesa (158.9)

Two top-tiered fighters on Guam go head-to-head with apparent bad blood. The stare down was intense at Friday’s weigh-ins. This is much-anticipated! Pride rules: 1st round 10 minutes, 2nd round 5 minutes. Jacob Guerrero is your referee.

Jeff Mesa (4-5) from Yigo via Steel Athletics against Micah Lopez (1-1) from Maite via Spike 22.

1st round: Lopez with aggressive kicks to start things off. Mesa with a smooth combo and steps aside to avoid the counter – apparently catching Lopez with a finger in the eye, causing a long delay. Action continues. Lopez controls along the cage and blasts some knees. A low knee shot causes another delay – the 2nd low blow on Mesa so far. Lopez fights for a tough takedown, positioning on full mount. With a wrestling background, Lopez holds top control for a while. Mesa makes his way up, but eats some knees getting to his feet. Lopez delivers some body shots in the clinch then a right to the face (halfway through the round).

Lopez delivers inside leg knees from the standing clinch. Exchange of knees to the midsection. Lopez still controlling the clinch and not letting go. Referee finally breaks up the clinch to reset. Lopez with a solid 1-2. Both showing their stamina in this 10-minute first round. Time delay on another low blow, this time on Lopez with 17 seconds to go in the round. Lopez surely had the upper hand in the long round.

2nd round: Lopez come out aggressive again, but Mesa’s defensive reflexes are on point. Mesa lands a solid low kick but Lopez immediately counters with a right. Lopez delivers another knee and right into another clinch. Lopez with a nice elbow out of another clinch. Lopez with a solid right. Lopez overhand left that lands solid. Lopez bringing it, but Mesa avoids. Mesa lands a pounding body kick, but doesn’t faze Lopez. Both go at it in the final seconds. The bad blood doesn’t stop as action continued after the bell had sounded.

No finish, so it’s a draw.

Kickboxing – Dean Caldwell (141.0) vs. Keith Sablan (139.6)

Keith Sablan (2-1) from Yigo via The Yard against Dean Caldwell (3-0) from Talofofo via Guam Muay Thai.

1st round: Sablan attacks first with several body shots then misses on a high-flying knee. Sablan delivers the first knockdown which was ruled a slip. Sablan continues to deliver power knees and right hooks. Straight kick by Sablan. Leg kicks by Sablan toward the end. Clear edge for Sablan in opening round.

2nd round: Caldwell finally lands a solid kick that gets Sablan’s attention. Sablan is undeterred and continues moving forward. Caldwell delivers a nice spinning elbow out of a clinch. Sablan attacks the knees with low straight kicks. Caldwell gets the crowd roaring with a slew of combinations. Solid round by both but Caldwell did just a bit more in landing his shots.

3rd round: Sablan is fighting with what seems like anger, throwing heavy shots early. Short leg kicks and body shots by Sablan with Caldwell returning some precision striking. Both exchange viscous combos. Electrifying final seconds and both hug it out after a banger.

Another draw since there was no finish.

MMA – Ho Jun Lee (220) vs. Cavin Castro (230)

Cavin Castro (0-0) from Yona via Steel Athletics against Korea’s Ho Jun Lee (0-4) via Korean Top Team, who was best-dressed at Friday’s weigh-ins.

1st round: Castro delivers the first big blow with a solid right followed by a couple of low leg kicks. Lee is swinging for the fences but coming up empty. Castro with some rights then a solid body kick. Castro floors Lee with a right hook and almost finishes him, but Lee survives. Castro comes back with three uncontested body leg kicks while Lee still swinging at air. An impressive opening round for Castro in his debut fight.

2nd round: Lee opens with a solid low leg kick. Castro with a strong body kick. Lee connects with his best shot so far, a roundhouse left – followed by another. Both exchange low leg kicks. Lee starting to connect on his left hooks. More leg kick exchanges and the gloves start flying. Lee looking more comfortable in the cage and finishes the round strong, taking the second round.

3rd round: Lee comes out on a mission, walking down Castro with some heavy shots. All stand up so far. Both showing solid striking for big dudes. Castro returns with a mid kick/right hook combo that riles up the crowd. Castro throws an elbow that damages Lee’s right eye. They are throwing punches and damaging each other. Lee finishes with low kicks and a solid round to finish strong. Impressive performance not reflective of their records.

Brawl rules results in a draw.

Boxing – Hurao Acfalle (138.0) vs. Jake Albert (134.6)

Jake Albert (2-0) from Mangilao via Guam Muay Thai against Hurao Acfalle (0-0) from Tamuning via RM Sports boxing three 3-minute rounds.

1st round: Acfalle with early quick jabs that keeps the distance from Albert. Southpaw Albert connects with a solid left midway through. Acfalle with a nice body shot. Acfalle with crisp jabs and straight rights at the end of the round. First round went Acfalle’s way.

2nd round: Albert comes out aggressive that backs up Acfalle, but with no damage. Acfalle connects with a couple of solid rights. Both throwing leather, but Acfalle connecting more. A lot of action, but not much connection. Acfalle gets the edge and should be up 2-0.

3rd round: Albert lunges in but Acfalle with the duck and solid counter. Great defense by Acfalle as Albert picks up the pace. Acfalle with an overhand right and upperhook. Albert pours on the offense and connects a flury of shots. Albert with a solid right and attacks again – Acfalle having to play defense. Acfalle comes back with a pair of 1-2s. Albert bringing it on and has Acfalle in trouble late. Both finish strong. Albert takes that round.

Because of no judges, it’s considered a draw.

MMA – Emanuel (158.3) vs. Marcella (159.8)

First bout of the night kicks off at 7:50 pm (CHamoru Standard Time). Larry Marcella (2-0) from California via Steel Athletics and Sam Emanuel (5-0) of Dededo via Guam Muay Thai.

1st round: Marcella immediately goes for the take down out of the gates. After two good shots, Marcella gets the double legged takedown in the corner. Eventually, he works the half-guard then the full mount, in total control from top position. The round ends with Marcella in half-guard position, easily taking the opening round.

2nd round: Emanuel opens with an overhead right then a solid leg kick to the midsection…solid left then a low kick. It’s a different round so far. More leg kicks from Emanuel as Marcella shows signs of exhaustion. Another leg kick and Marcella limps with his left leg already bruised. After another leg kick, Emanuel delivers a straight left that floors Marcella. Referee Tony D’Angelo immediately jumps in to end the fight as the crowd erupts. Emanuel via TKO.