SAN DIEGO, Dec. 15 -- A standing room only crowd was on hand for Total Combat's 25th edition at the 4th and B in San Diego. They went home after a night of action-packed fights topped off by a victory from local favorite Dave Hisquierdo (Pictures).
A left hook that buckled Dalton prompted him to shoot for the takedown, which he got. After jostling for position on the ground both fighters stood and Hisquierdo's technical striking assault continued.
In the second round Hisquierdo again started with a solid jab but added three- and four-punch combinations that began to stifle Dalton. Aside from the occasional overhand right Dalton had no answer for Hisquierdo's standup.
Hisquierdo continued to pick Dalton apart, only failing to knock him out. The scores were a one-sided 30-27 on all judges' cards.
With Brandon Vera (Pictures) urging him on, Zach Taylor (Pictures) was able to sink in a triangle choke and submit Mike De La Torre at 3:56 of round one.
After a brief scramble on their feet Taylor managed to take down De La Torre but ended up giving up top position. Taylor however remained on the offensive and grabbed De La Torre's arm attempting to armbar him. De La Torre escaped and dropped to top position once again. Taylor quickly attempted another armbar that was defended, however he transitioned to the triangle choke that decided the fight.
After a see-saw first round slug fest Joey Beltran (Pictures) dropped Ray Seraille (Pictures) with a left hook and followed it up with shots to his downed opponent until the referee put a halt to the fight with 56 seconds expired in the second round.
Beltran started the fight strong landing punches from different angles, but looked like he would be finished towards the end of the first round as Seraille inflicted serious punishment to Beltran's mid-section with knees. Beltran was able to recover between rounds and came out with guns blazing in the second, hurting Seraille with a straight right that set up the deciding hook.
Shannon Gugerty made quick work of Lucas Factor (Pictures) to win by TKO at 1:05 of round one. Gugerty wasted no time in taking down. From back-control Gugerty landed hard shots to the face and sides of Factor's head until referee Mike Beltran stepped in and stopped the bout.
Steve Torres (Pictures) displayed a better all around game and managed to beat Evgene Khil by unanimous decision in an exciting three-round scuffle. Both fighters landed damaging blows throughout, but Torres swayed the judges as Khil was unable to defend against the takedowns. Scores were 30-27 twice and 29-28.
Jose Rodriguez pounded out a unanimous decision victory over the game Ethan Cox. Rodriguez constantly rained down damaging blows on the out-classed Cox to win by 30-27 on all judges' cards.
Local favorite Casey Ryan failed to sink in an omoplata and two armbars all at the expense of some brutal ground-and-pound by Jesse Juarez (Pictures).
Ryan, battered and bloodied, remained persistent and was finally able to trap Juarez between his legs and tighten up a triangle choke at 2:27 of round one.
Craig Wilkerson controlled the action on the ground and won all three rounds to earn a unanimous decision over Danny Navarro. The only knock against the Erik Paulson (Pictures)-trained Wilkerson was that he was not able to finish Navarro despite having a rear-naked choke sunk in at the end of every round.