SAN JACINTO, Calif., Oct. 13 — It seems that whenever Charlie Valencia (Pictures) headlines a King of the Cage card at the Soboba Casino it rains. And pours. And then some.
Valencia started the fight throwing half hearted shots to set up takedowns. His wrestling ability seemed to be enough to control the Laguna Niguel-based Swanson, as Valencia secured a few and controlled the pace in the early going.
Two minutes into the bout, Valencia bloodied Swanson with a punch, causing the youngster’s nose to bleed like a turned on faucet. This seemed to wake up Swanson, as from this point forward the fight was all his.
Swanson stuffed every Valencia takedown attempt and kept the fight standing, where the Muay Thai expert picked apart the much shorter bantamweight. At the 4:52 mark of the first round referee Herb Dean (Pictures) called a stop to the bout after a combination of a punches and kicks on the ground connected on Valencia, followed by a barrage of punches.
Swanson now has two places he can go. One is towards a title shot in KOTC; the other sees him getting the call up to a show the likes of the UFC. As for Valencia, it’s back to the drawing board, as he has lost two fights in a row — Swanson and in May against Urijah Faber (Pictures) — after being unbeaten in his first seven bouts.
The co-main event featured two stand-up fighters duking it out on the ground, as Gabe Rivas (Pictures) put on a submission clinic against the lesser known Thai fighter Ismail Gonzales.
Rivas came out swinging, but realized he would have a better chance against Gonzales on the ground, which turned out to be a great idea. Rivas transitioned from submission to submission on Gonzales, making for an exciting fight. To his credit, Gonzales amazingly escaped, but the end came when Rivas secured a Kimura from the top position at 4:34 of the second round.
Rising mixed martial artist Omar Luv (Pictures) made his return to the cage after a year layoff to take on a very game Casius Arelius in a bout pitting two kickboxers. Arelius came out throwing circus like high spinning kicks, none of which fazed Luv, who looked like a man on a mission as he pressed forward constantly and overwhelmed his opponent with superior stand-up, takedowns, and ground-and-pound.
The end came at 2:49 of the first round when Luv connected with a flying knee, followed by a left hook, and then finished the fight with ground-and-pound. Luv moves to 4-0 and is definitely worth watching in the 185-pound weight class.
Not confusing good taste for selling tickets, KOTC’s “Parole Officer vs. Con” fight saw Ernie Pereia face Albert Hill (Pictures) in a bout that seemed to have a rather “fitting” end.
Action started with Hill bull rushing the parole officer, landing many punches to the arms and body of the covered up fighter. The fight hit the ground with Hill working to improve position, where it eventually was stood up due to inactivity. From there, Hill shot in lazily and found himself tapping out due to a guillotine choke at 1:47 of the first round. Pereia received a complimentary KOTC super-fight belt for his effort in the cage.
Under Card Results
Buckley Acosta (Pictures) def. Edgar Cruz TKO 0:30 R1
Ben Beebe def. Mike Bourke TKO 3:00 R1
William Syrapai (Pictures) def. Kenny Tenorio (Pictures) TKO 1:36 R2
Kyle Olsen def. Gerry Noche (Pictures) submission 2:52 R1
George Carlye def. Brent Wooten (Pictures) submission 1:18 R2
Frankie Guerrero def. Kasey Danoven submission 1:30 R1
Joey Thebus def. Alan Zunner TKO 1:19 R1
Adrian Perez (Pictures) def. Josh Lewis (Pictures) submission 1:12 R1
Chris Reedy def. Conrad Miles TKO 1:15 R1
Donald Sanchez (Pictures) def. Mark Kempthorne TKO 4:14 R2
Ruben Taigle def. Brian Savoia KO 0:46 R1
Bill Monsoor def. Ricky Cantrell submission 0:42 R1
Robert Dupont def. John Delacole submission 1:10 R1
David Kiley def. Keith McDaniels submission 1:58 R1