Kelly wins, Folayang loses in URCC Dekada

MANILA, Philippines – Neutralized on his back, Filipino bet Eduard “The Landslide” Folayang of Lakay yielded to Lowen Tynanes of King of the Cage late Saturday night in the headliner of URCC 22: Dekada at the SM Mall-of-Asia Arena in Pasay City.

The rock-solid Tynanes, who earned the URCC Superfight belt, took the fight on the mat and exposed Folayang’s weakness.

Folayang, an Asian Games and SEA Games medalist in Wushu, suffered a gash near his right eye after taking a forceful elbow as blood smeared all over his face prompting the referee to stop the fight early in the first round after consulting the doctor.

In the penultimate bout, Eric “The Natural” Kelly won over the bigger Brad Terrey via submission in the deciding third round.

With his right eye completely shut due to swelling since the first round, Kelly mustered enough strength to pull off an arm bar after clobbering Terrey while on a full mount.

Meanwhile, Froilan Sarenas got overpowered by Rodrigo Praxedes of Phuket Top Team in their middleweight title fight.

Praxedes, who prevailed via unanimous decision, dropped Sarenas in the second round with a crisp right straight.

In the other title fight, Jessie Rafols of D’ Elements Gym submitted Kief Mangusan of Tribal Submission on a rear-naked choke in the opening round to retain his bantamweight crown.

Rafols took down Mangusan and was on side control. Rafols tried to finish off his opponent with a kimura but was unable to get the leverage to inflict enough pain on Mangusan’s right arm.

Mangusan has his moments and looked as if he’d go on to win after attempting a guillotine choke but Rafols was able to squeak out and turn the fight around.

In a clash of heavyweights, Caloy Baduria (Elorde MMA) stopped Panchito Estoso (Ground and Pound MMA) in the opening round of their action-packed fight.

Both fighters traded blows from the get-go with Baduria, packing more power to his punches, able to send Estoso down twice. Estoso failed to recover after the second knock down as Baduria pummeled him for the finish.

Also winning via referee stoppage was Reydon Romero (Deftac), who clobbered Sulpiano Laurio (Sprawl) to win at the 4:16 mark of the first round of their featherweight fight.

Getting the judges nod were Dennis Salazar and Reysaldo Transmonte. Both winning via unanimous decision over Roy Doliguez and Hideo Morikawa respectively.

In other fights, Lito Adiwang (Ground and Pound MMA) gave Jun Jun Sinco (Deftac Dumaguete) a debut to forget as the referee stopped their fight in the second round due to strikes.

Jonathan Sumogat improved his URCC record to 4-0 after forcing Russel Iniong to tap out on a rear-naked choke in round one.