Rodriguez wins, looks for title shot
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
Ricco Rodriguez continued to fight his way back to heavyweight world championship contention with a first-round victory over Reuben Villareal last night in the main event of Extreme Wars X-1.
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser
A crowd of around 2,000 at the Blaisdell Center Arena watched the inaugural card put on by Extreme Wars.
Brian Geraghty, bottom, came out on top against Kaleo Kwon, winning their 155-pound bout with a triangle submission.
Rodriguez dominated the short fight and defeated Villareal by armbar submission, 2:38 into the first round. It was scheduled for three five-minute rounds.
"I'm not trying to brag, but I feel like I should be beating guys like this," said Rodriguez, a former world heavyweight champion. "I look at these as tune-up bouts and if the bigger organizations want to start paying me the money, I'd love to go back there and fight for a big title again."
Rodriguez opened a cut above Villareal's eye early in the round with an overhand elbow. "Once I saw that I knew it was time to go home," Rodriguez said. "I didn't want to get any blood on me."
In another Super Fight, veteran Dan Severn defeated Shannon Ritch by choke submission, 1:05 into the second round.
Ritch was effective with his kicks, and dropped Severn to the canvas with a kick to the head early in the second round. But Severn recovered and then overpowered the smaller Ritch. Severn, who is one of the pioneers of the sport, weighed 266 pounds to Ritch's 186.
In the third Super Fight, Jeff Monson proved his worth as a grappling specialist by defeating Rich Wilson by armbar submission, 1:56 into the first round.
On the undercard, the Next Generation Fighting Academy of California won the battle with Team Hawai'i, 3-2 (one bout was declared a no-contest).
Chris Brennan, the head instructor of Next Generation, clinched the victory for his school by defeating Kalihi's Mark Moreno by armbar submission, 1:14 into the first round.
"I knew I had to submit him early or I would get knocked out," Brennan said. "All the Hawai'i guys are so tough, the game plan for all our guys was to take it to the ground."
The top performer for Team Hawai'#i was Harris Sarmiento, who forced a tap-out submission from Josh Smith with an ankle lock, 2:28 into the second round in a 155-pound bout.
"That's one of my favorite moves, actually," Sarmiento said. "I saw it was open and I took advantage of it."
Even though the Next Generation Fighting Academy won more matches than Team Hawai'i, Sarmiento said he liked the concept of the undercard.
"I loved it," he said. "You feel like you're fighting for Hawai'i. There's the pride. But give credit to those guys — all the California guys were tough."
In the undercard bouts:
170 pounds: Chris Brennan def. Mark Moreno by armbar submission, 1:14 into first round.
180: Adam Lynn vs. Kaleo Padilla, declared no-contest due to accidental strike to Lynn's eye in first round.
180: Fernando Gonzalez def. Sidney Silva by unanimous decision.
155: Harris Sarmiento def. Josh Smith by ankle-lock submission, 2:28 into second round.
155: Brian Geraghty def. Kaleo Kwon by triangle submission, 2:24 into first round.
155: Johnny Sampaio def. Josh Hinger by unanimous decision.
145: Kaipo Gonzales def. Duke Savagosa by TKO, 0:54 into first round.
185: Kimo Woelfel def. Shawn Castro by TKO, 2:09 into first round.
Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8101.
