Cruz beats Rangamar in ROP 7

Justin “The Shocker” Cruz and Derrick “El Peligro” Rangamar’s super fight in last Saturday’s Rites of Passage 7: Fists of Fury was true to its billing with the Guamanian fighter winning the closely contested match via referee stoppage.

The Universal Reality Combat Championship bantamweight titleholder and arguably Saipan’s biggest little man treated the crowd, which packed Saipan World Resort’s Royal Taga Hall, to more than eight minutes of fist-pounding action.

Rangamar, fighting out of Marianas Elite, took the fight to Cruz early in the first round and at one point had the Spike 22 Guam fighter pinned in one of the sides of the octagon cage.

Cruz eventually broke free from the Saipan fighter’s hold and brought the match to the ground by body-slamming Rangamar to the mat, where he had the clear advantage.

Despite being on his back and absorbing blows, Rangamar continued to counter-punch and eventually opened a cut on the right side of Cruz’s head.

The second round was about Cruz ending the fight as quickly as possible before the ringside doctor steps in and stops the fight on account of his injury.

Rangamar, meanwhile, targeted the cut by pummeling Cruz’s head whenever he had the chance, hoping that the enough sight of blood would compel the ringside doctor and referee Tony D’Angelo to call the fight in his favor.

Both fighters clinched and sized each other up before the match again went to the ground with Cruz getting the upperhand anew. Rangamar tried his best to take away the Guamanian’s advantage but the latter was too technical and punished the former with consecutive hard double punches to the body and to the head.

The end for Rangamar came at the 3:31 mark of the second when D’Angelo stopped the fight because, according to him, Rangamar had taken too much punishment.

The decision did not sit well with the crowd as many felt Rangamar still had a fighting chance and wanted to see the match go the distance.

D’Angelo later told the audience that fighter safety is Trench Tech’s main concern and Rangamar took four to five unanswered hits to the head, which in Rites of Passage necessitates a fight stoppage.

Two other fighters from Guam also won their bouts with Jess “The Spiderman” Taitano beating Saipan’s “Taby” Jay Muna in the semi main event and former Pacific Xtreme Championship heavyweight champ Manny “The Enforcer” Chong defeating Ton “Peskadot” Robert in the main event.

Taitano was simply just too technical and experienced for Muna. At the start, the Saipan fighter looked as if he wanted to stand and bang with Japan Shooto’s top-ranked fighter, but Taitano decided to end it quickly and took the fight to the ground where he submitted Muna by triangle arm lock at just one minute and 12 seconds of the first round.

The win allowed Taitano to raise his record 7-4-2, while Muna dropped to a 3-6 slate.

Chong, for his part, showed he’s back in championship form as he wore down the much taller but slower Robert all throughout the entire first round with solid leg licks and accurate punches.

Robert groped for form while Chong was making mincemeat out of him, landing only a hand-full of strikes. He looked tired and exhausted after the opening round and signaled the referee that he had had enough and verbally tapped out before the start of the second round.

The win raised Chong’s MMA record to 13-6, while Robert lost for the third time in five matches.

Saipan Tribune will publish the 10 undercard matches of Rites of Passage 7: Fists of Fury tomorrow.