‘Pirate’ pummels ‘Pikaboo’ for light heavyweight gold

A gold medal washed ashore for merchant marine Mahon “Pirate” Gandy after an upset submission over Shane “Pikaboo” Alvarez in the light heavyweight division of Trench Tech Promotions’ “Mats on Fire” submission grappling tournament last Saturday at the Garapan Central Park Roundhouse.

The penultimate match of the event in the adults no-gi saw a smaller pool of martial practitioners, with Gandy finding himself face-to-face with long-time fighter Alvarez in the finals. Meanwhile, bronze went to Noah Quitugua.

In the finals, Gandy’s taller frame loomed over Alvarez as they both scrambled for position and the advantage. Alvarez didn’t let that intimidate him though after many years in the MMA scene and got down to it from the get-go.

Alvarez was tallying points left and right with better takedowns and sweeps of Gandy. But throughout, both fighters scrambled as they were on the lookout for the perfect position and opportunity for a submission.

The five minutes was almost spent as Alvarez rode the waves with an advantage via points, but he couldn’t take it all the way home after Gandy landed a clutch Americana or keylock submission with just about 30 seconds left in the match.

In an interview after, the 39-year-old Gandy said he was surprised with his win over Alvarez.

“I was surprised because I was getting my butt kicked really badly. I kind of got lucky and found that little Americana in there. It worked out really good otherwise I would’ve been toast,” he said. “I was so tired like within the first minute… I guess I just got a second wind and just stuck through it. I just pushed one more time and it worked out,” said the Washington state native.

On why he wanted to join this competition, he said, “I got here three months ago and I always go to Trench Tech to train and the competition was coming up. I thought I was going to be gone by then, but I ended up staying a lot longer, and [Justis] Cuki [Alvarez] told me to join and that it’s a fundraiser for the kids.”

As for the event, he said, “it was great. “It was very well organized and it’s a really nice place.”

In other results of the adult no-gi, Jason Atrero won gold in the 171-185-lb middleweight division. He beat out Evert Van Der Maas, while bronze went to Isaiah “Chiba the Goat” Sablan.

Atrero said after his win, “It’s a lot of emotions because you’re challenging friends and family. So of course there’s a lot of emotions going down, but honestly, it felt so good. One thing I want to just say is to just get more people into the sport. It’ll be more fun and more competition.”

Throughout the competition he said he had his best stuff. “It was just a good day for me, especially with my techniques… I just tried to be the aggressor and not try to be on the defensive end. I always tried to look for openings to try and submit and get the better position. Ultimately, that’s my goal.”

He then said, “Big shout out to my professor Cuki, all the boys, and my team members that came out to support me.”

In the 161-170-lb welterweight division, Enoch Pamintuan bagged gold over Christopher Dela Cruz. bronze was Ernesto “Batman” Licop.

Bryan Deleon Guerrero, who won gold in the heavyweight division, also won gold in the 151-160-lb lightweight division. Silver was Giovonni Taitingfong, while bronze was Ballen Song.

Jake Yamagishi came out on top over silver medalist Mathew Salas, while bronze was Javin Okawa in the 141-150-lb featherweight division.

In the 131-140-lb bantamweight, Edward Diaz took gold over Coby Reyes. Bronze was Seth “Gremlin” Sablan.

There were only two grapplers in the 121-130-lb flyweight division, with Bengbeng “The Dengdeng” Palacios coming out on top over James Woong Choi.

Leighton “Leight the Great” Palacios lived up to his nickname and won gold over Phil “Prime Time” Gregorio, while bronze was Jess “Not Like the Rest” Ma.

And in the 101-110-lb atomweight division, Drey “Drizzy” Aldan bagged gold as the two other competitors in the division didn’t show up.

Results of the kids gi categories will be posted in the next issues of Saipan Tribune.

Mats on Fire served as Trench Tech Promotions’ fundraiser for the upcoming Påtgon Jiu Jitsu Tournament in Guam set for Oct. 26.