Kelvin loses debut in Fury V

Local fighter Kelvin Fitial had an experience of a lifetime Saturday as he made his pro fighting debut in front of 4,500 spectators in Fury V: Unleashed at the University of Guam Fieldhouse.

Fitial, who first made an appearance in the sport of mixed martial arts fighting in November, trained for little over a month for the fight against Frank Manglona of Spike 22 Purebred Guam.

The two battled in the second fight of the evening, and reports indicated that Fitial came out strong, giving his opponent a good fight before eventually faltering by technical knockout in the first round.

Fitial had earlier said that he will savor the experience, which he will use to help him mature in the sport for future fights.

Leading up to the fight, Fitial trained with various partners at Trench Tech in hopes of improving his ground-fighting skills, which he lacked during his first fight against Jason Tarkong in last November’s Trench Warz Fight Night.

Fitial was accompanied by Cuki Alvarez and Tarkong, who served as his cornermen.

Before Fitial stepped into the spiketagon, though, he had already his work cut out for him as he was 15 lbs overweight from the mandated 200-lb fight.

Fitial was forced to shed the weight and sweated it out Friday but only lost seven lbs when he made it to the first weigh in at around 3pm.

Fitial and his cornermen were scheduled to return to Saipan yesterday evening.

“My goal is to promote Trench Tech and we’re working to be at the same level as Guam,” Fitial said during an earlier interview.

With the win, Manglona improved his record to 3-0.

Fury V: Unleashed also featured other exciting battles with Justin Cruz of Spike 22 beating Guam freestyle fighter Renee Purugganan via TKO; Sun Koo Chu of Korea defeating Guam’s Joey Taijeron, who was not able to continue; and Dave Pangelinan of Spike 22 beating Ben Urquizu by knockout.

The main event featured Spike 22 founder Melchor Manibusan making his return to the spiketagon against Tyson Griffin of Nor-Cal Fighting Alliance USA, with Griffin winning by TKO.

Other fights included George Sotiropoulis of Hanger 4 MMA Australia beating Sergio Lourenco of Team Gracie Brazil by unanimous decision; Jun Kazeta of Philostetes Gym Niigata Japan defeating Moses Baca of Team Gracie USA by unanimous decision; and Antonio Banuelos of The Pit USA winning by TKO over Kimihito Onanka of Purebred Japan.