Namauleg beats Sambile via unanimous decision

Tara “The Tarantula” Namauleg made history last Friday when she beat Jenipy “So-High La” Sambile in the CNMI’s first ever MMA female fight in Trench Warz IX: The Annihilation.

The jam-packed crowd at the Royal Taga Hall of the Saipan World Resort got their money’s worth as the two ladies got it on early and often in a bout the rivaled the evening’s other MMA matches.

amauleg, who trained with his brothers in the backyard of their house, used her weight to great advantage against the more technical Sambile, who underwent a three-week crash course in MMA at the Trench Tech Gym.

Sambile was on the defensive majority of the first round, as Namauleg bombed away with her straights and hooks. There was a bit of ground action too, where Sambile tried to put theory to practice when she grappled with Namauleg in the waning seconds of the opening round.

Namauleg and Sambile continued their fierce fight in the second round with the former’s aggressiveness getting the better of the latter. At one point, Namauleg had Sambile pinned on one of the sides of the octagon and even managed to execute a headlock against her overmatched opponent.

Sambile had her moments too as her speed and grappling skills left Namauleg catching her breath a couple of times during breaks when celebrity referee Frank “The Crank” Camacho had to step in and separate the two combatants.

In the end, neither fighter managed to knock the other out as the match went to the scorecards with judges Dave Celis Sr., John Blanco, and L.J. Castro all scoring the fight 20-18 in favor of Namauleg.

After the match, Namauleg thanked her family for training and supporting her and Soledad “The Rebel” Tenorio for giving her a lucky charm prior to the MMA fight.

It can be recalled that Tenorio was the same woman that beat Namauleg in the islands’ first ever female boxing match last September.

In all 11 of the 12 scheduled MMA matches in Trench Warz IX: The Annihilation went on without a hitch with only the fight between Jason Tarkong and Robert Palacios shelved because the latter failed to make weight.

“The fight was cancelled due to circumstances beyond our control. Robert was 17 pounds overweight and was unable to make the 10-pound grace weight agreed by the two fighters after the weigh-ins,” said Trench Tech president Cuki Alvarez.

He added that even though the original fight weight was supposed to be 175 lbs, Tarkong still agreed to fight Palacios even if was much heavier.

“If Robert would have made an effort to at least lose seven lbs. by 10pm that night, Jason would have fought him. He did not make an effort therefore the fight was called off. Trench Tech has suspended Robert indefinitely for breach of contract and false information. He lied about his weight. Originally he told us he was 170 lbs. Maybe his scale is from a Cracker Jack box,” said Alvarez.

Nate “The Terrible” Flores, meanwhile, opted not to fight Guam United Fight Team’s Leo “The Assassin” Cing because the Guam fighter was 13 lbs. overweight.

“Leo did lose eight lbs, by 10pm that night but it wasn’t enough and Nate ended up not taking the fight. Replacing Nate was fellow local warrior and Saipanese fighter, Maitai Charley. All in all, everything worked out great despite the glitches,” said Alvarez.