Fitial bags heavyweight gold

Saipan’s Kelvin “The Big Hit’ Fitial asserted his lofty billing in the heavyweight class, while Guam’s Jesse Manglona became the only fighter to win two gold medals at the conclusion of the All-Island Grappling Submissions Challenge: The Art of War III last Saturday at Fiesta Resort and Spa’s Hibiscus Hall.

Fitial won on points against silver medalist Francis Mendiola during their final bout.

Earlier in the preliminaries, Fitial outwitted Marcus Estrada and Evangelis Babauta. The latter eventually settled for the bronze by beating Estrada.

Manglona fought in two weight divisions and snatched the gold in the bantamweight division against silver medalist Regan Mality.

But before that, he powered his way to victories against Shane Alvarez and Robert Quitugua.

Alvarez went away with the silver by ousting Barry Mality.

Manglona also clinched the gold in the featherweight division as he outwitted silver medalist Alvarick Alvarez of Trench Tech in their final bout.

In the preliminaries, Manglona ousted Vince Masga and Mike Sanchez, who took the bronze by defeating Jay Muna.

Chris “No Luv” Laayug also proved his dominance in the super lightweight by winning over Korean Min Joo Jung in their gold medal bout.

Laayug cruised to the finals by beating Derek Rangamar and Ezra Caro in the preliminaries.

Rangamar went home with the silver.

Another Guam fighter, Ryan Urquizu, bagged the gold in the lightweight category via arm-lock at the expense of Saipan’s Geovanni Sablan, who settled for the silver while Patrick Alepuyo hacked Korean Tom Kim for the bronze.

In the middleweight class, Eric Attao Sian nailed an overwhelming 8-0 victory against Syl “The Deal” Teregoyo for the gold.

Atdao posted wins against three opponents in Group A including Skyler Taitano, Chris Hockabee, and Ron Chisato to arrange the final match-up with Teregoyo.

Teregoyo was undefeated in Group B by winning over Japan’s Kenji Onuma, Pete Mendiola, and Japanese Takeshi Furukawa before losing to Atdao.

Ron Chisato brought home the bronze by beating Neil Taisacan.

Rage Adelbai prevailed over Byron Evaristo in their gold medal showdown in the welterweight class.

Adelbai’s triumphs included wins against Darryl Salas and Rusty Ada, who won the bronze against Kenny Blas.