{"id":260723,"date":"2017-09-20T06:04:30","date_gmt":"2017-09-19T20:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=260723"},"modified":"2017-09-20T06:04:30","modified_gmt":"2017-09-19T20:04:30","slug":"manglona-im-always-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/manglona-im-always-ready\/","title":{"rendered":"Manglona: I\u2019m always ready"},"content":{"rendered":"
Jordan \u201cThe Machine\u201d Manglona, left, answers questions from ring announcer L.J. Castro during last Friday\u2019s Rites of Passage 22: Rampage held at the Marianas Business Plaza in Susupe. (Jon Perez)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Like most mixed martial arts warriors, Jordan \u201cThe Machine\u201d Manglona doesn\u2019t stop training even though he\u2019s not preparing for an upcoming fight. It\u2019s his way of staying in shape and in fighting form so that when he gets the call, he\u2019s ready for war.<\/p>\n

Manglona, despite his absence from the eight sides for more than a year, showed his readiness in last week\u2019s Rites of Passage 22: Rampage when he faced McKlane \u201cThe Game\u201d Alfred of Vida MMA Guam in one of the three title fights held at the Marianas Business Plaza in Susupe. Though coming from a layoff, he successfully defended his Trench Warz flyweight belt when he defeated Alfred by referee stoppage with only 23 seconds left in the first round of the opener of the triple title matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did not have any MMA fights for quite some time and just had a couple of boxing and kickboxing matches in Guam. I fought a Japanese and another one from Guam,\u201d Manglona told Saipan Tribune moments after improving his record to 5-1.<\/p>\n

It was Manglona\u2019s fourth straight win since losing his MMA debut via armbar submission against Josh \u201cChaos\u201d Duenas in the 1:47 mark of the first round in Trench Warz 17: Night of Champions last Dec. 13, 2013. The weekend bout was his first MMA fight since beating Guam Muay Thai\/Underworld Extreme\u2019s Scott \u201cDa Slaya\u201d Eclavea by split decision in Pacific Xtreme Combat 22 in Guam last March 18, 2016. It was also his first time to defend the 125-lb. belt.<\/p>\n

Alfred, meanwhile, suffered his fourth loss in seven matches and third straight since beating Mark \u201cThe Dark\u201d Nuique of the CNMI by rear-naked choke submission in Pacific Xtreme Combat 44 on June 27, 2014.<\/p>\n

Manglona is a boxer at heart that\u2019s why he could go toe-to-toe in stand-up fighting and can trade punches with any opponent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a boxer first before getting into MMA. I learned boxing when I was a 14-year-old in Guam. Then I shifted to kickboxing. I got into MMA when I met Cuki [Alvarez] and the guys at Trench Tech Gym. I got hooked after that,\u201d said Manglona.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always have the same game plan of using my boxing skills, but I improved on my ground fighting and that helped me a lot in most of my fights.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his match against Alfred last Friday, his opponent came out aggressive and initially dictated the tempo. The Guam fighter, who was eight inches shorter than Manglona, quickly buckled down to work and attempted to force a submission win. But Manglona maneuvered his way out of the choke hold and when Alfred let his guard down and the former saw an opening, the Trench Tech standout pounded away and won by RSC.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that he\u2019s a ground fighter, he has a purple belt in jiu-jitsu. So I waited for any opening and when I saw the chance, I pounced on it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for Manglona? \u201cWell, I would just wait for any fight Cuki or my team would give me. But, I\u2019m always ready for anything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like most mixed martial arts warriors, Jordan \u201cThe Machine\u201d Manglona doesn\u2019t stop training even though…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":260736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2325,2942,2842,2476],"class_list":["post-260723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-mma","tag-pacific-xtreme-combat","tag-trench-tech-gym","tag-trench-warz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}