{"id":273183,"date":"2018-04-03T06:02:25","date_gmt":"2018-04-02T20:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=273183"},"modified":"2018-04-03T06:02:25","modified_gmt":"2018-04-02T20:02:25","slug":"koreans-face-local-warriors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/koreans-face-local-warriors\/","title":{"rendered":"Koreans to face local warriors"},"content":{"rendered":"
Referee Jason Tarkong gives instructions to ACE Korea\u2019s Sang Hyun Park, left, and Mark \u201cThe Dark\u201d Niuique before their duel in Rites of Passage 21: Throwdown last year at the Marianas Business Plaza. Park will be back on Saipan to compete in Rites of Passage 23: Beatdown later this month and will face Vince \u201cThe Clinch” Masga. (Saipan Tribune)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three South Korean fighters from different gyms will be coming to Saipan to test the mettle of three local warriors in the Rites of Passage 23: Beatdown set on April 27 at the Marianas Business Plaza.<\/p>\n

Korean Top Team\u2019s Seung Jun Lee, Team ACE Korea\u2019s Sang Hyun Park, and Korean MMA\u2019s Song Ho Lee will each face Team Gualo Rai\u2019s Ryan \u201cTrobz\u201d Ngirbabul, and TrenchTech veterans Vince \u201cThe Clinch\u201d Masga, and Shane \u201cPikaboo\u201d Alvarez in three of the 14 featured MMA bouts in ROP 23. Roman \u201cSonic Boom\u201d Alvarez (6-1, 3 knockouts) will headline ROP 23 when he defends his featherweight title against Russian Andrei \u201cThe Venus Project\u201d Zaitsev (0-3).<\/p>\n

The Lee-Ngirbabul match is set at 205 lbs (light heavyweight), while Park and Masga will be featured in a featherweight clash at 145 lbs, and Lee and Shane Alvarez\u2019s bout is set at the bantamweight (135 lbs) class. <\/p>\n

The three Korean mixed martial arts gyms have become regulars in several fights promoted by TrenchTech co-founder Cuki Alvarez. KTT\u2019s Sang Kwon Kim and Min Ju Lee, and Sang Hyung Park of Team ACE competed on Saipan a few years ago, while Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter Kwan Ho \u201cHandsome\u201d Kwak, who made his MMA debut in Trench Warz 17, also visited the island.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, two boxing matches will start the fight night in ROP 23 with Independent Guam\u2019s Jason Henderson and Jom Ebo taking on TrechTech\u2019s Nick Cruz and Team Zalaka\u2019s Dave Cruz at 170 and 145 lbs, respectively.<\/p>\n

Guam Muay Thai\u2019s Eric \u201cYoung ASAP\u201d Lacambra faces C.J. Hofschneider of Team No Team in a 135-lb kickboxing match, while female warriors Maegan Smith and Jessme Jones clash to begin the featured 14 MMA card.<\/p>\n

Ken Evans-Sitchiru Langu, Corey San Nicolas-Chico Quidachay, John Mendiola-Angel Oliveras, Manny \u201cThe Kid\u201d Camacho-Don \u201cDon Won\u201d Lujan; Austin John King-Andres \u201cThe Tanapag Beach Bad Boy\u201d Camacho, L.D. Ogo-Napu \u201cFong Fung\u201d Reyes, Greg \u201cPeskadude\u201d Sasamoto-Wildon \u201cThe Beast\u201dCamacho, J-Boy Langu-Kimo Adriano, and Austin \u201cAuzzy Pete\u201d Petrus-Mark \u201cThe Dark\u201d Nuique are the other featured MMA bouts.<\/p>\n

Steel Athletics\u2019 Jeff Mesa is among the eight standby fighters with his opponent for a 155-lb bout yet to be announced. Roland Meno, Josh Muna, Austin Gaspay, Kyle Gumataotao, Vince Campos, Josh Revoy, and Ethan Mariur are the others warriors waiting to be called out at the octagon later this month. All fights are subject to change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three South Korean fighters from different gyms will be coming to Saipan to test the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":273186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1712,2325,14175,1125],"class_list":["post-273183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-marianas-business-plaza","tag-mma","tag-nick-cruz","tag-rop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273183","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=273183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}