Junior national Golden Gloves, another big win for Siler

We're back after a summer vacation from blogging again. Utah Fight Game was at the National Junior Golden Gloves tournament in Mesquite, Nevada, and we'd like to congratulate Sol Rodriguez, of Louie's Gym in Salt Lake City. She took the championship in the girl's 13-14 114 pounds division. Channel 13 news has since done a well-deserved feature on Sol's triumph. You can see it here.

Other Utahns who made it to the finals include Valentin Sanchez, 9-10, 65 pounds, and Aaron Garcia, 15-16, 90 pounds, both from Unbreakable Gym in Payson. It was a great experience watching these fights. It's literally a look at the future of boxing. Above is a photo of trainer Aaron Garcia of Unbreakable prepping his son, Austin, for a quarterfinal bout. At the end of this post there will be a few other photos.

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Last night in Denver two fighters, one with past ties to Utah, and another from Utah, won Sparta Combat League amateur title belts. Kaecy Raddon, who trains with Bang Muay Thai in Colorado and used to train at One Hit MMA in Layton, is the SCL amateur champ in kickboxing, 165 pounds, earning a split decision over Brandon Taylor. I watched the bout and scored it 30-27 for Kaecy, who was more aggressive. And Hayden Brown, of Centerville is the SCL 190 pound amateur  champ, MMA, after stopping William Vandervier in round one. Watch the entire card here at the promotion's FB page.

Tonight, Xasha Lopez, an amateur MMA fighter from Team Link in Layton, fights in Laramie, Wyo., on a Mountain Force MMA card. She meets Nateece Tovar.

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Also, last week on national television, MMA pro Steven Siler advanced to round three of the Professional Fighters League tournament. Siler stopped former WSOF champ Alexandre Almeida in 34 seconds. He received a referee's submission call shortly after dropping his opponent. Siler leads the competition with 12 points.

Next week we will preview MMA cards from SteelFist and Jeremy Horn's and finally talk some more about pro boxing. I've heard things about some of our leading boxers' plans.

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MORE PHOTOS FROM THE national junior Golden Gloves, some Utah boxers. From Top: 1) Colin Tuilevuka, in red; 2) Joe Gibson, in corner listening to trainer Dave Foley with second Brian Tiffany looking on; 3) Mateo Holt, in blue; 4) Carson Matthews, in blue; and 5) Vinnie Apodaca, in gold.

Siler fights on TV Thursday, SteelFist card announced

Steelfist announced its next MMA card for August 3. Pro bouts include the return of Joe Rodriguez and AJ Garcia meeting opponents. Fighting as an amateur will be Brandon Rease. The entire card is here. The fights are at the Union Event Center in SLC.

MMA pro Steven Siler continues in the nationally televised Professional Fighters League featherweight MMA tournament (round 2) Thursday night. The card is PFL # 4 and Siler's fight against Alexandre de Almeida is on the NBCSN cable TV network telecast (Xfinity 34), which starts at 7 p.m. MST.

MORE NEWS: MMA/kickboxer Kaecy Raddon, originally out of Utah who now fights out of Colorado, will compete for the Sparta Combat League 165-pound kickboxing title on July 27 in Denver.

Fierce Fighting Championship in Price had an MMA card last Saturday that included the beginning matches of a pro lightweight tournament. Results are here at Jeffrey Dutcher's Fighting Out of Utah MMA news Facebook page.

Finally, MMA professional and enthusiast Eric Tillotson is making a comeback, at age 50, in the cage. He'll be competing Sept. 29 on an MMA card, in Logan, promoted by Mountain Force MMA promotions.

ONE MORE THING -- Good luck to Utah amateur boxers competing this week in Mesquite, Nevada, at the Junior National Golden Gloves.

Update on local MMA, boxing action

A short post today from the blog, after returning from vacation. One June 23, Mountain Force MMA had its Pat Reeves Fight Night MMA card in Logan. In a pro bout, Ogden's Dominic Gero scored a win. Another Ogden fighter, Joe Flores, won an amateur title fight and Ogden's Eric Munoz lost via decision in another amateur title bout. Full results are here.

In a SteelFist MMA card in Salt Lake City on June 29, Ben Moa, of One Hit MMA, successfully defended his SteelFist heavyweight professional title, In the co-main pro bout, returning LJ Schulz, of One Hit MMA, scored a win over veteran James Russell Francis, who announced his retirement after the bout. Amateur winners included Hayden Brown and Jordan Marshall. Full results are here.

At a Tuff N Uff card in Las Vegas on June 30, Destiny McCubbin came up short in a strawweight title bout, losing via third-round stoppage to undefeated Mandiau. This was an exciting that can be viewed on TuffNUff's Facebook page. After being rocked in the first round, McCubbin rallied in round 2. The third round was being fought on even term until McCubbin was floored by a shot from Mandiau. The fight was stopped shortly afterward, a decision many fans disagreed with.

Also, Steven Siler's next bout in the Professional Fighters League tournament is set. The pro MMA featherweight will meet Alexandre de Almeida July 19 in Long Island, NY. Card is here.

AMATEUR BOXING:

There was a 28-bout amateur card at Clearfield Aquatic Center on June 30. It was organized by Lights Out Gym's Julian Stevens. Channel 13 did a great story on it that is available here. Winners included Jon Bryant of Lights Out, Shakeem Barnwell and Jay Wright, Foley's gym, and Mateo Holt, of Louie's gym. Speaking of Louie's, the gym is having a fundraiser/car show this Saturday. Details are here.