Moa to fight on Bellator, Aguirre boxes on Top Rank card

Former football player Ben Moa, who trains out of One Hit MMA in Layton and is 4-0 as a pro, including a SteelFist heavyweight title, has received a big break. He fights on Bellator 205 in Boise in a bout that will be streamed.

But it's a tough assignment. Ben will meet another 4-0 heavyweight, Steve Mowry, who is 6 foot 8 inches tall and considered a top prospect. Here's a story. We wish Ben the best success with this opportunity.

Also on the Bellator card is pro Bryce Edminister, who trains at KOA Kingdom in Layton. He fights  Leon Taylot. And Sean Powers of Sunset, owner and head coach at Power MMA, fights Jared Trice. All will be streamed as part of Bellator 205 preliminary card, There's a lot of local fighters to cheer for that night.

AGUIRRE ON TOP RANK BOXING

As we have mentioned, pro boxer Christian Aguirre has a big fight Saturday in Glendale, Arizona. He meets undefeated Sagadat Rakhmankulov in an 8 round bout.

... Also, undefeated amateur MMA heavyweight Joe Flores, of Brigham City, fights in Las Vegas Satutrday for the Sparta Combat League belt. He meets Billy Elekana. Card is here. (Photo of both competitors is shown above)

... And Kaecy Raddon, who is a world-class amateur kickboxer, fights in a WAKO tournament in Augusta, Ga., Saturday against an Australian team. You can purchase a stream of the card here.

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.

SteelFist results, Raddon, Kelton fight this weekend

Although the poster says April 7 in Everett, Wash., an amateur title bout between Nasona Johnson and former Utahn Kaecy Rraddon for the Sparta Combat League 155-pound title is actually this Saturday in Denver. Several fighters with Utah ties are on the card (MMA bouts here). Besides Raddon and Nasona, Hayden Brown, an amateur who fights out of One Hit MMA, battles Joshua Cordova, and Allie kane fights Megan Winick.

Also competing in a kickboxing bout against Brandon Taylor is Top of Utahn Jarrett Kelton. Besides having compiled a career in MMA, Kelton is a highly regarded kickboxer, as is Raddon, who compete in WAKO-sanctioned bouts. I chatted with Jarrett recently about his career and the upcoming Sparta card.

KELTON: "I'm just training at ONEHITMMA, teaching Bangmuaythai two days a week. I have a pretty busy (schedule), working full time (at) Juvenile Justice at Mill Creek Youth Center, teaching, training and raising my 17-year-old son, Rhett Kelton . We travel out to LUDWIG Martial Arts (in Colorado) every other month to dial in skill sets With Duane Ludwig, Bangmuaythai drills. I am the Bangmuaythai affiliate coach for Utah. Aldo Oreggia Owner/Head Coach At ONEHITMMA, has been great to work with over past years . He is great coach and friend. Myself, Allie Kane , Hayden Brown and KC Raddon will be fighting This Saturday in Denver for Spartan Combat League."

The Sparta card starts at 1 p.m. and should be livestreamed at their site. The Facebook page is here.

STEELFIST: Results from last week's SteelFist card is at Fighting Out of Utah MMA News Facebook page. In the main pro bout, former UFCer Clay Collard handed Carson Gregory his first loss via a second-round stoppage. That was for the 170-pound belt. In another pro bout, 145 pounds, Bryce Edminister stopped Karl Grace in round one. Winning in amateur title belts were Lehi Dominguez and Bryce Scanlon.

-- A couple of pro boxing notes: Bladimir Estrada plans to return to the ring in June and Francisco "Cisco" Alcantara, who is also a pro MMA fighter, plans to box on May 26 in SLC.