Cage Combat 25

Full Slate of Amateur MMA Rocks Humble Civic Center

By Tom Roush

Casey Jones weathered five rounds of punishment meted out by Josh Altum to pull out an upset victory in the featherweight division at the stacked Cage Combat 25 show in Humble on Saturday night.

The fight started strong for Altum, who took Jones down several times in the early rounds and landed a spinning back kick to the midsection that was picture perfect. But Jones took advantage of an Altum slip in 4^th round and then put Altum on his back in round 5 and kept him there. It was enough to sway the judges and pull out the win.

The Jones/Altum battle came after 18 previous amateur fights in the crowded Humble Civic Center. A total of 34 fighters in nearly every weight division took to the octagon and managed victories by TKO and tap, but several bouts went the distance and two fights were split decisions.

Christian Pineta looked very good in a close and hard-fought welterweight battle with Josh Barnett. Pineta has a tight, closed fighting stance and angry countenance but Barnett was undeterred and landed several powerful combinations in the 1^st round. The 2^nd round was a series of wild trades with Pineta getting the first take down. Pineta carried through with two more takedowns in the 3^rd round and pulled out the decision.

A similar battler played out in the lightweight war between Christopher Miller and Joshua Garcia. Miller is a long, lean fighter who keeps his hands to his sides until the last minute while Garcia is a methodical and plodding striker. Garcia took the 1^st round as Miller struggled to close the distance. Garcia maintained the edge through the second round but Miller finally worked out his timing and starting to land more punches. In the 3^rd round, Miller executed a takedown and slipped many Garcia punches, which led to a narrow victory by Miller via split decision.

In the women’s strawweight division, Karla Hernandez scored an impressive victory over a stylish and talented Jemalynn White. Hernandez almost exclusively throws wild haymakers from the sides which landed hard and stunned White early. White tied up Hernandez and survived for two rounds, but she entered the 3^rd round visibly shaken, and eventually, Hernandez landed so many clean hits that the ref stopped the fight.

Itzel Esquivel put in a striking clinic much to the dismay of Amber Schoech who was not able to find an effective counter. Esquivel stuffed several Schoech takedown attempts and resumed her air assault until all Schoech could do was cover. Schoech stuck it out for three rounds and Esquivel had to win by decision.

Michael Rodriguez snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in his win over Dayron Vasquez. After being rag dolled by Vasquez for several minutes, Rodriguez got a leg triangle across Vasquez’s upper body and was able to secure the tap.

Amateur bantamweight champion Cody “The Texas Zombie” Owens was in attendance.

Results:

Josh Altum vs Casey Jones – Winner: Casey Jones by split decision

Itzel Esquivel vs Amber Schoech – Winner: Esquivel by decision

Michael Rodriguez vs Dayron Vazquez – Winner: Michael Rodriguez by tap due to leg triangle

Jose Solis vs Tony Nguyen – Winner: Jose Soliz 3^rd round tap by rear naked choke

Bruce Whitehead vs Anthony Cruz – Winner: Anthony Cruz by 1^st round TKO

Reshal Malik vs Luis Deleon – Winner: Rashal Malik by 1^st round TKO

Karla Hernandez vs Jemalynn White – Winner: Karla Hernandez by 3^rd round TKO

Shane Sobnosky vs Juan Sanchez – Winner: Shane Sobnosky by rear naked choke

Connor Brock vs Alvaro Hurtado – Winner: Conner Brock by rear naked choke

Christopher Miller vs Joshua Garcia – Winner: Christopher Miller by split decision