Omega MMA's eighth mixed martial arts (MMA) event is in the books as last night (May 3, 2013) the organization hosted "Battle of the Americas" at Pharaohs Casino in Managua, Nicaragua, with boxer turned MMA fighter Ricardo Mayorga competing in the main event.
The entire premise of the show was based around Mayorga making his professional MMA debut against transplanted Canadian Wesley Tiffer in what the promotion was billing as a "boxing vs. MMA" type affair.
Unfortunately, the main event didn't play out the way many hoped as what appeared to be an illegal knee to the spine by Mayorga ended the fight in the second round -- awarding him a (technical) knockout victory.
The first two rounds played out like many would have expected. Tiffer was extremely cautious in the stand up and bided his time to take the fight to the ground. Once the opportunity arose, Tiffer established top position, achieved mount on multiple occasions, but was unable to inflict any significant damage as Mayorga held on for dear life.
Late in the second round, Tiffer managed to get in position for a triangle-choke/armbar combination when Mayorga ripped off a knee that looked like it connected directly to the spine of Tiffer.
As soon as the knee landed, Tiffer immediately let go of the submission, rolled around in agony while Mayorga followed up with a couple of punches, forcing referee Milton Rosales Toshi to stop the fight.
Under normal circumstance, Mayorga's knee strike would have likely caused him to be disqualified; however, in this case he was awarded the victory.
The controversial finish was a perfectly suitable ending to the story of Mayorga's debut, which he came in 20 pounds overweight for and was smoking cigarettes backstage just minutes before the fight.
The outspoken former boxer reportedly stated in his post-fight interview that he would like to continue fighting MMA until he becomes a world champion. While that simply just isn't going to happen, there is no denying "El Matador" can still attract some attention and get people talking.
Here are complete Omega MMA 8 Quick Results:
Ricardo Mayorga def. Wesley Tiffer via TKO (doctor's stoppage) at 5:00 of round two
Krasimir Mladenov def. O.J. Aguilar via submission (keylock) at 2:06 of round one
Jonathan Nunes def. Joel Lam via unanimous decision
Erick Soza def. German Rodriguez via submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:11 of round one
Leonardo Morales def. Esdo Moises de Paz via TKO (doctor's stoppage) at 4:47 of round three
Alejando Rodridguez def. Jurgen Gonzalez via TKO (punches) at 4:39 of round one
Jose Castro def. Pablo Acuna via knockout (punch) at 1:17 of round three
Check out the complete video of Mayorga's MMA debut above.
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