Preview – Top Six Stories to Watch at Cage Combat 6

HOUSTON, TX, October 31, 2011 – It’s a ghoulish Halloween day in Houston but this Friday night could bring forth the real scares when Eric Garcia and Jace Pitre present for the latest rendition of Cage Combat for local fight fans at the Humble Civic Center.

At the time of this writing, Cage Combat 6 is slated for 14-15 bouts depending on whether a suitable opponent can be found to replace the mysterious TBA against BVMMA’s Daniel Everitt. Besides that bout, the rest of the card features some other interesting fights that should have fans excited with a 145 title eliminator series going along with a  solid undercard looking to unearth the latest crop of future MMA stars from within the amateur scene.

Here’s an event preview featuring the Top 5 stories to look out for this Friday night in Humble.

Featherweight Title Eliminator – Who Wins a Shot at the Belt?

What started out as a 12-man featherweight tournament to crown the promotion’s featherweight champion is now down to 6 fighters due to injuries and other reasons that saw fighters drop out without ever lacing on a pair of 4OZ gloves. “We understand that at the amateur level its hard to keep matchups,” promoter Eric Garcia told us in his release. With the matter of the title still left to be decided, the promotion has simplified the format for whoever will earn the title shot. “The featherweights that go out and put on the strongest performance and win next week will fight for the Featherweight title Dec. 30 at Cage Combat 7.”

With 6 fighters and only 2 spots in the eventual title fight, there will be an odd-man out. That much is sure. The question now is who will prove impressive enough to merit the title opportunity? Will be it be Raul Rodriguez of Sugarland MMA or Martin Walker of ATT Beaumont? Or is it going to be Kingwood MMA’s John Hayden and Paradigm’s Luis Iarra? Or will be Silverback Fight Club’s pairing of Ignacio Martinez (Nacho) and John Rodriguez (Chile)?

We’ll find out for sure Friday night.

Girl Fight – Paulina Granados and Ashley Meza Set to Tango

As we’ve seen in fights before featuring Jordan Gaza, Kristy Kester, and others, there’s never any shortage of excitement when the women of MMA hit the cage. This time around it’s Paulina Granados (American Revolution) and Ashley Meza’s (Paradigm) turn to wow local crowds when they face off at Cage Combat 6.

Fans can expect an interesting contrast of styles in this one with the heavily Muay Thai influenced Granados (fresh back from Thailand) taking on Meza, who’s proven her toughness time and again in local grappling tournaments as a powerful submission artist. We’ll see who’s style reigns supreme come Friday but this will surely be another in what is rapidly becoming one of the most exciting divisions on the Texas MMA scene.

Tough Oklahoman Rob Wood Making MMA Debut

It wouldn’t be surprising if few in the Houston knew the name Rob Wood before he hits at the cage in Humble. After all, he is a debuting amateur and not local to the Houston MMA Scene. However, he is definitely a name to watch out for with his Oklahoma wrestling pedigree and time spent honing his submission skills with Rafael Lovato Jr, Justin Rader, and crew over at Team Lovato in OKC. With grappling wins over such reputed competitors as Jason Soliz of TX3CMMA, look for Wood to be one to watch for come Friday Night.

Drew Ratichek Unleashes Two More ACS Prospects

“Win or lose, my guys from ACS always come to fight.” That’s been the mantra of Drew Ratichek lately with his team releases more and more fighters into the fray locally. Last time around, it was Nico Echeverry and Omar Khosravi putting on spirited performances at Legacy Amateur Series 6 and now it’s Eric Caminos and Justin Pfifer’s turn to carry their team flag at Cage Combat 6. Will they win? Time will tell against Lucas Orozco of BVMMA and Benjamin Lenyard of BTT respectively but we’re expecting more exciting fights based on their coach’s assessment.

Team Tooke Duo Looking to Sweep Main Event Bouts

This event will mark Chris Lopez and Levi West‘s opportunity to join teammate Guilherme Moreira  in scoring impressive opportunities for Team Tooke at the Cage Combat event. In order to so they’ll have to get past two out of town challengers in Alex Melendez over Dallas Jawbreakers and Geoffrey Neal of Twin Wolves respectively. With only one loss between them, look for both to try and put on some exciting performances in their bid to showcase their improving skills on the way to the professional ranks.

Knockouts and Submission Finishes – Who Gets Them at CC6?

Speaking of exciting fights, who’s going to score the fatality this Friday night? Certainly too early to call this one but we hope to see some performances along the lines of James “Tank” Gonzalez‘s KO over Joel Haesacke at CC4 and Joe Trevino‘s thrilling submission over Jacob Silva at CC5. Who’s going to step up this time around? We’ll see in just a few days’ time.

Cage Combat 6 – Current Fight Card as of 10/31/11

CO MAIN EVENT
Chris Lopez (3-1)(Team Tooke) VS. Alex Melendez (2-1) (Dallas Jawbreakers) – 155

MAIN EVENT
Levi West (3-0) (Team Tooke) VS. Geoffrey Neal (Twin Wolves MMA) (6-0) – 170

UNDERCARD

1. Raul Rodriguez (Sugarland MMA) VS. John Rodriguez (Silverback) -145
2. Martin Walker (ATT Beaumont) VS. John Haydon (Kingwood MMA) -145
3. Ignacio Martinez (Silverback) VS. Luis Ibarra (1-0) (Paradigm) -145
4. Eric Thompson (Silverback) VS. Ralph Garcia (Relson Gracie Galveston) – 170
5. TBA VS. Daniel Everitt (BVMMA) – 145
6. Randy McCullough (Bailout MMA) VS Josh Cooper (1-1) (ATT Beaumont) – 135
7. Dat Nguyen (Bailout MMA) VS. Daniel Delgado (Paradigm) – 135
8. Kenny Issac (Kingwood MMA) VS. Joel Haesacke – 155
9. Rob Wood (Lovato BJJ) VS. Joel Rivera – 170
10. Benjamin Lenyard (Brazilian Top Team) VS. Justin Pifer (ACS) – 185
11. Carlos Jimenez (4oz) VS. James Deherrera (Team Unleashed) – 135
12. Eric Caminos (ACS) VS. Lucas Orozco (BVMMA) – 155
13. Paulina Granados (American Revolution) VS. Ashley Meza (Paradigm) – 110

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