HOUSTON – 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 fourth 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.
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[PHOTOS: Cage Combat 25 in Humble]
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 first round. The second round was a series of wild trades with Pineta getting the first take down. Pineta carried through with two more takedowns in the third round and pulled out the decision.
A similar battle 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 first 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 third 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 third 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 third round tap by rear naked choke
Bruce Whitehead vs. Anthony Cruz – Winner: Anthony Cruz by first round TKO
Reshal Malik vs. Luis Deleon – Winner: Rashal Malik by first round TKO
Karla Hernandez vs. Jemalynn White – Winner: Karla Hernandez by third 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
Christian Pineda vs. Josh Barnett – Winner: Christian Pineda by decision
Yan Digilov vs. Christopher Tovar – Winner: Yan Digilov by decision
Dequette Reed vs. Francisco Obando – Winner: Francisco Obando by decision
Colton Tijerina vs. Dominick Perez – Winner: Dominick Perez by decision
Brandon Head vs. Ben Hiracheta – Winner: Ben Hiracheta by second round TKO
Daniel Peet vs. Andrew Powers – Winner: Daniel Peet by decision
Chris Garcia vs. Justin Parker – Winner: Justin Parker by first round TKO
Jacob Eppler vs. James Hatcher – Winner: James Hatcher by first round TKO
Fred Zamora vs. Juan Zamudio – Winner: Juan Zamudio by first round TKO