Sabina Mazo may be young and inexperienced, but she remains an unbeaten champion in the Legacy Fighting Alliance promotion.
Mazo (6-0) was dominant against challenger Caroline Yariwake da Cruz (7-3) in the LFA 54 main event on Friday at the OC Fair and Event Center in Costa Mesa, California, as she cruised to a lopsided unanimous decision. The “Colombian Queen” defended her LFA women’s flyweight championship for the first time, and the 21-year-old made it look easy against her Brazilian counterpart.
Mazo rocked “Japa” several times in the contest but remained measured, never overextending herself while throwing punching combinations to the head. Da Cruz’s face became a swollen mask of abuse as the rounds wore on, and the much taller Colombian never allowed her to find a rhythm. Mazo coasted down the stretch and wound up winning the judges’ verdict via tallies of 50-45, 50-44 and 50-44.
Middleweight contender Moses Murrietta continued his ascent through the rankings, as he scored an violent knockout of veteran Sidiah Parker (19-7). Murrietta was not able to land anything clean on his feet for much of the first two rounds of the contest, but once he did, it was all over. “Motown” eventually found a home for his lethal right hand, which detonated on Parker’s face late in the second. Once the punch connected, Parker’s nose exploded and he was out cold. Parker froze momentarily and then collapsed onto his knees, blood gushing from his nose and a gash around his mouth. The official time of the thrilling knockout was 4:33 of Round 2, allowing Murrietta to improve to 8-1.
Vince Cachero managed to remain unbeaten, as the bantamweight prospect was taken to the limit by Joe Murphy, who had not fought in two years. “The Anomaly” lost the opening round but he rallied down the stretch to snatch victory from his fellow Californian. Cachero (6-0) began tagging Murphy with clean punches to the head in the second and third rounds, and while Murphy (8-5) was still active, Cachero was the busier of the two. In the end, Cachero walked away with a narrow unanimous decision, winning via tallies of 29-28 across the board.
Lightweight prospect Jacob Rosales tore into Ricardo Seixas from the opening bell, slamming punches onto his head virtually at will. Seixas (5-2) was felled three times in the contest and could not escape the incoming barrage of punches. Though “Sasquatch” never stopped trying to turn the tide, Rosales (10-4) kept tagging him with hard, clean punches until referee Milan Ayers finally intervened. The end came officially at 1:56 of the first round.
Irvins Ayala picked up a clear-cut win but not in the manner he anticipated. “Conan” swarmed Mitchell Sipe with punches early and often. When Ayala missed a takedown opportunity, he ended the heavyweight bout with one strike. Ayala (2-0) blasted “No Dice” with a knee to the forehead, ripping open a horrific gash. Sipe (4-2) immediately began gushing blood, and when referee Frank Trigg brought him over to the cageside physician, the laceration was deemed too severe and the fight was called. The end came just 64 seconds into Round 1.
The last time middleweight Kailan Hill fought, his sensational knockout was featured on Sportscenter’s Top 10. The Californian made a bid to appear again on ESPN’s flagship program, as he obliterated Andre Walker in just 11 seconds. Hill (4-0) uncorked a picture-perfect spinning backfist that detonated on Walker’s head, dropping him flat on his back, completely out cold. It was the only strike Hill landed and one that Walker (4-2) never saw coming.