By: Carlos Acevedo
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fans enjoyed a great night of non-stop MMA action on Saturday, Sept. 29 as Fight Card Entertainment (FCE) hosted No Mercy at the Sports Zone in Melrose Park, IL.
Many local fighters participated in this amateur MMA and Muay Thai event. The main and co-main event were title fights in which the challengers were both fighters who train out of Cicero, IL.
In the co-main event, Jose “Chepe” Mariscal, who trains at Combat Do, became the new Interim FCE Lightweight Champion by defeating Team OneTen’s Tony Ortiz by submission.
This was a fast paced, non-stop action type of fight in which both fighters exchanged numerous kicks and strikes in the beginning of the first round. Once they both hit the ground, they both scrambled relentlessly until Mariscal found an opportunity and immediately took Ortiz’s back and attempted a submission.
Ortiz fought back and reversed the position, but Mariscal, again, imposing his dominance, also reversed the position on the ground and connected with more powerful strikes.
As both fighters got back to their feet, it was obvious that Mariscal drew first blood. Ortiz was still able to score the takedown but once on the ground, in 2:39 of round one, Mariscal successfully applied an arm bar. Ortiz tapped out and Mariscal became the new interim lightweight champion.
“I feel very good about my performance. I’m happy because someone just gave me a compliment. They told me that ‘I demonstrated what MMA is truly about,’ ” said Mariscal.
Mariscal said that as a champion, he is and will defend his title. “A true champion has to defend his title because that is what makes him a champion,” said Mariscal.
In the main event, Angelo Rivera Jr., who also trains at Combat Do, fought against the defending FCE Welterweight Champion Yousef Al-Ghoul, a fighter from Team Top Notch. Ricardo Lamas, a UFC fighter also made an appearance at this event and was in Al-Ghoul’s corner during the fight.
In this fight both fighters also started off strong by exchanging numerous strikes until Rivera scored the takedown and took Al-Ghoul to the ground and against the cage.
Although Rivera tried to unleash his barrage of ground-and-pound, Al-Ghoul fought back, got back to his feet and engaged Rivera with stand-up.
Al-Ghoul started to consistently connect with many kicks and in 1:49 of round 1, Al-Ghoul connected a powerful head kick which immediately dropped Rivera. Al-Ghoul was victorious by knockout remains the FCE Welterweight Champion.
Many fans attended this event and definitely showed support loudly cheering on their favorite fighters.
FCE co-owner, Brian Angelo said, “This show was definitely among the best that we’ve had this year. We had a full house and most of the crowd was excited and involved in each match that took place. Even if they didn’t know the fighters, they cheered them on because they saw the hard work that these fighters were demonstrating. Definitely a great show.”
If you are interested in enjoying a night of MMA action which showcases local talent, Fight Card Entertainment will have the last show of this year on Thursday, Dec. 6th at Joe’s Bar in Chicago. For details call: 773-745-1112.
