Eros Baluyot maintained his clean slate after a submission victory over veteran Rene Catalan in the main event of the Universal Reality Combat Championship 87: Heroes on late Tuesday night at the Xylo at the Palace in BGC, Taguig City.
Baluyot, who is 14 years younger than Catalan, needed only 71 seconds to finish off the experienced mixed martial arts fighter with his patented ground game.
As soon as Baluyot took Catalan down, Baluyot quickly strived to find an opening for a rear naked choke, which he successfully did, forcing Catalan to tap out.
“I just did everything precise and safe during the fight,” said Baluyot, who is a two-time jiu-jitsu world champion.
Baluyot now improves to 3-0 as an MMA fighter, while Catalan, who was protesting the uncalled illegal hit of his opponent to his head, fell to a 6-6 record.
In another MMA contest, Rex De Lara pulled off a come-from-behind win against Mhar John Manahan during their 145-pound contest.
After surviving Manahan’s ground-and-pound action in the second round, De Lara slowed things down at the start of the final round, and it paid off as he caught Manahan and slammed him down to the canvas with power.
The referee stopped the contest after Manahan was seemingly knocked out cold, giving De Lara a rare takedown knockout win that moved him up to 12-8-1 and pulled Manahan down to 2-4.
The two grappling superfights saw Godwin Langbayan submit Red Samson by rear-naked choke and Paige Alitao outpoint Troy Legaspi.
In the other pro MMA, Rufino Mante knocked out Mark Cuizon, and Kerwin Tan scored a technical knockout after Marco Lampacan could not continue due to an injury he suffered during their match.
In the lone amateur MMA bout, Paolo Cruz defeated Jerald Vellarde via unanimous decision, while Christian Panliag edged Chris Cantor via split decision in the bareknuckle boxing showdown.
In the special slap battles, Reynaldo Beltran prevailed over Milarde Hugo by split decision, and Gerald Gabonada won over Michael Azucena via unanimous decision.
