Future fighters ‘strike’ in Mesquite

Amateur mixed martial arts fighters put on an impressive show for a packed house at Mayhem in Mesquite Saturday, whether the fights lasted 10 seconds or the whole three rounds.

Twenty-six future MMA stars compete in 13 head-slamming fights at the CasaBlanca Resort Hotel Casino, 950 W. Mesquite Blvd.

Presented by Tuff-N-Uff out of Las Vegas, Mayhem featured fighters from some of the top gyms around Nevada and California including Gracie Fighter Dojo, The Pit Elevated, Xtreme Couture and Syndicate MMA. There was even Nicaraguan gym represented.

Each fight was scheduled for three rounds, two minutes each. The three main events were scheduled for three rounds, three minutes each.

Tyler Naas of Xtreme Couture and Vladmir Martinez of UFC Gym got things going. Naas set the tone early by slamming Martinez and gaining position on the canvas. Martinez fought back but tapped out to an arm bar.

In the third match, crowd favorite, Ricky Wright, an independent fighter out of St. George fought Jesse Salmon, an independent fighter out of Sacramento.

The crowd stood the entire match to watch the two 200-pounders battle.

It was a fast start when Salmon connected on a punch in the opening seconds that forced Wright back to the cage. Salmon struck five times while Wright covered up to prevent a knockout.

Wright went for Salmon’s legs but Salmon countered and shoved him across the ring.

Once again, Salmon threw punches that forced Wright back to the cage. The referee stopped the fight at 50 seconds into the first round with Salmon the declared victor.

In her Tuff-N-Uff debut, Cheyenne Hinsey of LV Krav Maga, defeated Chloe Waters Allen with an impressive KO at 1:05 in the first round.

After Hinsey escaped a grapple by Waters, Waters hit Hinsey with two right jabs. Hinsey countered with a fierce 1-2-3 that brought the crowd to its feet and put Waters to sleep.

The match between Patrick Branch of Hawaiian Fighting Arts, and Lee Cordova,of American Kickboxing Academy was also short lived.

Their match ended in exactly 10 seconds. After unsuccessful kicks, Branch went at Cordova with two left-hand jabs but Cordova struck Branch with some chin music that sent him to the floor. The referee stopped the fight and gave Cordova a TKO victory.

Fans were excited about the main event fights but the battle between 200-pounders Milorad Nelica of Xtreme Couture and Brandon “The Brute” Schneider of Mix It Up Academy in Pahrump, exceeded expectations.

Schneider ended the match in 10 seconds when he clinched Nelica and connected on two uppercuts that dropped Nelica to the canvas, giving Schneider the win via TKO.

The fight improved Schneider’s record to 3-3 and dropped Nelica to 1-1.

For more information on the fights or Mayhem in Mesquite, visit tuffnuff.com.

Follow Brandon on Twitter, @BmullensDVT, and on Facebook, BmullensDVT

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