Fight Club OC returned on December 5th to finish off a great year of fights from the Hangar at the OC Fair & Events Center in lovely Costa Mesa, CA! It was a show filled with excellent combat sports in the disciplines of boxing and MMA. Also, it may be the first time two brothers have fought on the same card against two other bros as the Bocanegra family battled the Sarguilla family!
Opening the show was Donna, Texas’s debuting Ranulfo Bocanegra (1-0 1KO) vs. Los Angeles’s Rod Sarguilla (2-9) in a 4 round, featherweight, boxing match. Knowing it was the last card of 2024, these two fighters wanted to put on a show! However, it was the long range shots to the body and head from Bocanegra that proved to be too much. So, in between rounds Sarguilla’s corner decided that they had seen enough and the fight was stopped.
We stayed with boxing as Flyweights Magi Kharkhuu (5-0 2KO) from Los Angeles battled Vista’s Carlon Johnson (0-2) in a 4 round match. Flyweights always throw punches in bunches and that was the case here as it was literally wall to wall action from the opening bell. Ultimately, Kharkhuu landed a devastating left that appeared to drop Johnson for the count. Johnson somehow made it to his feet and Kharkhuu was on him with even more shots and the referee stopped it right at the bell ending the first round.
Our third bout stayed with boxing in the featherweight division as Xavier Bocanegra (5-0 3 KOs) from Donna Texas went up against Romshane Sarguilla (11-10-2 8KOs) out of Lake Forest in a 4 round bout. With his brother fighting before him, Xavier Bocanegra wanted to keep the respect on the family name going. He did just that with solid lateral movement, straight punches, and ultimately dropped Bocanegra late in the first, and the referee deemed him unfit to continue. That’s 3 straight first round KOs in a row for Fight Club’s close out show of 2024!
To take a break in the intensity of the action, two, female warriors named Jatina Flores (from Chicago) and Kimberly Vargas (from Norwalk) engaged in a massive pillow fight of epic proportions. It was an all out war that literally had the feathers flying for these debuting combatants. In the end, these two warriors had their bout declared a draw which means we need to see the rematch in 2025 at Fight Club OC.
Moving into the discipline of MMA, debuting Robert Duran (0-1) from Anaheim met Tijuana’s Bedai Quiros (2-4) in a 3 round, flyweight bout. Duran wanted to impress the capacity Fight Club OC crowd and he did just that. The bout started off with both fighters feeling one another out. This continued until rounds end, but in the second Quiro’s started to establish his dominance with his striking. Things moved to the ground and from there Quiros adjusted on Duran with some ground and pound. Quiros barrage continued into the third round with the referee stopping it shortly thereafter.
Going back to boxing also saw a 4 round, Tequila Mandala Young Champions Bout as Flyweight Diego Aviles (2-0 1KO) took on debuting Mario Humberto Hernandez Betancourt (0-1) from Florida! Both of these fighters wanted to take home the strap and that meant the fans were treated to a very action packed affair. Aviles literally wasted little time and came out guns blazing against Betancourt. After trading back and forth, Aviles caught Betancourt on the chin and he dropped to the ground in a heap. From there, Aviles continued his assault and after dropping Betancourt again, the referee waved the fight over.
Our co-main event saw us in an 8 round, welterweight contest in which Los Angeles’s Vlad Panin (21-1 13KOs) took on Guadalajara’s Salvador Briceno (18-10-1 11KOs). As you can imagine, these high levels boxers put on a grand show. Panin was slow and steady throughout the fight, however, whenever Briceno threw punches he seemed to connect and move Panin. Things continued this way until round 4, and at that point Panin started to really land and put his punches together more. After that, he fine tuned his shots and eventually timed Briceno and dropped him with a right hand in the 6th round. Briceno got up on unsteady legs and the referee waved the bout off.
Ending the night was the final Fight Club OC bout of Hawaii’s Jordan Panthen (10-0 9KOs) as he recently signed with Golden Boy Boxing! He met Argentina’s Sergio Nahuel Lopez (14-7 10KOs) in an 8 round, middleweight affair. Panthen wanted to go out with a bang. He came out looking for a KO in the first, and Panthen got some nice work from the game Lopez who connected with some solid right hands. However, Panthen was relentless and ultimately dropped Lopez twice with vicious body shots and the bout ended in the 2nd. We wish Panthen the best of luck as it seems like bigger fights and at least a few championships are in his future!
Well, that’s a wrap on 2024 from The Hangar at the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa, CA! Enjoy your holidays and have a Happy New Year. Also, please join us on February 13th, 2025 for our first show of the year. Grab your tickets ASAP as everyone knows this is where fights are guaranteed!