COSTA MESA – Jacob Rosales made sure his professional MMA debut was a short one.
Rosales, who wrestled at La Habra High and graduated in 2013, looked comfortable and confident as he headed to the ring for his first fight, and carried that over into the action.
Rosales landed kicks throughout the opening round and eventually came away with a first-round stoppage victory over Israel Cruz at Thursday’s Fight Club OC show at The Hangar in front of a crowd of 1,405.
“I’ve been doing MMA since before I was in high school,” Rosales said. “I started when I was 10. I was in high school so I wrestled, but I always knew I was going to be a fighter.”
Rosales, also known as Lil Badger, fights out of Combat Submission Wrestling in Fullerton with Erik Paulson and Ben Jones.
Rosales made an emphatic entrance to the ring, jumping over the top rope, hoping to prove that there wouldn’t be any nervous moments for him.
“I thought there were going to be a lot more (nerves), but I got a lot more when I was an amateur,” he said. “I felt like I was ready when I stepped in there.
“I treated it more like sparring. I timed all my shots, set a lot of them up and caught him and he broke. I hit the liver and then the head and then he dropped.”
Rosales said he wants to be back in action as soon as possible.
In some of the boxing action on the card, Long Beach’s Malcolm McAllister kept his perfect knockout streak intact as he begins his professional career.
McAllister, who fights out of Jackrabbit Boxing Club, scored a first-round knockout victory over Thomas Allen. McAllister improves to 5-0 with five knockouts.
Seniesa Estrada, in her Fight Club OC debut, remained perfect in her young career (5-0) with four-round unanimous decision victory over Maria Andaverde.
Estrada recently signed a promotional contract with Roy Englebrecht Promotions.
In the opening fight of the night, Victor Betancourt (20-1) won his fourth consecutive fight, beating Arturo Esquivel in an eight-round, unanimous decision (78-74, 80-72, 80-72).
Also, Tugstsogt Nyambayar improved to 3-0 with a third-round TKO victory. Nyambayar, a 2012 silver medalist for Mongolia, scored a knockdown in the third round and Jonathan Hernandez didn’t answer the bell to start the fourth round.
Russian heavyweight Sergey Kuzmin won his fourth consecutive fight with a fourth-round TKO victory over journeyman Darnell Wilson. Kuzmin fights out Wild Card Boxing Club.
The next show is set for Oct. 15, with the final show of the year coming, Dec. 3.
