In main event action from Fight Club OC in Costa Mesa, CA, Michael “Hammer Fist” Farenas (42-5, 34KO) made a successful ring return after an 18 month layoff to stop veteran Martin Angel Hernandez (17-12-1, 7KO) at 2:04 of the third round of a scheduled six round welterweight bout. Farenas, from Manila, Phillipines, now fighting out of the celebrated Wildcard Gym in Hollywood, CA, is a two time world title challenger albeit two weight classes lower in the super featherweight division. The southpaw Farenas dropped Hernandez in the opening round with a lead left cross and then was in hot pursuit of Hernandez until finally catching him with an uppercut that dropped him for good in the third round. It was a sloppy contest as the headfirst fighting Farenas and Hernandez clashed heads on more than one occasion. Ultimately, the power and experience of Farenas proved too much for the delicate Hernandez who chose to live to fight another day rather than to go to war with the rough as nails Farenas.
Nathan Weston (1-0) wore down and knocked out Arian Sharifi (0-1) midway through the fourth and final round of their middleweight bout. The two fought pretty evenly over the first three rounds and seemed very poised, patient and skilled for debuting fighters. Weston, however, finally wore down the defenses of Sharifi and stunned him with a lead left hook, right cross counter to get him in trouble. Weston proceeded to unload with more left hooks and right crosses with everything landing and Sharifi seemingly not knowing how to tie up Weston. After absorbing a few more punches, Sharifi crumpled in the corner and watched from one knee helplessly as the referee counted him out with a ten count.
De’von “Devo” Abraham (1-0) got off the canvas to score a spectacular first round knockout over fellow debuter, Brennan Benton (0-1) in a scheduled four round super featherweight contest. Just two seconds into the bout after touching gloves in the middle of the ring to start the bout, Benton surprised Abraham with a perfectly landed left hook to begin the action that resulted in a knockdown. Abraham did not appear especially hurt from the shot while Benton may have read too much into the knockdown and given himself too much credit. Abraham wasted no time after action resumed from the knockdown to go after Benton who repeatedly left himself open while trading punches. Abraham landed a hard right cross on the temple that had Benton a bit sideways and while still sideways Abraham landed another hard right cross that floored Benton hard. With Benton twitching on the floor and unconscious, the referee called an immediate stop to the bout to make Abraham the reversal of fortune victor at just 0:37 of the first round. Fortunately, Benton recovered after about a minute and left the ring under his own power. This bout featured more action in just 37 seconds than many fights have over 12 tedious championship rounds and proved to be a real crowd pleaser.
In opening bout action, a scheduled four round junior middleweight bout between debuting former MMA fighters, Donte Stubbs (1-0) won what seemed to be a clear cut decision over Anthony Taylor (0-1). One judge, however, had other ideas so Stubbs had to settle for a split decision victory by scores of 40-36, 39-37 and, inexplicably, 37-39.
Fight Club OC was presented, as always, by Roy Englebrecht Promotions at The Hangar at the OC Fair & Events Center in Costa Mesa, CA, to a sellout and standing room only crowd of 1,274 fans. Fight Club OC returns on Thursday, August 24th. For ticket information, visit www.fightcluboc.com
