COSTA MESA – Jacob Rosales, a former La Habra High wrestler turned MMA pro, found himself in nothing less than an absolute war against Joe Ruquet of Las Vegas on Thursday at the Hangar.
After three, five-minute rounds that featured few lapses in the action, Rosales came up short, losing to Ruquet by scores of 29-28 from all three judges in the featherweight battle.
The fight was the only MMA bout on the seven-bout card at Fight Club OC.
Ruquet (2-0) appeared to be the better puncher, landing several solid blows, but the Las Vegas fighter was sent to the canvas twice by Rosales’ punches.
Rosales (1-1), whose nickname is “Lil Badger,” did most of his damage when the fighters were on the mat.
Both fighters at times also seemed to be on the verge of being knocked out or forced to tap out, only to battle their way out of trouble.
During one juncture of round one, the fighters were simultaneously twisting each other’s ankles, and it looked as though either one could tap out at any time.
“In the first round, I dropped him,” said Rosales, who fights out of Combat Submission Wrestling in Fullerton with Erik Paulson and Ben Jones. “I thought I won the first round. In the second round, I dropped him again. In the third round, he tagged me. I thought the only round I lost was the last round.”
Rosales’ first defeat comes two months after winning his pro debut over Israel Cruz.
In Boxing:
In a super bantamweight fight showcasing a pair of Las Vegas boxers, Timothy Lee knocked down Mario Angeles four times before the fight was stopped at 2:36 of round one. Lee improved to 3-0 and Angeles dropped to 1-8-2.
In a featherweight bout, Jose Gomez (4-0) of Huntington Park stayed undefeated with a four-round unanimous decision over Sun Valley’s Christian Silva (4-5-1).
Emmanuel Medina (6-0) stayed undefeated after a unanimous decision over David Lujan (4-5) in a super middleweight fight
The light heavyweight battle between UC Irvine graduate Reece Bennett (1-0-1) of San Clemente and Josh Fisher of Youngstown, Ohio, was canceled because of an injury to Fisher.
