Leading amateur promotion Tuff-N-Uff showcased 15 entertaining mixed martial arts bouts on Friday evening at the Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tuff-N-Uff Welterweight Champion Eddie “Ambien” Jackson successfully defended his title against Lee Henry Lilly in the main event.
The co-feature saw top-ranked prospect Ashley “Smashley” Cummins retain her Tuff-N-Uff 115-pound women’s title with a quick submission victory over Jocelyn “Lights Out” Lybarger. The impressive stoppage moved Cummins’s record to a perfect 8-0, and she remains one of the top stars in Tuff-N-Uff.
Legends MMA representative Jackson had all he could handle in his main event battle with Striking Unlimited’s Lilly, as the fighters went back and forth throughout their three-round title bout, but it was Jackson who prevailed in the end.
Lilly opened the fight with a series of leg kicks, but was dropped by a short counter left hook. Jackson dove in with big punches, but Lilly recovered and got back to his feet. He looked for a takedown near the cage and managed to partially drag Jackson down to the mat. Both fighters landed strikes in a clinch as the round progressed, but Jackson appeared to take the opening stanza.
It was Lilly who took control in the second round, as his relentless pursuit of a takedown eventually resulted in a scramble on the ground. Lilly took Jackson’s back and used punches to try to set up a rear-naked choke. Jackson got back to his feet and circled away from a clinch. He scored with a pair of body kicks, but Lilly took him back down and ended the round on top.
With the fight seemingly even through two rounds, Lilly looked to replicate his strategy from round two as the final round began. He took Jackson down again and secured back control, then once again worked for a rear-naked choke. Jackson spun into Lilly’s guard, however, and the tide changed in an instant. Jackson unloaded with big punches from the top that bloodied Lilly. While Lilly gamely fought back with hammerfists from the bottom, it was not enough.
After three 3:00 rounds, Jackson was awarded the Unanimous Decision victory and retained his Tuff-N-Uff Welterweight Championship in the process. However, following the fight, Jackson stated that it had likely been his final bout as an amateur and he plans to turn pro soon.
Vaghi Martial Arts standout Cummins made short work of Team Awesome’s Lybarger in the co-main event, as the champion took down her opponent and transitioned to a fight-ending armbar midway through the opening round.
Cummins scored a takedown very early in the fight and landed on top in side-control. A scramble followed and Lybarger tried to get to her feet, but Cummins trapped her in a triangle choke. Lybarger stood to try to defend, but Cummins switched to an armbar and flattened Lybarger out on her stomach. With nowhere to go, Lybarger verbally submitted to the armbar at 1:42 of the opening round.
With the dominant victory, challengers may be running thin for the top-ranked Cummins, but she will hold onto her Tuff-N-Uff Women’s Flyweight Championship for the time being.
Legends MMA scored another victory in a featured lightweight bout, as Christian Palencia upset Xtreme Couture prospect Jake “Rorshach” Swinney after three competitive rounds.
Palencia landed some solid punches early on in the fight and continued to pick his shots with single strikes. Swinney answered with jabs and Palencia landed a counter hook. Palencia followed with a leg kick and more looping hooks, but Swinney eventually managed to take him down. Palencia stood and countered a guillotine choke by pushing Swinney to the mat before the bell.
Round two began with a right hook and a leg kick from Palencia, and Swinney fired back with a quick combination. Palencia landed more right hooks until Swinney caught him with a counter right of his own. Swinney missed with a spinning back kick and returned to his jab, then caught a kick from Palencia and took him down. Palencia countered into a back crucifix before the end of the razor-thin round.
Palencia caught a kick and tripped Swinney to the mat early in the final round. Swinney attempted submissions from the bottom, but Palencia moved to mount and then took Swinney’s back. Palencia cut Swinney with punches from the top and alternated between mount and back control. He stayed on the back and tried for a rear-naked choke until the final bell.
One judge ruled the close bout even, while the remaining two sided with Palencia, who took a well-earned Majority Decision after three 2:00 rounds of action.
Tuff-N-Uff mainstay Milan Zerjal, fighting for the fourth time in just two months, earned his third victory of the year by submitting Cascão Jiu-Jitsu’s Chris Engle in the second round.
The fight began with a series of leg kicks from Engle, who soon scored a takedown. He worked from the top in half-guard, but Zerjal quickly regained full guard and scrambled back to his feet. He cut Engle with a punch, then stuffed a takedown. Zerjal used a guillotine choke to push Engle to the mat and landed punches from the top. Zerjal then moved to mount and scored with more strikes until the bell.
Both fighters landed punches early in round two and Zerjal followed with a leg kick. He took Engle down and moved to mount, then teed off with punches. Zerjal then moved to the side and spun into an armbar. He wrenched back on Engle’s right arm until Engle was finally forced to tap out. The end came at 1:03 of round two, giving Zerjal another big win in his promising amateur career.
Earlier in the night, Jillian “Justice” Lybarger, twin sister to co-main event participant Jocelyn, survived a series of unintentional low blows to earn a decision win over “Mighty” Maylee Rahn of Oregon.
Much of the opening two rounds was spent in the clinch, where Rahn landed three inadvertent knees to the groin of her much taller opponent. She was deducted one point for the third infraction, and Lybarger began to land punching combinations when she could create distance.
Lybarger floored Rahn with a big punch to open the final round, but Rahn held on and attempted an inverted triangle choke from the bottom. She switched to a kneebar before standing up. Rahn then secured a tight standing guillotine choke, but Lybarger remained calm and escaped before the bell.
The judges’ scorecards were read and Lybarger was awarded a Unanimous Decision after three 2:00 rounds, though not without enduring a considerable amount of pain early on.
The Lybarger twins weren’t the only siblings on the card, as main event fighter Lee Henry Lilly’s brother, Michael, made a successful debut by defeating Tuff-N-Uff veteran Tyler Jeppesen of Team Vegas Bail.
Lilly scored numerous takedowns in the opening round and later fought off a gogoplata attempt before moving to mount. He rained down punches and took Jeppesen’s back late in the round. The second stanza was more of the same, as Lilly dominated the positional battle by taking Jeppesen down and punching from the top.
Round three was even more dominant for Lilly, as he took Jeppesen down and punched away while Jeppesen turtled. Lilly scored with hard knees to the body and left hands to the face. Jeppesen stood briefly, but was slammed down again and Lilly blasted him with more punches from mount for the duration of the round.
The verdict was clear, as Lilly took home a Unanimous Decision after three 2:00 rounds.
Samantha “Muay Thai Machine” Mosqueda of No Excuse MMA likely earned the next shot at Tuff-N-Uff Women’s Featherweight Champion Taylor Stratford with an extremely lopsided victory over Turner Martial Arts representative Rachel Millard.
Mosqueda took Millard down at will and nearly forced her to submit to a rear-naked choke in a dominant 10-8 first round. The remainder of the fight was more of the same, as Millard could never get anything going and was forced to play defence on the ground while Mosqueda worked for submissions.
After three decisive rounds, Mosqueda was rewarded with both a Unanimous Decision victory and a probable 145-pound title shot against Stratford at a future Tuff-N-Uff event.
In other action, Tapout Training Center’s Cesar “Sure Fire” Campos needed just 26 seconds to knock out Ricardo “El Gandaya” Martinez of Mobsters United Fight Team. Campos picked Martinez up and violently slammed him to the mat early in the fight. He quickly noticed that Martinez was dazed and badly hurt, and followed up with punches for the TKO stoppage.
Tuff-N-Uff: “Future Stars of MMA” Results:
– Eddie Jackson defeated Lee Henry Lilly by Unanimous Decision after three 3:00 rounds.
– Ashley Cummins defeated Jocelyn Lybarger by Verbal Submission (Armbar) at 1:42 of round one.
– Christian Palencia defeated Jake Swinney by Majority Decision after three 2:00 rounds.
– Donavon Frelow defeated Denzel Strader by Unanimous Decision after three 2:00 rounds.
– Milan Zerjal defeated Chris Engle by Submission (Armbar) at 1:03 of round two.
– Jillian Lybarger defeated Maylee Rahn by Unanimous Decision after three 2:00 rounds.
– David Tompkins defeated Chris Gomez by Unanimous Decision after three 2:00 rounds.
– Armando Esquer defeated Brandon Browning by Unanimous Decision after three 2:00 rounds.
– Giovani Zavala defeated Isaiah Lozano by TKO (Punches) at 1:09 of round one.
– Jonathan Rivera defeated Connor Reninger by TKO (Punches) at 1:02 of round one.
– Casey Picard defeated Chris Dial by Unanimous Decision after three 2:00 rounds.
– Cesar Campos defeated Ricardo Martinez by TKO (Slam & Punches) at 0:26 of round one.
– Samantha Mosqueda defeated Rachel Millard by Unanimous Decision after three 2:00 rounds.
– Michael Lilly defeated Tyler Jeppesen by Unanimous Decision after three 2:00 rounds.
– Boostayre Nefarios defeated Daniel Tom by Unanimous Decision after three 2:00 rounds.