Vigilant MMA CQ 21: Battle Buds Banger“ ‘New Cage, New Title, Same Top Notch Action At The Dallas Bull!!!’

After a month off, Vigilant MMA brought their mixture of muay thai kickboxing, combat jiu jitsu, and boxing back to The Dallas Bull on Highway 301 in Tampa, FL. While mixed martial arts is also usually the focus of their events, a trimmed-down rare Saturday afternoon card put the focus on these more specific disciplines. 

The opening match for CQ 21 brought Imani Ellis and Thomas Buettner facing off in 147lb MTBK. From the opening bell, the offense from Ellis was coming up short. Ignoring the usual “figuring out your opponent” pawing, these two started trading shots immediately, with Buettner being far more targeted throughout the round.

The second round opened with much of the same. Ellis was giving it all he had, but Buettner had his number. With the knockdowns coming in, the drive to continue was outweighed by the devastation of Buettner’s strikes. These laser-guided strikes were good enough to get Buettner the 2nd round TKO. Winner: Buettner by TKO in Round 2

Ali Abd and David Pierluissi kept the MTKB going for the second contest of the afternoon, this time in the 125lb division. Abd’s prior experience showed quickly as he unleashed stiff kicks to the midsection and legs. Pierluissi was more than up for the task, countering with some beautiful overhand rights, and keeping excellent distance with his jab. 

In round two Pierluissi brought out fierce aggression that saw him firing off more shots, but Abd wasn’t letting off the gas either. This chess match of a kickboxing contest was driving each fighter up the wall. No matter what they changed or how much, their opponent could counter it. Their frustration showed when they went to their corners also due to a few inadvertent below-the-belt shots. 

The final round opened with fireworks. Both fighters knew they had to carry this round to have a shot at taking home the win. With both fighters pushing their way into the clinch, it was like either was looking for a takedown, which ended up crashing them both to the mat. Getting back on their feet, they traded strikes with all they were worth till the final bell. Going to the cards, Abd was able to take a very close split decision. While Pierluissi’s corner was disappointed, the decision was fair. Winner: Abd by Split Decision

Sticking with MTKB we jumped up to 155lbs this time. With Lewis Anderson and Sam De Lao squaring off. These two took a very different approach from the start. With fists flying and kicks a seemingly secondary thought, these two brought an excellent change to the attack plans of the other competitors. 

The second round brought the legs of both fighters to life. De Lao introduced aggression not previously seen from him in the first round. His strikes became more precise, and with excellent securing of Anderson’s head, he was able to land some sharp knees to the face and upper chest. Anderson was able to hold out though and get some of his offense in before the bell.

Both fighters found their corners and as their coaches for them ready for the final round you could see the sheer exhaustion on both of their faces. The pep talks coming from each corner could not have been more different. Anderson clearly needed a KO or TKO to win, but the gas just wasn’t there to hit hard enough or precise enough. De Lao found more openings because of this and was able to capitalize on it enough to secure a unanimous decision. Winner: De Lao by Unanimous Decision

Christ Johnson and Devin Flores took to the cage back down at 122lb MTKB. Despite their lower numbers on the scale, the lighter-weight fighters tend to be more aggressive in their striking, and more creative with how they move. This was no different. Flores threw out some incredible kicks and hooks to go with his jabs. While Johnson has been in the Vigilant cage before, his reaction to this fighting method wasn’t quite as fast as it needed to be. 

Surviving round one gave Johnson a chance to reexamine his strategy and make adjustments. He started to pick apart small holes in Flores’ attack plan and find some of his own offense. No longer mainly counterstriking, Johnson seemed to have found his groove. Flores changed that up quickly with a stiff midsection strike. While not enough to take the round, it was good to see him find some offense.

Round three was unfortunately back to the drawing board for Johnson. Unable to counter the rampant changes in Flores’ striking, Johnson just kept his chin strong and grinded forward. This gave him added aggression that caused him to miss a few shots due to being too ramped up, he kept firing away, and unfortunately, they missed their mark far too often. While Flores took the unanimous decision, the ability to take a serious shot and keep coming back for more of Johnson cannot be ignored.  Winner: Flores by Split Decision

For the featured bout of the afternoon, things shifted gears to the 130-135lb CJJ between Jake Spray and CJ Muxo. Starting on their feet, these two quickly found their way to the ground. While in the guard, Spray was able to not only withstand a strong setup for a possible triangle and other submission attempts by the very flexible Muxo. Standing up and holding Muxo, Spray looked for the slam, with Muxo giving a small release before impart to better brace himself. Battling back to their feet, Spray was able to slip in a guillotine choke and force Muxo against the cage. Despite fighting for about 30 seconds, it was ultimately too deep as Muxo tapped out. Winner: Spray by Submission in Round 1

For the final MTJB match, Blake Torchon and Dontei Young squared off in the 125lb division for the interim championship. Bringing back a boxing first gameplan, these two traded shots rather evenly. While Torchon was finding his mark more consistently, Young’s volume of punches ensured he remained easily competitive. Hitting the stools, Young elected to remain standing and braced on the fence while Torchon chose to take the seated rest for the time.

Round two saw both fighters remaining focused on boxing but using the clinch too. This change slowed the pace somewhat but improved the targeting of their strikes. These strikes wore down on each fighter, with Young touching the canvas. Coming back quickly, he tried putting Torchon down with more determined striking, but the round closed out.

Round three saw Torchon coming out and putting Young right back down. Despite a loud corner, he just wasn’t feeding off the energy enough to do more than simply stay active. Torchon had picked apart the holes in his defense to near perfection. Unfortunately, this seemed to come with a small cost of exhaustion for Torchon. As the round ended two things were incredibly clear; Torchon had a distinct advantage in the cage and on the cards, and the only way Young was going to pick up the win would be on a knockout.

After each fighter got off their stools, they came out looking to end the fight. Young was trying to remain focused and unrushed, but he couldn’t help but go fast as Torchon was firmly on the gas. Letting forth with everything he had, Torchon unloaded and put Young quickly back on the canvas. At this point was too out of energy to continue, and Torchon captured the title by TKO Winner: Torchon by TKO in Round 4

For the first and only time on this card, boxing was closing out the afternoon. With Robert Reynolds and DJ Tice squaring off in 234lb boxing, it was a late change to the card and replacing MMA. Neither fighter is established for their boxing, but it is a keystone of their MMA fights, and it made for a great contest. Coming out swinging leaping hook shots, it looked like the Tampa Zoo had let some of the silverbacks duke it out with how they swung. Yet these shots were finding their mark. Tice was able to score a solid knockdown, and with how slowly Reynolds dropped it seemed like it was over. He was able to recover and stuck out the remainder of the round. 

Coming out like a man possessed, Tice seemed to take Reynolds’s recovery personally. With more precise and defensive jabbing, Tice was able to control the second round and kept Reynolds on his toes. To his credit, Reynolds took advantage of the slightly repetitive striking of Tice to line up some great hooks, and what could have been a brutal uppercut if it hadn’t just missed its mark.

Despite being now incredibly red, Tice was still thinking very clearly and moving much faster than his weight class would suggest. Landing a devastating series of jabs and hooks, Tice got Reynolds to stay going down and caught him at least twice on the way down too.   Winner: Tice by TKO in Round 2

Vigilant MMA will be returning in August!!! CQ 2w promises to bring another action-filled, and violent event. You will not regret coming to see the future stars of combat sports today!! You can find tickets and PPV information on social media @vigilant_mma, their website at www.vigilantmma.com, and don’t forget to check out their channel on Roku!!!