Biding his time as to not fall into the same mistakes he made
during his previous fight, when he rushed in against opponent Ruben
Perez, only to lose by knockout some 57 seconds later, Hollister’s
Francisco Aviles instead sat back Friday night, fought off an early
attack by Anthony Topas, then jumped the Santa Maria fighter in a
hail of blows. Believing Topas was not properly defending himself
against Aviles’ furious attack, referees stopped the bout moments
later
— just one minute and 26 seconds into the fight.
HOLLISTER
Despite a more methodical, more patient approach, Hollister’s Francisco Aviles made sure Friday night’s main event against Santa Maria’s Anthony Topas didn’t finish well into Saturday morning.
It was all at once, then nothing at all, and then it was over.
“I just wanted to finish it standing. I didn’t want to go to the ground,” Aviles said at the conclusion of War 2. “He was strong. He was very strong. And I did not want to go to the ground because I did not want to end up getting stuck.”
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No matter; ground and pound was not necessary. Aviles did just fine pinning Topas up against the cage instead.
Biding his time as to not fall into the same mistakes he made during his previous fight, when he rushed in against opponent Ruben Perez, only to lose by knockout some 57 seconds later, Aviles instead sat back Friday night, fought off an early attack by Topas, then jumped the Santa Maria fighter in a hail of blows.
Believing Topas was not properly defending himself against Aviles’ furious attack, referees stopped the bout moments later — just one minute and 26 seconds into the fight.
“He did exactly what I wanted. He closed the show,” said Danny Kelly, who, along with Central Coast Throwdown, co-promoted Friday’s 12-bout mixed martial arts event at the Veterans Memorial Building in Hollister, and who also trains Aviles at Main Street Kickboxing.
“That’s what a main event should be,” Kelly added. “Everyone is ready to go home. Make it quick and let’s get out of here.”
And the bout pitting Aviles and Topas appeared it would be over in the blink of an eye. But after an initial flurry of action, the two fighters reversed their approach.
“I was testing him. I did not want to go rushing in there,” said Aviles, who improves to 2-1 in his career. “If I rushed in, I get caught, and I didn’t want to get caught. I didn’t want to get caught once again.”
It was Topas who instead rushed in Friday night. The 5-foot-6 fighter came at Aviles almost immediately, trying to end the fight sooner, rather than later. But despite landing a few early punches, Topas did, in fact, “get caught.”
Specifically, he got too close.
In this video, see highlights from several fights Friday at the Veterans Memorial Building.
Aviles wrapped his hands around the back of Topas’ head, and pulled him downwards to deliver several knees to his upper torso. Topas tried to eventually counter by throwing a few punches to Aviles’ head, but the Hollister fighter appeared to block each and every one of them.
“I knew just by the looks of him, I knew he was going to come at me very strong,” Aviles said. “I just had to keep my composure.”
Once the two fighters broke, though, after engaging in at least 40 seconds of back-and-forth, there was a proverbial “calm before the storm.”
Sporting a Brian Wilson-like beard and a Mr. T-like mohawk, Aviles instead sat back, away from his opponent with his arms raised, and simply waited for the opportune moment. And when Topas was just a few feet from the cage wall, Aviles smelled “blood in the water.”
“They kind of felt each other out. But once [Aviles] realized what the guy was about, he knew it was time to get it done,” Kelly said. “He trained harder than he’s ever trained in his life. To come out with that last knockout, he realized if you’re gonna do this the right way you’ve got to take it seriously, and he did.
“He lost 20 pounds and he looked great.”
Aviles went right to Topas’ head and landed several jabs up against the cage. Topas couldn’t do much, and when he found an opening to get away, Aviles followed him around the cage, continuing to land several more swings to the side of his head.
When referees finally intervened, Topas turned around in astonishment that they had called the fight — his right eye bleeding.
Topas could not be reached for comment after the fight.
“I cut him in the eye,” said Aviles, who, afterward, brought Ruben Perez into the octagon to announce a rematch in the upcoming future.
Aviles’ win in front of the capacity crowd evened Main Street Kickboxing’s record at 2-2 on the night, although it was nearly 3-1 when an undercard bout between Marina’s Justin McClain and Hollister’s Cory Martinez ended in a split decision.
McClain came out very much the aggressor, landing three clean knees to Martinez’s chest right off the bat and eventually earning two straight takedowns as well. A back-and-forth second round then gave way to the third period where both fighters were noticeably gassed, but McClain managed to take Martinez down once again.
However, while on the ground and on his back, Martinez gave up nothing to McClain, instead wrapping his legs around McClain’s head. He appeared close to a submission hold, too, grasping to the position for nearly the remainder of the match. At the very end, though, Martinez rolled up on top of McClain for some ground and pound until the final bell — a bell that perhaps saved McClain’s split-decision win.
“I could have done a little bit more. He got a couple takedowns,” said Martinez, who is now 1-1 in his career. “But as you can see my face, there isn’t much damage. I thought I did the closest thing to stopping the fight — twice.
“He got some good takedowns, but, other than that, he didn’t do anything when he got me down there.”
Meanwhile, Hollister’s Cris Barber got caught with a knockout kick to the head just 30 seconds into the second round of his undercard match with East Palo Alto’s Jonathan Chaplin. It was the first loss of Barber’s MMA career, while the kick awarded Chaplin (7-2) “Knockout of the Night.”
“I thought I was fighting good,” said a disappointed Barber afterward, who falls to 6-1 in his career. “I don’t know what happened.”
In the first round, Chaplin lunged at Barber with a punch, and the Hollister grappler ducked and took a shot for the legs, wrapping him up for a takedown.
That same sequence played out in the second round, too, although ended with far different results.
Chaplin again went at Barber with a swing, and again Barber ducked and went for the legs. But this time, Chaplin quickly countered with a kick to Barber’s head, dropping the fighter immediately for a knockout.
“I went for the shot and got hit with something,” Barber said afterward.
Knockouts, technical knockouts and submission holds weren’t as rare Friday as they were during Fightin’ on the Faultline, which took place in January and was believed to be the first-ever MMA event in the city of Hollister. Of the 12 bouts on Friday, six ended in either KO, TKO or submission, including the second fight of the night when Santa Cruz’s Eric Lopez (1-0) defeated Lancaster’s Steven Cooper (0-1) by TKO at 5:59.
Four months ago, Hollister’s “Sunny” Santino Stagi won his MMA debut at Fightin’ on the Faultline by knockout. On Friday, he improved to 2-0 in his career when he beat San Jose’s Eric Bates (0-1) by unanimous decision.
“I didn’t know who the kid was at all until today. When I saw how tall he was, I was like there was no way I’m gonna [box] with him,” said Stagi, who gave up roughly six inches in height, and approximately 14 years in age, when fighting Bates.
Initially thinking he’d come in and strike Bates — he’s been recovering from an injured knee — Stagi was forced to immediately toss out his game plan, realizing he wouldn’t be able to counter Bates’ noticeable reach.
So he stayed close. So close, in fact, that he tossed Bates to the mat early in the first round, kept the San Jose fighter in a headlock with his right arm, then delivered punches to the head with his left.
“He was a tough kid, but I knew in the first round he couldn’t turn me or nothing,” Stagi said.
It was almost the exact same scenario in the third round as well. The 5-foot-7 Stagi stayed close and took away the 6-foot-3 Bates’ height advantage and reach, and eventually held on long enough for the victory, despite the physical disadvantages.
“Every single guy I’ve fought has been taller than me,” Stagi said, almost proudly.
“It doesn’t bother me,” he added.
War 2
— Eli Alva (2-0), Madera, def. Angelo Henry (6-6), Palo Alto, by unanimous decision.
— Eric Lopez (1-0), Santa Cruz, def. Steven Cooper (0-1), Lancaster, by tech. knockout (1:59 of Round 3).
— Josh Johnson (1-1), Paso Robles, def. James Stafford (0-1), Rocklin, by submission (:25 of Round 1).
— Santino Stagi (2-0), Hollister, def. Eric Bates (0-1), San Jose, by unanimous decision.
— Sean Baker (7-3), Santa Margarita vs. Paradise Vaovasa (5-2), San Francisco, no contest.
— Joe Heaton (1-3), Santa Margarita, def. Charles Porter (0-2), Palmdale, by tech. knockout (1:17 of Round 2).
— Matt Perez (2-0, Madera, def. Jonathan Williams (2-1), Santa Cruz, by unanimous decision.
— Justin McClain (1-0), Marina, def. Cory Martinez (1-1), Hollister, by split decision.
— Casey Jackson (1-1), East Palo Alto, def. Richard Parra (5-3), Oceano, by submission (:31 of Round 1).
— Jonathan Chaplin (8-3), East Palo Alto, def. Cris Barber (6-1), Hollister, by tech. knockout (:30 of Round 2).
— Nikko Jackson (6-4), East Palo Alto, def. Eric Prado (7-2), Santa Maria, by split decision.
— Francisco Aviles (2-1), Hollister, def. Anthony Topas (0-2), Santa Maria, by tech. knockout (1:26 of Round 1).
