The Strikeforce debut of Gilroy’s mixed martial arts fighter
Anthony Figueroa went about as well as he could’ve hoped.
San Jose – The Strikeforce debut of Gilroy’s mixed martial arts fighter Anthony Figueroa went about as well as he could’ve hoped.
The flyweight, with a background in San Shou and Jiu-Jitsu fighting, outlasted David Barrios in three rounds to win by unanimous decision Friday night at the HP Pavilion.
The fight was scored 32-27 on one card and 29-28 on the other two cards in favor of the 5-foot-5, 127 ½-pound Gilroyan, who had between 50-60 friends and family members in the audience and was easily the crowd favorite against San Jose’s Barrios.
“I’m satisfied with the win. Winning always feels good,” said Figueroa. “I had a nice crowd from Gilroy. I had a lot of support.”
Figueroa delivered an early barrage of knees and one minute, three seconds into the first round the fight was stopped for an unintentional low blow by Figueroa, leaving Barrios with up to five minutes to recover.
Once the fight resumed, a strong punch by Figueroa left Barrios wobbly with a little more than a minute to go in the round.Figueroa recorded a takedown 10 seconds later.
With 34 seconds remaining, Figueroa put Barrios in a chokehold and he stayed in control for the rest of the round.
Midway through the second round, Figueroa executed another take down and positioned himself on top of Barrios – delivering a handful of punches.
Barrios eventually broke free and by the time both fighters were on their feet again they both looked winded.
Figueroa came out aggressive in the third round, delivering several strong blows.
He was dinged for another unintentional low blow with 1:06 remaining, but finished strong with a take down with eight seconds left where he landed some strong punches that solidified the win.
“I felt pretty good. We were both banging it out,” Figueroa said. “He stunned me once. It didn’t really hurt but I felt some blood dripping down. That’s what I train for – those hard rounds.”
Another local fighter, Daniel Puder, who hails from Cupertino but has family in Morgan Hill, also had a strong night with a second-round submission win over Mike Cook.
Despite a tough first round where Cook controlled much of the action, Puder rebounded in the second round to improve to 4-0 and drop the previously unbeaten Cook to 3-1.
Behind some chants of “Let’s go Puder” from the strong local crowd, Puder took down Cook early in the second round and had him pinned against the cage.
With a minute to go in the round, Puder delivered a round of blows to Cook’s face and eventually got him to tap out 2:31 into the second round.
“He pushed me. It’s good to feel that,” Puder said. “It’s going to help me get there for the harder guys.”
Puder said despite Cook taking control in the first round, he still had confidence and was looking to hold him off and take care of business in the second round.
“I wasn’t scared,” he said. “I was just relaxing. He’s a tough guy. … I knew he was going to take punches.”
