Fury 38 was at Cowboys Dancehall in San Antonio. The Fury Promotion is heavily active in South Texas. There were some fun fights. CJ Vergara was fighting for an interim 125 belt, he didn’t make weight, so its kinda like the scrapped the whole belt situation, and said, “Who ever wins will fight the champ” – Good stuff
Main Event
CJ Vergara vs Shawn Solis – Flyweight. Vergara missed weight
Round 1
Vergara is slow with not a lot of movement. Solis is bouncing around well. Vergara throws some punches and lands some hard knees from the clinch.
Round 2
Solis lands a punch and gets a takedown, and takes the back, but Vergara is able to get out of it. Vergara hurts Solis with a kick to the body and the round comes to an end as the finish was imminent
Round 3
A lowblow stops the fight early, and a second lowblow leads the referee to take a point from Solis. Vergara has been throwing good kicks all fight long. Vergara lands a spinning back kick which essentially knocks Solis out on the feet, he then crushes him with a flying knee. Utter destruction.🚩 Vergara wins by KO
I’ve made this site because I wanted to see the evolution of different fighters. CJ Vergara is one fighter that has rapidly evolved and has grown on me sooo much. I saw him take on Ramiro Ruiz in March of 2019 and I knew the kicks were good then, but they seem to be deadly now. At Fight Night:SA he took on Emerson Guerrero, and he patched up some of the holes in his game there. He used head movement, and he threw some hands. In this fight, he kinda went back to his bad habits. I personally think he changes his fighting style depending on how much respect he has for his opponents, but the kicks, OMG, the kicks, those are always there. This win sets up a title fight for CJ Vergara
Eddie Torres vs Kaleb Petereit – Bantamweight
Round 1
Torres gets the takedown and glues himself to Petereit. He separates and starts to counter-strike. Petereit has very static footwork.
Round 2
Torres shoots in, they stand, and Petereit sits Torres down with a punch. Petereit still has very poor footwork. Torres cliches, slams Petereit and gets on top. Petereit is able to get up
Round 3
Torres gets the takedown. Petereit gets back up. They have some even striking on the feet as the round comes to an end. 🚩 Torres wins by unanimous decision.
Torres has great wrestling. and good footwork. Petereit has horrendous footwork. I almost thought he was injured by the way he was moving around.
Chris Saenz vs Avery Brooks – 160
Round 1
Brooks gets the takedown and beats up Saenz after feeling him out.
Round 2
Brooks takes Saenz down, takes the back and rains down punches 🚩 Brooks wins by TKO
Sometimes guys aren’t ready for prime time. Saenz just needs more technical work.
Jordan Plutin vs Josh Rosen – Featherweight
Round 1
Plutin clinches, they separate. Plutin lands a big knee, he goes for a takedown and ends up on bottom.
Round 2
Rosen gets the takedown, and the bullshit referee stands them up, Rosen gets another takedown.
Round 3
Rosen gets the takedown and lays and prays. Plutin stays flat on his back. 🚩 Rosen wins by unanimous decision.
Plutin needs to work his jits game. He was too comfortable being on his back. Rosen needs a better offensive ground game as well
Joseph Aguilar vs Jonathan Enriquez – Flyweight
Round 1
Enriquez goes for a takedown and eats some elbows for his troubles. He tries to grapple and eats some knees. Aguilar smashes Enriquez with a body kick and works to mount.
Round 2
Aguilar throws some good kicks, Enriquez is able to get the takedown and lays and prays, while Aguilar tries to lock up a triangle.
Round 3
Both guys look gassed. Aguilar throws a kick and gets taken down. Enriquez lays and prays and eats several elbows to the head. 🚩 Aguilar wins by split decision.
Enriquez has a grinding wrestling style, but he’s very one dimensional. He needs to work on striking while on top, and going for for submissions. Aguilar gassed out in the 3rd round, he may need to work on maintaining he’s gas tank while going through transitions.
Shakeem Richardson vs Devin Cowan – Featherweight
Round 1
They strike, and Richardson lands some combos. Cowan comes back and beats the brakes off Richardson once he figures out his timing. The referee should’ve stopped the fight.
Round 2
Richardson is looking slower on the feet and shoots in. Cowan eats some elbows. Richardson gets knocked down and almost finished. Richard finishes Cowan with strikes after landing a body shot. 🚩 Richardson wins by TKO
The fight should’ve been stopped in the first round. Richardson got a little lucky. The referee is playing with fire here.
Christian Lira vs David Waters – Flyweight
Round 1
Lira eats some kicks and gets the takedown. Waters lands some elbows from the bottom. Lira transitions to full mount and pounds on waters. 🚩 Lira wins by TKO
Lira just had better wrestling
Christopher McElroy vs Rusty Turley – 160
Round 1
Turley is coming forward, and McElroy is fighting defensively. Turley lands some big leg kicks, Turley then drops McElroy with a right, he transitions to mount and unloads some elbows. 🚩 Turley wins by TKO
Turley was just coming forward to destroy, it works against some fighters, but its not smart. The elbows were brutal though.
Arturo Tanguma vs Richard Palacios – Featherweight
Round 1
Tanguma gets Palacios down and gets to mount and rains down some punches. They scramble and Palacios gets out of an armbar.
Round 2
Palacios ends up on bottom after trying for a takedown. Tanguma lands some punches, and the ref stops it. Its a little it early, but its forgivable because, this is at the amateur level. 🚩 Tanguma wins by TKO
Both of these guys are talent. Tanguma is technical and gritty, and he didn’t fight this fight like he was an eighteen year old. I’m excited to see what is next for him. Palacios has some things to work on, but he’s fantastic as well. He was the victim of an early stoppage in this one, but its Ammy, this loss could actually make him better, from the outside looking in.
Nathalie Martinez vs Laurie Ivy – 120
Round 1
Martinez looks strong and goes forward with no head movement. She eats a few shots and rocks Ivy a few times. Ivy throws some flailing shots, and Martinez is just bigger and stronger, and just bullies Ivy, takes her back and strangles her unconscious. 🚩 Martinez wins by Technical submission.
Laurie Ivy is the wife of Texas Welterweight badass Anthony Ivy, and she did not look good. Even though, there was a weight issue, with Martinez coming in a little heavier, Ivy’s striking looked poor, and she’s definitely not as technical as her husband is, on the ground. Martinez has very bad habits, but just over powered her smaller opponent in this one.
Caleb Bendewald vs Brandon Gutierrez – Flyweight
Round 1
They slug on the feet and Bendewald goes for a takedown and does not get it. They stand and Gutierrez does some damage on the feet.
Round 2
Gutierrez checks a kick, which hurts Bendewald, he lands a big overhand left which puts Bendewald down, then hammers him with some shots. Gutierrez wins by TKO
Gutierrez looks good. He bounces around well, and has a good win to build on. Bendewald needs a little more seasoning.
Jaxon Parks vs Jeremy Martinez – Lightweight
Round 1
Parks comes out striking and Martinez takes him down and Parks reverses it. Martinez is able to scramble and get on top and do some damage to Parks.
Round 2
Martinez is looking for the takedown. Parks nails Martinez with a body kick that puts him down. Parks finishes Martinez with strikes. Parks wins by TKO
Parks doesn’t look too bad. He looks a little weak for his size, and he’s a little slow, but he has some technical aspects to his game. He has fantastic physical tools. He can definitely grow into his final MMA form. This was Martinez’s first fight.
Richard Palacios and Arturo Tanguma were unbroken at Fury FC 38