Lakay scores twin win in PXC 35

TWO Team Lakay upstarts made their presence felt in Saturday’s Pacific X-Treme Combat Championship at the Ynares Sports Center in Pasig City.

Troy Bantiag, one of Team Lakay’s bantamweight fighter, scored a sensational first round win against a taller Guamanian Tony Reyes with 4:44 remaining in the first round of their scheduled three round encounter.

True to his monicker, The Hunter, Bantiag engaged Reyes in a slugfest that caught the 5’11” fighter to his chin and eventually dropping to the canvass with a powerful left that shut the lights out for the visiting fighter.

“Our game plan was to counter yung striking nung kalaban at the same time avoid yung ground game ni Reyes kasi yun yung strength nya,” added Team Lakay head coach Mark Sangiao.

Bantiag thus improved his MMA record to five wins and one loss while Reyes suffered his fifth straight loss and drop his record to 5-6.

With the win, Sangiao said Bantiag will be eyeing more fights in PXC to further improve his skills as he still needs to prove his worth before he could probably get a crack at the bantamweight title.

Incidentally, Crisanto Pitpitunge holds the bantam strap who is also a teammate of Bantiag who will be having his first defense of the belt later this year.

Earlier, Dario Banario scored a unanimous victory in the undercard to give Team Lakay its first win for the year in the Guam based MMA promotion.

Dario, the younger brother of One FC featherweight champion Honorio, defeated Joseph Mercado in a slugfest for his third career win while Mercado drops to 1-2.

In the main event, former Strikeforce veteran Harris Sarmiento defended his Lightweight strap successfully by submitting Isaiah Ordiz in the 1st stanza.

The 29-year-old is now 3-2 in his last 5 bouts, all of which have come under the PXC banner.

In the 2nd featured bout of the evening, Louis Smolka earned his shot to fight for the PXC Flyweight championship after defeating Alvin Cacdac via Rear-Naked Choke in the 3rd round. Smolka will now face current PXC Flyweight Champion, Ale Cali, at PXC 37.