STRIKER Tonix Borres displayed a more diverse skill set as he used his ground game as his main arsenal in a unanimous decision win over Ryuji Ozaki in the main event of Gladiators of Modern Ages (GOMA) III at the Ormoc Superdome last Monday.

Borres, who fights out of the JBDream Fitness Gym in Talamban, showed a different side and outclassed Ozaki with his ground-and-pound approach.

“I’m satisfied with my win because I had control over my opponent. I was also able to show off my ground game because I’m known as a boxer/striker. But I still need to train harder to improve more,” Borres told SunStar Cebu.

Borres threw an overhand right and a left roundhouse kick to the head but Ozaki took him down in the opening round. Both fighters had their time on top after a couple of position changes but neither did enough damage.

In the second round, Borres took down Ozaki and ended up in a side mount position. He started to work on the ground and unloaded punches to the head and vicious knees and elbows to the body.

Borres again took down Ozaki in the third. Ozaki of Redneos Gladiator Muay Thai of Talisay City managed to reverse to a half-guard. Borres, however, pulled off a reverse and ended up in a full mount position. From there, Borres dropped some heavy bombs on Ozaki.

Borres bounced back from a loss to Joeniben Retes last October and improved to 4-1.

Borres is now back in the gym preparing for his next fight, against Pablo Menoza on July 21 in Dapitan. (EKA)