EDINBURG — Tedrick Macklin only needed 1 minute, 48 seconds to sink a rear naked choke into Brexton Everett on Sunday at Fury Fighting Championships 70 at the Bert Ogden Arena.
Macklin, fighting out of Edinburg, combined his strikes well early, but the fight went to the ground wear the brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu put his hooks in and picked up his fourth finish in the first round of his professional career.
“I wanted to knock him out,” Macklin said. “Like I say, I let them choose how they want to die … the body lock to the take down to the rear naked choke, I am money with it, always land it. I feel like if we would have stood for a little longer I would have knocked him out.”
Macklin (4-0) has one more fight with the promotion and wants to fight his original opponent, Darren Whitney (5-1), on the card.
“Darren Whitney, I know you were watching this. It should have been you. I should have been finishing you in the first round,” Macklin said. “You said you are game, but I do not see it … I will catch you with a hook. I will put you out or I will submit you. I guarantee it.”
Macklin is also willing to fight other top prospects in the lightweight division, he said.
Mercedes’ Chris Cuadra picked up a 30-27, 30-27, 30-27 over Lubbock’s Robert Garcia in a bantamweight bout.
Cuadra repeatedly took down Garcia throughout the three rounds. Cuadra controlled most of the fight from the ground or smothered Garcia on the cage, landing strikes and threatened submission from Garcia’s back.
“It feels pretty good. Not the way I wanted to win, but it is my first fight in three years. Winning by unanimous decision feels, a win feels good period,” Cuadra said
Cuadra (3-2) escaped multiple deep submission attempts by Garcia (1-2) and had a couple of good exchanges standing up, but it was his control of the fight that made the difference in his return to professional fighting.
“I definitely felt the nerves kick in,” Cuadra said. “The nerves make you feel a little heavier, but when everything started going, I felt good. I felt like everything started coming back, muscle memory. That’s what we train for.”
In the main event, Cleveland McLean (17-9) picked up a split decision victory over Carlos Lozoya (7-3) in a flyweight fight. Lozoya clinched most of the fight and had some dominate positions on the ground.
McLean was the better striker and won the decision 48-47, 46-49, 49-46. Peter Caballero (13-5) defeated Stephen Perez (6-7) in a bantamweight by split decision in the co-main event.
Santiago Guzman (6-3) picked up a technical knockout victory in the second round over Edmilson Freitas (9-7) in a welterweight fight. Guzman, from Colombia, landed a big knee to Freitas before the referee stepped in to call the fight.
Colton Herrera (1-1) knocked out Reese Forest (1-5) to begin the main card. The heavyweight slug fest was finished by Herrera with a clean one-two combination to put Forest on the canvas as the ref stepped in.
In the prelims, Adam Awda defeated Nicholas Gjelaj with a total knockout during the second round. Albert Salinas defeated Roy Gonzales via unanimous decision, all three judges scored the fight 30-27.
Joshua Quintero defeated Logan Sanders by split decision. Daniel Perez def. Davante George with a triangle choke in the first round and Joe Perez defeated Jesses Pantoja with an armbar in the first round also.
Enrique Rodriguez defeated Jonathan Mares with a TKO in the first round and Richard Gallego defeated Abner Castro by unanimous decision.