By CONSTANCIO MARTINEZ, JR.
Special to the PRESS
This past Saturday, July 27, Texas Fight League held their first MMA promotion, TFL1, at the South Padre Island Convention Center. The 13-fight event was held in front of 1,500+ spectators.
The first ten fights went quickly as several only lasted one round. Before the main event, the two hometown
fighters, Robert Maldonado and Brayan Medina took center stage in front of a hometown crowd.
First up was Maldonado out of Port Isabel, Tx, who was pitted against Eddie Flores out of McAllen, Tx, for three, three-minute rounds. Maldonado entered the octagon looking for his career win after losing his first fight in the 145lb division.
As round 1 got underway, both fighters came out swinging. They then clinched in the center of the ring where
Maldonado got the takedown and delivered a series of punches to Flores.
Flores got on his feet and then managed to get a takedown of his own. While grappling on the ground, Maldonado
worked on his ju-jitsu and went for the triangle choke with two minutes left in the round.
Flores escaped once again, the fighters got back on their feet and started to exchange punches, knees and leg
kicks. Flores fell to the mat after both fighter’s leg kicks connected.
Maldonado got the top position and started to ‘ground-and-pound’ on Flores. With under a minute to go, Flores
used the fence to get back on his feet.
After another exchange of strikes, Flores caught Maldonado’s leg kick and got the takedown. Flores then started throwing punches downward, but Maldonado kept him at arm’s length by kicking upwards from the ground. Flores jumped on top of Maldonado to close the distance with 20 seconds left in the round, but Maldonado went for the triangle choke once again.
As Flores tried to elude the triangle choke, Maldonado then attempted an arm bar submission move. Unable to
escape this time, Flores tapped out with just five seconds left in the round. Maldonado picked up his first win via
submission in the first round as the hometown crowd went wild.
Maldonado went on social media after the fight to express his gratitude towards the promotion, coaches, sparring partners and fans.
“Yesterday we got to perform in front of our hometown crowd. The atmosphere was incredible. The fan base
was unreal,” stated Maldonado. “To put on a show and hearing ‘ouuuus’ and ‘awhhhhhs’ was special… to bring
MMA back into the valley and expose talent was amazing.”
The Co-Main Event featured a flyweight bout between Brayan Medina out of South Padre Island versus Ronaldo
Carcamo from San Salvador, El Salvador.
As the fight got underway, Carcamo began to throw a series of punches as Medina tried to respond with strikes
of his own. Midway into the round, Medina got more aggressive and connected several times. Round One concluded with the round going either way.
The second round picked up where they left off with Medina going on the attack and knocking down
Carcamo with a punch. A bloody Carcamo quickly stood back up and the fighters clinched by the fence.
Carcamo managed to take down Medina and started to rain down punches. Medina put his ju-jitsu to work as he tried to get an arm bar and then a knee bar submission, but Carcamo escaped both times.
Round Two ended with both fighters exchanging strikes with Carcamo having success attacking Medina’s left leg with kicks.
As the match entered the third round, Carcamo continued to work on Medina’s leg as Medina started to wobble from the hits. Medina did a better job at checking and blocking the kicks later in the round. The round finished with both fighters exchanging strikes.
Carcamo was declared the winner via a split decision, (30-27, Carcamo), (29-28, Medina), (29-28, Carcamo).
The all-out brawl was the only match that went the distance during the night.
Medina went on social media to talk about his experience at TF1.
“You wanted a show, we gave you a show. Not the outcome I was looking for, but the challenge I put on myself. This is nothing but motivation for my team and I. We know what we can do,” said Medina. “Big shout out to my teammates back at BKC in Port Isabel, and all my boys out at Evo Fight Boxing Club you guys have been huge in my career and push me to my limits always. My family, my friends and the entire PI was there… The support felt unreal.”
Ruben “El Vaquero” Gutierrez defeat Andrew Gonzalez via a TKO in the second round during the main event.
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