Cali loses anew to unheralded foe

MANILA, Philippines -- Ale Cali trained hard knowing he needed to improve his ground and pound game after suffering his first ever loss to Hawaiian Louis Smolka in the Pacific X-treme Combat late last year.

But in mixed martial arts, a pedestrian knowledge fighting down there isn't enough to win fights.

And Cali learned it the hard way after he fell to unheralded Ernesto Montilla, Jr. with a crushing right armbar submission in the first round in the main event of the PXC 43 at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City Saturday night.

It was the fastest victory of the night that not only earned Montilla, a native of San Pedro, Laguna, his fourth win in his last five bouts but also in the mix for a crack at the vacant flyweight title vacated by Smolka, who jumped to the Ultimate Fighting Championship early this year.

"I knew going into this match that the only way I could beat him (Cali) is to submit him, which I got to do," said the soft-spoken Montilla in Filipino.

The smashing triumph put Montilla closer to getting a chance to challenge for the 125-pound belt, perhaps against contenders Roldan Sangcha'an of Team Lakay and Rambaa Somdet of Thailand.

Sangcha'an, who interestingly handed Montilla his lone loss, and Somdet was supposed to fight for the vacant crown but the much-awaited showdown was cancelled after the latter injured his back in training.

With Somdet out for a while, the PXC's hands could be forced and set up a Sangcha'an-Montilla re-match.

Also coming out impressive was Glenn Ranillo, who hammer-like straight right that knocked Hawaii's Reno Remigio also in the first round of their lightweight duel.

Gina Iniong also showed promise as she bested Japanese Mei Yamaguchi with a split decision win in the lone women's bout of the card.

In a bantamweight bout, Rolando Dy, son of former boxing champion Rolando Navarrette, won over Korean Han Bin Park via unanimous decision.

Other winners were Dean Bermudez, who knocked out Kid Orais; Alex Montalban, who made short work of Lorde Yamit; Jenel Lausa, who trounced Venson Delopere via unanimous decision win; Roy Doliguez, who edged Jerome Wanawa via split decision; and Joseph Mercado, who won over Dominiel Eduave via unanimous decision.