CEBU, Philippines - Cebuano fighter Renan ‘Limbas’ Noblefranca kept his Yaw-Yan Fighting Challenge Championship (YFCC) junior lightweight title after coming up with an impressive first round knockout of Arnel ‘Ronin X’ Ylanan of Team Project X in the main event of the ‘Bakbakan sa San Remigio’ kickboxing fightcard the other night at the Artemio Masbate Sports Complex in San Remigio north of Cebu.
The two combatants exchanged brutal strikes from the onset, but Noblefranca proved the more superior warrior, launching a vicious combination to the midsection the snuffed the air out of Ylanan's nose at the 2:25 mark of the very first round.
It was Noblefranca’s first succesful defense of the belt he seized with a unanimous decision victory against Steve Sevilleno of the Mindanao Unified Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) in July last year at the Cebu Coliseum.
Aside from Noblefranca, two other Yaw-Yan ArDigma fighters hurdled their respective assignments. Jordan ‘Labuyo’ Balcita stopped Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC) veteran Johnjier ‘Dangerous’ Torbiso of Durex Dragon Kickboxing Club at 1:59 of the second round, while Lemuel ‘Musang’ Maglinte triumphed by unanimous verdict in a three-round war against Torbiso’s teammate Elmer ‘Striker’ Dakay.
It was such a gloomy night for the entire Durex Dragon squad as aside from Torbiso and Dakay, three of their mainstays also lost in their bouts.
Axel ‘Specialist’ Torbiso fell prey to John Dave ‘Dancing Man’ Epile, John Edu ‘Excalibur’ Torbiso bowed to Joel ‘Bomberman’ Regabo, while Junrey ‘Tongboo’ Soquite was beaten to the pulp by Ronilo ‘Buffalo’ Esfra.
In the other matches, Niño Reo ‘Tatos’ Saoy scored a first round stoppage of Rogelio ‘Experiment’ Ylanan, John Carlo ‘Baby Face Assassin’ Haganas outpointed Edmar ‘Black Fighter’ Sumbi, while Marvin ‘The Martian’ Rabanoz mauled Jan ‘Luningning’ Andayo on the way to a first round KO win. (FREEMAN)