Mikkel Bolante, InterAKTV

Filipino-Americans Harris Sarmiento and Mark Streigl defeated their respective opponents in the main event fights of Pacific X-treme Combat (PXC) 33 at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.

Sarmiento, the PXC lightweight champion, survived with a split decision victory over Korean fighter Seung Hwa Han in a non-title fight. He was originally slated to fight contender Jon Tuck, who had to pull out of the fight due to an injury.

Sarmiento landed effectively on counter-punches against a very game opponent that took the fight on two weeks notice.

Sarmiento and Han battled in the first round, with the champion getting the better of stand-and-trade exchanges. But Han timed a flying knee well, connecting with about a minute left in a close opening round.

But the champion started to find his range with his left hand, landing his consistently on the counter late in the round.

Sarmiento then got a trip early and dropped some ground and pound to Han’s body. The fighters exchanged some shots on the feet, but the champion got another takedown with 45 seconds left in the fight and finished the final round on top to win the close decision.

Streigl, meanwhile, lived up to his billing as a rising star in the sport after getting a first-round submission win over Robert Wustigg of Guam.

Streigl started the fight with a good kick, but Wustigg grabbed a single leg and tried to take him down. After working a bit in the clinch, Streigl ended up in side control on the ground and tapped Wustigg out with an americana lock.

American Russel Doane of 808 Top Team defeated Japanese fighter Masato Sannai in a three-round battle. Sannai showed some good skills but Doane leaned on his superior wrestling to control the fight and came away with a unanimous 29-28 score on all three of the judges’ scorecards.

Filipinos Eugene Toquero, Jerome Wanawan, Isaiah Ordiz came away with wins. Toquero knocked out Leonard Caliwa with a big elbow 40 seconds into the first round. Wanawan, a Team Lakay fighter, easily defeated Victor Torre with some heavy ground and pound in the 2nd round of their fight. Ordiz ate some big leg kicks from Kristopher Persson of Legacy Gym early but bloodied his opponent in the second round and escaped with a majority decision win.

Filipino-American Richie Redman and Team Lakay’s Troy Bantiag, meanwhile, lost their assignments against foreign opponents Hong Seung Chan of Korea and Jon Delos Reyes of Guam, respectively. Redman was knocked out in the first round while Bantiag was submitted via armbar.

Arex Montalban defeated Badong Domasian after Domasian suffered an injury in the first round and was unable to continue