Mixed Martial Arts invades the Basin

MOSES LAKE — Mixed Martial Arts combatants from around the region converged on the Grant County Fairgrounds Saturday to entertain a full house of fight fans with 11 bouts that featured knockouts, submissions and non-stop action.

MMA is a combat sport that combines skills from boxing, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, kickboxing and other martial arts. While the contests are very physical, strict rules and regulations are in place to protect fighters from serious injury.

The sport has been popularized by television and pay-per-view events such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship and the Pride Fighting Championships. While local events have been going on around the region for years, Saturday's fights were the first time MMA in its current form has come to Moses Lake.

The main event of the evening pitted Moses Lake's B.J. Dirk against Orlando Cereilo of Yakima. Dirk opened the contest by taking Cereilo to the ground to the delight of the hometown fans. Dirk then attempted to secure an arm-bar submission, but Cereilo countered the move and after a scramble gained control of the Moses Lake fighter.

With Cereilo in the top position, Dirk struggled for the remainder of the round to defend himself from his opponent. While Cereilo did land several strikes from the top position, none appeared to affect Dirk significantly.

As the round concluded, the fighters went to their respective corners. When the referee called the fighters to action for the second round, Cereilo's corner threw in the towel, giving Dirk the victory in the bout.

No official explanation for Cereilo's submission was given, but it appeared that he suffered a knee injury, most likely during the scramble after Dirk's unsuccessful arm-bar attempt. According to event promoter Anthony Hamlett, there were no other serious injuries during the event.

While major injuries were few and far between Saturday, sportsmanship was not. A common theme on the night was the mutual respect the fighters showed for each other. Contestants shook hands and congratulated each other at the conclusion of each fight.

The opening fight of the evening matched Moses Lake's Keelan Vasquez against Clinton Meachon of Wenatchee. The two combatants went toe-to-toe for the duration of the fight, exchanging power punches throughout the bout.

Early in the second round, Vasquez landed a left-hand that dropped Meachon to the canvas for the knockout and ignited the Moses Lake fans.

"It helped out a lot being in my own backyard," said Vasquez of the support from the crowd.

The crowd, which was easily over 1,000 strong, was much larger than the event promoters had anticipated.

"It was way over our expectations of what would be here," said Renee Thor, a member of the event staff. "We expected 500 (people)."

One possible explanation for the large crowd could have been the fight card, which featured several local combatants.

Chris Yearout of Moses Lake fought in the second bout of the night, winning by submission with a rear-naked choke. Yearout ducked under a powerful punch from Wenatchee's Eric Jackson and took Jackson to the ground, where he was able to get behind the Wenatchee fighter for the submission.

Midway through the night, Moses Lake's Daniel Atnip squared off with Jonathan Martinez of White Swan. After spending much of the first round on the bottom in a defensive position, Atnip got behind Martinez and secured a submission hold. Martinez was saved by the bell, but would not be so lucky in round two.

In the second round, Atnip took Martinez down and worked into position on top of the White Swan fighter. A series of punches forced Martinez to roll to his stomach, where Atnip locked up a rear-naked choke and the win.

Adam Davis of Ephrata won his fight in similar fashion, slamming his opponent to the canvas before securing a first-round submission victory.

While victories by local fighters pleased the crowd the most, fans were excited by each of the nights' contests.

"We didn't anticipate the hunger Moses Lake had for fighting," said Hamlett.

For those who missed Saturday's action, another fight is scheduled for June 10 in Moses Lake.