Area fighters take to mixed martial arts ring

by Tony Vehrs<br>Herald Staff Writer
| September 25, 2006 9:00 PM

MOSES LAKE — For the third and final time this year, the Grant County Fairgrounds played host to a night of mixed martial arts competition that featured 10 local fighters putting their skills to the test against competitors from around the region Saturday.

The main event pitted Daniel Atnip of Moses Lake against White Swan's Appaulo Martinez. Atnip, who earlier in the year defeated Appaulo's brother John, took control of the fight early.

After a quick exchange of punches, Atnip locked Martinez up and slammed him to the canvas to the delight of the crowd. The two grappled briefly on the ground before returning to their feet, where Atnip once again launched Martinez into the air and drove him down onto his back near the center of the ring.

During the exchanges on the ground, Martinez attempted several submission holds, however Atnip was able to defend the moves and stay out of trouble.

In the second round, Martinez was once again taken to the ground by Atnip, but the White Swan fighter reversed his position and locked in a heel-hook submission hold on Atnip. The Moses Lake fighter fought through the hold to regain control of Martinez, where he then landed a series of rib punches as the round expired.

Atnip opened the third round with another takedown, catching Martinez's foot on a low-kick attempt and putting the White Swan fighter on his back.

With time running down in the final round, Martinez was able to secure a triangle submission, a move Atnip earlier in the fight was able to fend off. Atnip looked as if he would escape the hold after he lifted and slammed Martinez to the canvas, but Martinez managed to maintain the submission hold, forcing Atnip to tap out.

Unlike the June event, which was marred by security problems and unruly fans, Saturday's fights were well organized, started on time, and saw the crowd on its best behavior.

Proceeding Atnip's bout, Moses Lake's Keelan Vasquez squared off with Doug Lantzy of Wenatchee.

On an early exchange from their feet, Vasquez suffered a knee injury and was taken to the ground. While the Moses Lake fighter was able to continue in the bout, the injury would later come back to cost Vasquez the fight.

In the second round, Vasquez slammed Lantzy to the ground and applied a neck crank which he used to set up an arm-bar submission. The Moses Lake fighter set the hold deep, but with his injured leg was unable to apply the pressure needed to force Lantzy to submit. Lantzy eventually escaped the hold, and in the third round took Vasquez to the ground where the referee moved in to put a stop to the fight.

Earlier, Quincy's Gabe Lindquist picked up a dominant victory over White Swan's Danny Heemsah. Lindquist began the fight by landing several hard punches, and eventually took Heemsah to the ground and got on top of the White Swan fighter. A vicious flurry of punches from Lindquist forced Heemsah to roll to his stomach, where the Quincy fighter continued the onslaught until the referee called the fight midway through the third round.

Donny Smith of Moses Lake delivered the hometown fans a devastating knockout victory, ending his fight with Quincy's Justin Gardner with a powerful right-hand blow. The contest was a battle of Smith's superior boxing skills against Gardner's well-rounded MMA background. Smith was able to get the better of Gardner in the first round, landing big punches from the ground while avoiding Gardner's submission attempts. The second round ended as quickly as it began, with Smith landing his knockout punch just after the start of the period.

Other fights featuring local MMA competitors saw Ephrata's Adam Davis pick up an easy first round victory with a rear-naked choke. T.J. Gillmore of Quincy earned a unanimous decision victory over Moses Lake's Dustin Davis in a battle of two first-time fighters. Moses Lake's Ray Bidlen lost by submission to Wenatchee's Jacob Sommer, and "Lucky" of Moses Lake lost by knockout to Kevin Richardson of Monore, Louisana.

The next fight is scheduled for February 10 at the Grant County Fairgrounds.