MMA event at Irvine Marriott takes wild turn
IRVINE – The 1,186 raucous spectators in the ballroom at the Irvine Marriott on Saturday for the SpringFist mixed martial arts event are unlikely to forget the ring debut of Inglewood's Lateef Williams … make that Lateef "The Python" Williams.
Seconds after his opponent, Jimmy Stormo, tapped out at 2:43 of the first round of the light heavyweight bout, Williams tossed a live python into the center of the ring.
Stormo, who dropped to 1-2, surrendered after enduring a series of blows.
Williams' victory was only the second of the evening's six bouts to end by an early stoppage, a rarity in MMA.
In the undercard, Cesar Macias of Orange, fighting out of OC Muay Thai, took on Vince Parra of L.A. in a matchup of 165-pounders.
In the first round, Parra had Macias on his back and delivered three hard knees to the midsection.
Macias got up and fought back, but then the pair went to the canvas again and Parra inserted a choke hold, stopping the fight at 2:33 of first round. Parra improved to 2-0 and Macias dropped to 1-2
Leonardo Soares from Brazil took on Matt Bangte of Cleveland in a 155-pound fight.
The bout was action packed from the start, first with Soares on his back taking shots before turning Bangte late in the first round and landing some blows of his own.
The fighters stayed upright for the entire second round and both hurt each other with kicks to the midsection.
In the third round, the fighters were intertwined and rolled out of the ring onto the laps of ringside spectators.
Bangte wound up winning on a split decision and is 1-0.
In a 185-pound bout, Chris Cope of San Diego defeated Marcos Gonzalez.
By LOU PONSI
The Orange County Register
Photos by Vince Ornalez
