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The stakes were high and the action was heated as the Trench Tech Promotions’ “Mats on Fire” submission grappling tournament went on all day last Saturday at the Garapan Central Park Roundhouse. Over 80 competitors took to the mats with young guns showing out in the kids division, while upsets, revenge, and sweet victories were the forefront in the adult division.
The final matchup of the day in the Adult Heavy Weight division saw Kier Agda redeem himself with gold over Vince Masga who took silver. Last year’s champ, black belt Bryan Deleon Guerrero settled for bronze.
Agda, a purple belt and instructor at Latte Built Gym who lost to Deleon Guerrero in the first Mats on Fire last year, said the win this time feels good. “I’m totally not in shape for this right now, I just did it to support the whole event, you know this fundraiser for Trench Tech and to just even lead by example and just show a good example to my members and everyone that’s out here, all the kids—just inspiring them.”
When asked what he thought about seeing all the competitors this year, he said, “It’s good to see the improvement and just everyone getting into jiu-jitsu nowadays. Every year you see it’s getting more and more and it’s really good to see.” As for his team, they picked up two golds and a silver, and he said the important thing is they listened to him and he’s proud of them.
On what’s next, Agda said he just became a dad and would like to get back into shape next year to compete in more international competitions.
In the Light Heavy Weight class, Isaiah Sablan took gold, Bonny Sagana earned silver, and Jovano Taitano took bronze. For the Middle Weight division, James Garcia claimed gold, Evert Van Der Maas earned silver, and David Cruz took bronze.
For Isaiah Sablan, he said the competition was pretty good this year. “I’m kind of out of shape but we still pull through so we’re doing something correct,” he said. In the finals, he competed against his teammate. “It was fun. I went up against my own teammate so it was a lot of fun and I hope to come back here again next year and support all the events that Trench Tech has planned. Anyone that’s interested in fighting, come check out Trench Tech, check out Saipan Submissions, check out the MMA club at [Northern Marianas College], and yeah, we’ll see you guys there.”
In the Welter Weight division, Melvin Ngiratumerang brought home gold, Joran Marciano earned silver, and Mathew Salas took bronze. For the Light Weight class, Vince Masga won gold, followed by Jake Yamagishi with silver and John Villagomez taking bronze. In the Feather Weight category, Vince Masga once again took gold, Daryn Roufs earned silver, and Javin Okawa got bronze. Over in the Fly Weight division, Jessica Ma claimed gold, Drey Aldan earned silver, and Vladimir Van Der Maas took bronze. In the Atom Weight class, Drey Aldan took gold and Anzuko Tutiy earned silver. For the All Women Open division, Ciana Demapan grabbed gold, Momoko Halstead took silver, and Jessica Ma earned bronze.
Drey Aldan, for his part on winning two medals, said, “It feels good, it feels great. I did a competition in Japan and I lost first round, but coming back home and representing my team and the island here at home, feels really great.”
The competition here back home, he said, was great. “I love how the crowd was loud. Everybody cheered for each other and even though we’re different gyms and everything, we’re no one’s enemies—we’re all friends here. We made friendship through fighting.”
He said jiu-jitsu is good for all ages, and for him personally, it taught him discipline, courage, and self respect.
In the Kids Division, the Middle Weight category saw Leandro Mendiola win gold, Teeta Welch earn silver, and Gabe Mitchell take bronze. For the Light Weight division, Gerard Naputi claimed gold, Justin Lee earned silver, and Ben Skylar Kalen took bronze. In the Feather Weight class, Justin Lee earned gold and Gerard Naputi took silver. Lastly, in the Bantam Weight division, Leighton Palacios won gold, Austin Reyes earned silver, and Gerard Naputi took bronze.
In the Atom Weight category, Leighton Palacios earned gold and Daniel Antonio took silver. For the Absolute division, Kaiya Pangelinan won gold, Iris Quitugua earned silver, and Uwai Castro took bronze. In the Kids 2 division, Kaiya Pangelinan brought home gold, followed by Seven Chong with silver and Jeremiah Ngiratumerang earning bronze. The Kids 1 division saw Reiden Travilla win gold, Dayton Marchadesch take silver, and Franklin Camacho earn bronze.
For the Peewee 4 group, Reiden Travilla took gold, Eleanor Anderson earned silver, and Avah Igitol claimed bronze. In Peewee 3, Kiku Faisao grabbed gold, Eleanor Anderson took silver, and Wolfie Sablan earned bronze. The Peewee 2 division saw Uma Naputi take gold, Aaden Das Duenas earn silver, and Robby Guerrero bring home bronze. And finally, in the Peewee 1 division, Tsuyoshiro Tutiy earned gold, Lokelani Tenorio took silver, and Athena Feger claimed bronze.
Acting marketing director and event announcer L.J. Castro said of the event, “it was an amazing success. We had over 80 grapplers compete in several different weight classes and lots of different age groups. It was a very interesting, very entertaining event. As you saw from some of the matches that happened, they were having people on the edge of their seats wondering who was gonna win. A lot of the grapplers we have, they pretty much go from little kids and the bigger ones—our veteran fighters—all different disciplines, all different skill levels, but at the end of the day, when it comes time to jiujitsu, they show that they can hang with the best of them, they can hang with the rest of them—just a wonderful event today.”
By Leigh Gases
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