Fight Night 4 set for Nov. 30 at Isleta’s Showroom
Garcia vs. Cullum set to headline card
ISLETA PUEBLO — On Nov. 30, Isleta Resort & Casino will present Fight Night 4 at Showroom 2.0.
A bantamweight fight between Rio Rancho’s Steve Garcia and Tucumcari’s Abel Cullum is scheduled to headline the fourth pro-amateur MMA card put together by promoter Lenny Fresquez and coach Mike Winkeljohn, whose Jackson-Wink gym will provide half the talent.
As of Tuesday, the card features five pro and five amateur fights.
This will be the first event to take place at Isleta’s new-look Showroom, Isleta director of marketing Jaci Marx said on Tuesday at a news conference.
The location of the room has not changed, nor have the parameters. But the seating now is more comfortable and provides better views, Marx said.
The room’s acoustics have improved, Marx said. Concession areas have been expanded, with more registers for faster service.
“And we’ve put two huge screen projectors on each side,” she said.
Cullum (21-6), a 13-year MMA veteran who defeated Joshua Montoya in the main event of Fresquez-Winkeljohn Fight Night 3 in June, was unable to attend the news conference for personal reasons. Garcia (7-3), who turned pro in 2013, said he remembers watching Cullum fight and rooting for him as a fellow New Mexican.
“It’s kind of an amazing thing to step into the cage with him,” he said. LIFE AND DEATH: Jackson-Wink amateur flyweight Lydia Warren (0-1) minced no words in discussing her scheduled fight on Fight Night 4 against Alamogordo’s Alexandra Castillo (pro debut).
“I’m gonna kill her, and she’s gonna have to kill me,” Warren said. “If she wants to beat me she’s gonna have to straight-out kill me, because I gave up my entire life to move out here.
“I gave up everything and everybody I ever loved to move out here from North Carolina, and that’s just how it’s gonna go.”
LESSONS LEARNED: JacksonWink lightweight Chris Brown, who’s scheduled to face Texan Ray Banda (6-2) on Fight Night 4, suffered the first loss of his MMA career Saturday in Tunica, Miss.
Brown was 4-0 as an amateur and 2-0 as a pro before losing by split decision to Thomas Gifford (17-7). Brown knocked Gifford down in the opening moments of the fight, Brown said on Tuesday, but, then, overly aggressive, barely escaped a Gifford arm bar.
“I fought the rest of the three rounds with one arm, basically,” he said.
THE PERRY FACTOR: JacksonWink welterweight Mike Perry isn’t fighting on Nov. 30, but he nevertheless spoke briefly at Tuesday’s news conference. He’s scheduled to face apparently now former J-W fighter Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone on a Nov. 10 UFC Fight Night card in Denver.
When the Cerrone-Perry match was made and Winkeljohn elected to train Perry for the fight, Cerrone — one of the gym’s most important fighters over the years — was vociferous in his displeasure.
Tuesday, in introducing Perry, Winkeljohn referred to Cerrone as “one of our fighters who is no longer with us. That’s a crazy story in itself.” For his part, Perry said, “Hopefully the Cowboy shows up that night, not Donald, so we can have a fun event.”
ESPINOSA ADDED: Albuquerque’s Jordan Espinosa will make his UFC debut on the Nov. 10 UFC Fight Night card, the promotional company announced.
Espinosa (13-5) is to face Mark De La Rosa (10-1) in a flyweight fight. He joins a New Mexico-connected contingent that already includes Cerrone, Perry, JacksonWink’s Ray Borg and Las Cruces’ Joseph Benavidez. Borg and Benavidez are matched against each other in a flyweight fight.