Manic Muay Thai action in the Pocket neighborhood came on the heels of Capital Region MMA fighters competing in Reno earlier in November
An Elks lodge on Riverside Boulevard was full to capacity Saturday evening as kickboxers from across the American West stepped into the ring with the championship titles for seven different weight divisions on the line.
By the end of the night, four of those belts had gone to hometown competitors from the City of Trees.
The often-thrilling bouts to determine these outcomes came just two weeks after a cadre Sacramento Mixed Martial Artists won their own showdowns at a King of the Cage tournament in Reno.
Raging on Riverside
Muay Thai is known as “the Art of Eight Limbs,” a martial art style that originates in Thailand and incorporates an arsenal of fist and leg strikes, along with elbow hits, plowing knees, and quick leg-sweeping techniques. The ‘Rising Stars’ Muay Thai event was put on by RSMT. While most of its fighters came from different parts of California, some arrived from as far as Las Vegas, Nevada, and Sandy, Utah. The tournament invites proven Muay Thai practitioners, as well as practitioners of Yaw-Yan, a type of Filipino kickboxing.
The first local phenom to win a belt on Saturday night was actually Yaw-Yan specialist named David Torres. Trained at Rancho Cordova Martial Arts Center by Yaw-Yan expert Jordan Balcita, who hails from the Philippines, Torres found himself taking on Muay Thai fighter Samuel McGuire from Santa Maria. McGuire trains out of 805 Kickboxing and said before the bout that he was out to prove a point, after having lost to Torres by split decision two months before. Now, the two were re-matching for the ‘Rising Stars’ belt at the 126-lb weight division. It was only Torres’ second time back in the ring since a devastating leg injury in 2023.
Torres came out of the corner in Round 1 brimming with focus and confidence, quickly landing two lightning hooks to McGuire’s head and then launching a chest-kick that took his opponent to the ground. In Round 2, McGuire caught Torres in clinch, only for the Yaw-Yan man to send him to the matt with a leg sweep. In Round 3, Torres stuck to his smooth way of always moving forward, eventually batting McGuire’s face in three instances with beautifully measured hooks. Before the round was over, Torres dropped McGuire again with a left kick to his abdomen. In Round 4, McGuire tried to pick things up, throwing several solid kicks that found their mark. Round 5 saw McGuire often resorting to clinching against the strike-savvy Torres; but when Torres managed to get free and square-up, he made McGuire pay by sticking him with a flashing jab to the face.
After the bell rang, Torres was crowned the new ‘Rising Stars’ champion at 126-lbs by unanimous decision.
“We’d gotten a little familiar with each other from last time, so I knew that where he’s comfortable is being in the clinch,” Torres told SN&R after the fight. “Him being a taller guy, I knew he was going to try to do that again … I had to adjust a little and just out-strike him. That was it.”
Torres added of his new championship, “I think 2026 is going to be a big year – I’m excited for it because I’m going to be pretty active.”
Continuing his comeback from an injury, David Torres of Sacramento won the ‘Rising Stars’ Muay Thai championship in the 126-lbs division on Nov. 22.
The next Sacramento fighter to wow the crowd was Joseph Viduya. He wasn’t just fighting for the ‘Rising Stars’ championship in the welterweight division, but also the IKF Welterweight Interstate Championship. His opponent was Jacob Baird from north Utah.
The opening rounds between Viduya and Baird can only be described as an all-out war in the ring. Neither fighter was slowing down. Neither was backing down. Both men’s display of skill and grit was keeping the audience on the edge. Mid-way into the contest, Viduya started getting inside Baird’s defenses, working combinations to his body, which also seemed to open space up to land a pair of high kicks. In Round 5, Viduya pulled off a stellar kick to Baird’s head. He finished the slug-fest by threading a number of clean jabs and crosses that Baird took in his face.
Viduya left the ring holding two new championship titles.
Another highlight of the night involved Sacramento’s Encio Timoteo defending his 118-lbs ‘Rising Stars’ championship for the second time, as well as fighting for the IKF West Coast Bantamweight Championship, all in the same match. Timoteo trains out of UFC Gym Rocklin under coach Ezra Regan. Timoteo found himself up against Nicholas Vang of Fresno, who was undefeated at that point at 8-0.
When the opening bell rang, Timoteo started putting on a clinic when it comes to flawless timing. He was smooth, fluid and constantly in motion, but still able to unleash bursts of aggression at all the right moments: That included giving Vang the good news in the form of a stunning kick to his head at the end of Round 3.
But Vang hadn’t won eight fights in a row by coincidence. And he wasn’t going quietly. The climax of the showdown came in Round 4 when both fighters let loose with a flurry of punches and kicks against one other, causing the crowd to go wild from the action. Timoteo made sure to leave the final impression, though, picking his spot in Round 5 to land a sick spinning backfist to Vang’s jawline.
Timoteo defended his belt, and won a new title, by split decision.
Sacramento’s Kevin Cummings proved victorious in a fight for two different championship belts. Photo by Scott Thomas Anderson
What was billed as Saturday night’s main event saw Sacramento’s Kevin Cummings taking on Juan Andrade of Richmond for the 150-lbs ‘Rising Star’ Championship, not to mention the IKF USA Super Welterweight Championship Title. Andrade, who trains under Master Cheetah at Chaiyo Muay Thai, entered the match as a reigning ‘Rising Stars’ champion. He was also coming off back-to-back wins by knock-out.
As impressive as that is, it didn’t seem to intimidate Cummings, who trains at the Sitthongsai Muay Thai Camp and already had 30 amateur fights notched onto his knuckles.
Some in the crowd thought the first round was hard to call, but not long into the second Cummings whipped up some vicious kicks to Andrade’s legs before driving a diagonal kick into his midsection. By Round 3, Cummings got everyone’s attention by catching Andrade with a reverse horizontal elbow to the head. He soon followed that with a big right hand that had the same cranial consequences. Round 4 began with Cummings tagging Andrade with an unmitigated kick to his stomach. Seconds later, Cummings landed a high kick and then jumped in close with a whirlwind of punches that promoted the ref to give Andrade a standing eight count. Andrade kept fighting, but Cummings finished hard in the fifth with several spectacular high kicks to his opponent’s head.
Cummings won both titles by unanimous decision.
The Capital Region’s MMA fighters compete in Reno in early November
On Saturday, Nov. 8, a handful of Sacramento’s mixed martial artists crossed the Sierra Nevada mountains to step into the octagon against some of the fiercest combatants from Southern California and the great Silver State.
And the fist-swingers and leg-swipers from our City of Trees did not disappoint.
The action was part of the King of the Cage: Future Legends 65 tournament at the Silver Legacy Casino.
Photograph by Victor Hughes
Things got off to a bang with Sacramento’s Kaleb Moore taking on a kicking specialist from Burney named Johnny “Karate” Venegas. For an instant, it looked like the two might be equally matched. But then Moore, who was debuting in his very first contest, landed a resounding round-house punch to the side of Venegas’ head, which forced the referee to jump in between them and give the latter a standing eight count. In a few more blinks, the ref had declared Moore the winner by Technical Knockout. He’d conquered his debut in 49 seconds.
The next big highlight involved female competitors: Elsa Lozada, from Sacramento, took on Fernanda Munoz, from the nation of Colombia, in an 8-minute pure grappling match. Both Lozada and Munoz proved highly skilled with their ground games, offering a second-by-second spectacle that was basically scientific in its precision on both ends. Yet ultimately Lozada — the pride of our Capital City in that moment — got the win by a narrow decision.
Halfway through the night, the real pain was put on display. It began when 28-year-old Justin Serra from Lincoln squared off against Reno’s Julian Aguilar. At 6-foot, 3-inches tall, Serra tried using his reach advantage with strikes, and at times attempted to overpower Aguilar with throwing take-downs. But Aguilar was a Pit Bull. He fought tight and inside around Serra’s defenses and refused to be dominated on the ground. Eventually, the judges scored the fight exactly evenly, resulting in a draw. Nevertheless, Serra got to return home to Placer County without a loss hanging over his head.
Soon, a new fight was green-lit that made the audience wince. Brett Peters, a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu practitioner from Lockeford, was taking on Aodan Farlow, a mixed martial artist from Reno. Peters regularly trains at the Nick Diaz Academy in Stockton. Nick Diaz remains a highly respected Strikeforce, WEC and IFC Welterweight champion, not to mention a UFC title challenger. Peters and Farlow both came into the match undefeated, though the training that Peters has been getting from Diaz’s team instantly became apparent. Peters landed no less than five separate high kicks to the side of Farlow’s skull. Worse yet, if anything could be worse than that, Peters’ constant low kicks and knee-thrusts seemed to pulverize Farlow’s guts. Remarkably, the Reno man took the lickin’ and kept on tickin’, as they say. He didn’t tap out from pain. He didn’t lose consciousness. He didn’t quit staying on his feet. That meant the judges handed Peters the win by unanimous decision.
Scott Thomas Anderson is also the writer and producer for the podcast documentary series on travel & culture, ‘Drinkers with Writing Problems.’