Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) came to San Pedro Town on Saturday, September 10th, with 501 Fight Night I: Genesis held at the Angel Nuñez Auditorium. The event elated MMA fans with nine fights culminating with a title match in which San Pedro’s Bryce Peterson emerged victorious.
Organized by 501 Belize Promotions Ltd, doors opened at 5PM with spectators starting to fill up the auditorium. The first fights included two Jiu-Jitsu bouts between William Robinson and Aidan Arnold in the Catchweight division. The second Jiu-Jitsu match was between Wilfredo Vasquez and Ben Marshall in the Welterweight category.
As the event continued, ring announcer Eiden Salazar Jr. announced the preliminary matches leading to the main card. The first fight was between Alexander Cobo and Yan Cortez in the Catchweight category. The three-round battle saw Cobo as the dominant fighter. Cortez gave his best, but Cobo was stronger and walked away with the victory. After a short intermission, the second fight occurred with Jose Cruz facing Jerdon Anderson. The fight was over in the first round, with referee Christian Goulet and Anderson claiming the victory.
The last preliminary fight saw Kyle Staton hailing from the United States and Belizean Noe Agreda. From the first minutes of the first round, Agreda was the strong fighter knocking Staton down to the floor and taking the win after the fight was stopped. It was one of the bloodiest fights of the night.
Main Card
As the evening continued, the first fights on the main card started to take place. In the Bantamweight category, David Martinez defeated Freddy Cucul. In the Middleweight division, Jared Ramos had a challenging fight against Lofy ‘Chino’ Trejo. But in the end, he overcame his opponent. A short intermission followed, and then the co-main fight of the night was announced. Eddie Aragon, out of Canada, faced Patrick Lanza in the Featherweight category. The fight did not pass the first round after Aragon went down, and Lanza repeatedly hit him until the referee had to stop the match. Lanza was declared the winner.
The anticipated evening fight between Bryce Peterson and Sergio Herrera for the Bantamweight Title drew loud cheers from the audience. The fight consumed all the scheduled five rounds. Although many saw Peterson as an advantage for being more experienced in MMA, it was not an easy fight for him. Herrera proved to be a strong fighter and made Peterson work for his win. Peterson was declared the winner via a unanimous decision and awarded the Bantamweight Title belt.
The fight night continued with an after-party. The first MMA event was deemed a success, and another fight night is expected on the island in the coming months. Organizers thank everyone for attending the MMA event, the fighters, Island Emergency Services for providing medical services during the event, and to all the supporters who helped in making the event a success.
