There were a few local fighters on the Strikeforce Challengers 15 fight card which was held in my hometown of Stockton, Calif.
Strikeforce Champion and Stockton native Nick Diaz was in attendance, as was Sacramento's Urijah Faber, who is coming off a win in his UFC debut.
Josh Thornburg from Lodi, Calif., was the biggest name from the area on the fight card. Things didn't go well in his fight against James Terry.
Thornburg got careless, fighting with his hands down, and Terry took advantage. He caught Thornburg with a right hand that knocked him out before he hit the canvas.
Rafael Rios of Stockton also didn't put his best performance together. In a fight that went the distance, Rios clearly was outworked by his opponent, Anthony Avila, who improved to 4-1.
They stood and traded shots, but Rios was more on the defensive end and was trying to counter. Rios is known for his solid boxing skills, but he never seemed confident. He never got off first and wasn't putting together any combinations.
The fight that got the crowd amped up was my friend's little brother and Stockton product Robert "Bobby" Escalante vs. Raul Sandoval of Marysville, Calif. He improved to 2-2 with the win.
He lost his first bout against a more experienced fighter by triangle choke. In his second pro fight he caught his opponent with a looping right hand causing his opponent's leg to give out and he couldn't continue.
He lost his third fight after dislocating his elbow early in the first round while tangled up with his opponent. He has also won a grappling competition in Las Vegas.
After coming out on the short end in his first two fights at home he was determined to come out victorious this time.
The fight didn't begin well for the Edison High product. His opponent, Raul Sandoval, had control for the most part. The amped-up crowd got quiet when Sandoval took Escalante's back.
I started chanting "2-0-9, 2-0-9", which is Stockton's area code; as the entire Stockton Arena began to follow, Escalante reversed the position.
It then went back and forth with Sandoval in the dominant position until Escalante slapped a mean armbar on him, forcing Sandoval to verbally submit.
What made the win that much more impressive is that Sandoval is from Urijah Faber's camp.
It was a great night of fights. Remember the name Bobby Escalante. He's an up and coming fighter with an excellent wrestling background.
He is a two-time qualifier for the CIF Wrestling tournament in 2005 and 2006 at Edison High School.
He traveled from Stockton to New Jersey to try out for The Ultimate Fighter show but wasn't allowed to participate because of his record, which was 1-2 at the time. I think they made a mistake and missed out on a young star on the rise.
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