By CONSTANCIO MARTINEZ, JR.
Special to the PRESS
This past Saturday, May 4, Port Isabel alumni Robert Maldonado made his debut in the Texas Clash Promotions “Texas Clash Bash 27” event held in Victoria, TX. It was a tough fight, but Maldonado fought hard and received recognition for his efforts.
Maldonado squared off with fellow featherweight, Jackson Huber, in a 3-round bout. Huber entered the match with four MMA fights under his belt and Maldonado knew from the beginning that he was going to have a “dawg fight” on his hands.
As round one got underway, Maldonado came out swinging and provided constant pressure on Huber. It wasn’t until the final minute that Huber went from defending the barrage of punches to striking back and going on the offense.
Round two began with both fighters slugging it out. Midway in the round Huber got the takedown and Maldonado spent the rest of the round defending against the choke.
The third and final round saw Maldonado continue to be aggressive with his punching and he even managed to stun Huber which led to Huber to clinch. Maldonado got a takedown of his own and got off a couple of hits before Huber got on his feet.
Maldonado then got off another six punches dropping Huber to his knees as they scrambled around on the ground. Although Huber got top position, Maldonado was still landing strikes from the bottom.
The decision was a (2-1) split decision with one judge giving the nod to Maldonado. Although Maldonado lost the fight, his performance earned him “Fight of the Night” honors. It’s not the outcome he wanted, but Maldonado is glad he gave the audience a show.
“I fought my heart out for my first fight and it will not change the fact on how I did that night win, lose or draw,” said Maldonado.
Growing up, Maldonado has always loved to watch MMA and other combat fights, but it wasn’t until living in Austin that Maldonado decided to join an MMA gym. After two years of training, he moved back down to the area and now trains with Jason Lee out of BKC Jujitsu in Port Isabel as well as Brayan Medina, Jorge Solis,
Damian Sierra, Ruben Gutierrez and Estilo Solis out of Evo Kickboxing Academy in Brownsville.
Maldonado’s next tentative bout is scheduled for July 27 and he will be fighting in the Texas Fight League.