Darabedyan vs. Joe Camacho
By Gabriel Rizk – Glendale News Press
ONTARIO — While the night was long, the performances of Glendale mixed martial arts fighters Karen Darabedyan and Sevak Magakian were short and sweet Saturday evening at Call to Arms 1 in Ontario. In what were arguably the two biggest wins of both young fighters’ careers, Magakian submitted Harold Lucambio in 1:59 of the first round, while Darabedyan opened up a cut that stopped veteran Joe Camacho after their bout’s opening round at the Ontario Citizens Business Bank Arena.
“This is the biggest for sure,” said the 22-year-old Magakian, who improved to 7-2 with his lightweight win, his third of 2009. “This is the biggest stage, the biggest card.”
The 12-fight card that lasted roughly five hours and ended right around midnight Sunday was headlined by former International Fight League champion and Ultimate Fighting Championship contender Vladimir Matyushenko defeating Jason Lambert, another former UFC veteran, via unanimous decision in a light-heavyweight tilt. In the card’s ninth bout, a lightweight battle, Darabedyan controlled the fight standing and on the ground to improve to 7-1 against Camacho (11-14-3). “I was way too confident coming into this fight, I was way too determined to lose,” said Darabedyan in a postfight interview inside the cage. “I needed to step it up.” Darabedyan and Camacho stayed on their feet in the early going, with the former gaining an edge before pushing his opponent to the cage. Darabedyan eventually put together some good right-left combos before a flurry pushed Camacho back and led to another clinch against the cage that eventually led to a break. Showing a solid Muay Thai clinch, Darabedyan landed a solid knee, pushed Camacho to the cage and landed a good right-left combo coming out of the clinch. The space initiated by Darabedyan revealed that he’d opened a sizable cut over the right eye of Camacho that soon covered much of the right side of his face. Once again the fight ended up in a clinch against the cage with Darabedyan once more imposing his will, landing knees to his opponent’s thighs and a trio of uppercuts, two to the body and one to the chin before the round came to an end. Between the first and second round, a ringside doctor examined Camacho’s cut, leading to referee Marcos Rosales’ stoppage.
Magakian found a bit more decisive finish, winning his sixth straight bout — all of them by first-round submission. “I was confident with standup, I was confident on the ground,” he said. “I was confident wherever it went.” Magakian threw some jabs to start and a leg kick before the two locked up and went to the ground. Lucambio (4-4), who took the fight on short notice and was Magakian’s third scheduled opponent, got Magakian’s back. He was high up, however, and after a bit of a struggle, Magakian shook him down, but was right in position for an armbar, but Magakian also wiggled free of that. “He didn’t get anything,” Magakian said. “He grabbed me tight [on the choke], but I was so confident, I was so calm.” After freeing himself from the armbar, Magakian dropped down for a heel hook. Lucambio fought the hold tenaciously, but the two rolled over and Magakian eventually worked into a knee bar. “He slipped [the heel hook] a couple of times. He was so strong,” Magakian said. “I went to the knee and I got him with the knee bar.” Lucambio gritted his teeth as long as he could before finally tapping out.
