KD MMA Goes 3-2 at UNF 34

Three wins, two losses

UNF 34 is done. Five KD MMA fighters walked into the cage at The Commerce Casino on Saturday, July 18. Three of them walked out with a win.

Here is the card, straight.

The results

• Hamzeh Trad def. Adam Penunuri — win.
• Khachik Vardanian def. Daniel Huynh — win. Khachik moves to 4-0, still unbeaten.
• Pargev Khachatrian def. Enrique Marte — win, and he moves to 4-0. Pargev also coaches wrestling at KD MMA Glendale, so he spent the night switching between the corner and the walkout.
• Rafayel Ktikyan lost to Brendan Farnsworth — in the fight for the vacant Rising Stars Lightweight Championship. Farnsworth finished it with a buggy choke, a submission rare enough that the highlight ran in the national MMA press.
• Ibragim Ibragimov lost to Aleko Sagliani.

The title fight

Rafayel went in unbeaten and came out with his first loss — in a title fight, to a submission most fighters never see in a whole career. It does not need softening. He was in there for a belt against a live opponent and he got caught. He will be back in the room, and the belt is not going anywhere.

What a 3-2 night actually says

Five of the sixteen bouts on the card carried a KD MMA name — close to a third of the night, one of the largest single-gym contingents in the building. Three came back winners.

We post the losses for the same reason we post the wins: anyone can look up a record. A gym that only shows you its good nights is selling something. Competition does not work that way, and neither do we. Every fighter on this list did the hard part — they signed, they cut, they walked out there with their name on the poster.

Congratulations to Hamzeh, Khachik and Pargev. Respect to Rafayel and Ibragim, who took the hardest version of the night and will be back on the mats this week.