March 3, 2010

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17 Seconds

Local mixed martial artist captures title

With a triumphant battle cry he pummels the air. Blood drips into his eye as he stomps across the cage. He snarls, flexes, sweat falling in heavy drops.A few feet away his fallen opponent can only watch, incredulously, on his back and listen to the cheers of the crowd. This is no time to be humble.

By James Draper
Staff Writer

17 seconds earlier, the bell sounded and Kevin “The Angel of Death” Aguilar leapt toward his opponent, Marcus “Boogeyman” Andrusia.

More than 1,000 East Texans pack Maude Cobb Convention & Activity Center in Longview Saturday night for Bad Intentions 3, four hours of brutal hand-to-hand combat. Aaron May/Mirror photo

A hurried kick, a flurry of blows and Andrusia was staggering. Lashing out, he connected, cutting Aguilar above the eye. But before the Lake Charles fighter could take advantage of the hit, his opponent – a Harmony High School graduate – was on him, driving him to the mat, battering him in a hail of blows.

The pair had been alotted five 3-minute rounds for the final fight at Bad Intentions 3 Saturday night at Longview’s Maude Cobb Convention & Activity Center, but before the crowd could even get to their feet the fight was over.

Technical Knockout. TKO. Referee Stoppage.

Over.

In the days and weeks leading up to the fight, Aguilar had been working on both his body and his bravado – he’d faced Andrusia before, beaten him, and told himself, over and over, that he was the better fighter.

“I know there’s an opponent thinking he can beat me, and I’m going to prove him wrong,” Aguilar said. “I’m going to outwork him. I’m going to prove that he’s not going to be better than me.”

Hardly lacking in confidence, all Aguilar needed was the workout, and he found it, as always, at Longview Mixed Martial Arts.

Take the name at face value – MMA is a hodgepodge of boxing, wrestling, Karate, kickboxing, Tae Kwon Do, Brazilian jiujitsu and any other fighting style a competitor brings to the ring.

East Texas mixed martial artist Kevin Aguilar, 21, puts on his game face a half-hour before vying for the 155-Pound Texas Amateur Cage Fighter title. James Draper/Mirror photo

With no background in any martial art, Aguilar brought only a desire to fight when he met trainer Wade Pomeroy a little more than two years ago. Like many others hitting the mats at Longview MMA, Aguilar had seen Ultimate Fighting on TV and wanted to try it out.

“I checked it out the first day, tried it, haven’t stopped doing it since,” Aguilar said. The thrill of battle hasn’t yet worn off for the 21-year-old, but in his mind, he’s more hero than bloodthirsty barbarian – “I work at Hollywood Theaters. I’m just a regular person during the day, but when it comes nighttime, it’s just a whole other story.”

Five nights a week Aguilar is in the gym, pushing through grueling Caveman workouts – “It’s designed to break you down and build you up” – skill training in stand-up techniques and grappling, sparring practice, time on the punching bags and more brutal conditioning.

“I’m stronger than I’ve ever been,” Aguilar says simply.

Aguilar got his basics from Kilgore College, but his focus his now on the fight. The education is almost over – with stitches, a broken nose, a cauliflower ear already on his transcript the next 10 to 15 fights will tell the tale in 2010.

Going pro will bring the bigger matches and real payouts on the pro circuits. A good fighter can expect 10 years, Aguilar said, and then he hopes to transition into training others in his own school.

Until then, he’s found his niche in the chain-link hexagon of MMA.

“That’s where all the action happens. It’s unforgiving sometimes. It can be your friend; it can be your enemy. It can work with you; it can work against you,” he said. “It just takes a certain mindset, a certain type to do this. You step foot in that cage, stare at your opponent across the mat and know that y’all are about to fight.

“You’re thinking to yourself, ‘Man, what am I doing in here?’”

Minutes before Saturday’s fight for the 155-Pound Texas Amateur Cage Fighter Championship belt, the crowd in Maude Cobb had waited, eagerly, while the two fighters made their way to the cage...

...Continued in this week's edition of The Gladewater Mirror.

Baseball, softball get off to wet start

By Ellis Hayden
Sports Correspondent

The biggest nemesis of high school Spring sports like baseball, softball, golf, tennis and track is the weather, especially when have to get started in the month of February. Local teams had to compete against the rain this past week to get in quality practice time and game experience. The Gladewater Bears were rained out of both scheduled games this past week. But the Gladewater Lady Bears were able to get in four games in the Texas Two-Step Softball Tournament in Longview that hosted many of the area’s of the top softball programs.

In their first match-up of the tournament, the Lady Bears lost a heartbreaker to Gilmer. Gladewater’s Shelby Huffman tossed a one hitter and chalked up 18 strikeouts, and the Lady Bears out hit Gilmer 9-1, yet loss the game 3-1, as the Lady Bears committed 4 fielding errors cost them the game. In the second game against, Class 4A Longview, the Lady Bears got off to a 2-0 lead and Shelby Huffman and Shelby Sorrels teams up to hold the Lady Lobos at bay, to claim a 3-1 victory.

On Saturday, the Lady Bears faced Class 2A Harleton and one of the best pitchers in the area, Kayla McDaniel, who dominated the Lady Bears with 16 K’s and a two hitter performance. Gladewater’s Shelby Huffman pitched well, with 10 K’s and a complete game in the 3-0 loss. Later in the day, the young Lady Bears lost to Linden-Kildare, 7-0. The Lady Bears got some much needed experience against some good competition, as they move forward through their 2010 schedule.

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