Local favorite knocked unconscious during Desert Rage V; violence in stands ensues

The silence afterwards continued many times longer than the actual fight.

In the main event, Ernie Davila from Holtville knocked out Desert Rage featherweight title holder Chance Farrar with a punch 18 seconds into the first round at the Desert Rage V mixed martial arts (MMA) contest at Cocopah Casino Saturday night.

Then for the next several tense minutes Farrar was unresponsive as paramedics checked his condition and started securing him to a stretcher. But Farrar regained consciousness and walked out with the help of his corner.

In those intervening minutes, for a brief moment, the fight was outside of the ring as three fans quickly cleared a section of seats before security swiftly responded.

Cocopah Casino General Manager Jerry Lane said the extracurricular fight was subdued in twenty seconds as almost a dozen nearby security forces from the Cocopah Tribal Police Department, and the Cocopah Casino Security Force responded.

"A couple guys got upset with what happened with Chance (Farrar), a local guy gets hurt and tempers flare and somebody wants to act stupid," Lane said.

As for Farrar, he was dazed for several minutes after the fight, sitting on metal steps behind stage as medics and cornermen like Anthony Haile continued to check his condition.

But by Sunday, according to Haile, Farrar already checked out and released from the hospital was already talking about a rematch.

"In MMA anything can happen, next time will probably be different," Haile said.

Earlier, Jeff Welsing's career ended in 48 seconds with a dominant win.

The Yuma High wrestling coach ducked under Kenneth Ames' wild punches, took him down with a double leg hook and got into side control, knocked out a couple teeth with an elbow then put it across Ames' throat until he tapped out.

Despite being warned against it in the rules meeting, the exuberant Welsing leaped to the top of the cage in celebration at finally getting an MMA win after two losses.

Part of the reason Welsing stepped back into the ring was because his younger brother Jay told him he can't quit 0-2 because he will always be an 0-2 fighter. Jay promised he would come from Wisconsin if he fought again. Jay was there to cut the gloves off Welsing as he talked about retiring a winner after initially committing to one fight over a year ago.

"I've been waiting for over a year (to win). I took a hard loss last April and then I took another hard loss in November and it's hard to keep yourself going and keep yourself motivated," Jeff Welsing said.

Eleven of the twelve fights featured a fighter from the local Arizona Athletic Club (AAC) or Yuma with two bouts all Yuman affairs, and Yuma fighters won seven of the eleven.

In the amateur ranks, Joey Lugo (AAC) won his premier fight and Justin Lillie of Torture Athletics in Yuma outhustled Gabe Rios (AAC) while Carlos Figueroa (AAC) was submitted with a triangle choke in the first round.

On the main card, Mike Garcia, AAC youth instructor showed how to control a fight with jiu jitsu and win the final round with ground and pound. Welsing and Tyler Bialecki (AAC) finished their fights in the first minute. Bialecki won with a technical knockout when the referee stopped his blows from a dominant position.

Josh Vandenburg, formerly from Yuma but now in Lake Havasu by way of Brazil, was overwhelmed in the first round and stopped by punches in the first round.

Two more Yumans, Jose Carbajal and Zack Surdyka (AZ Combat Sports, Tempe) earned TKO wins in the first round with blows to their opponents head.

Mike Cypher (AAC) went all three rounds, and had two good submission opportunities - one in the first and one in the third - but lost a decision to Ruben Salazar of El Centro because of his dominant striking.

Holtville's Davila was the underdog to Farrar, but improved his Desert Rage record to 3-2 fighting in every Desert Rage event, with a first round knockout of the 145 pound title holder.