Kofa grad suffers tough loss at Desert Rage VI

Eric Blanton was blindsided. Not by his fight with Jesse Miramontes, in which he submitted after being caught by a flying rear-naked choke.  

What caught him off guard was his discussion with his cornerman, Terrell Hunsinger, after the fight.

 Hunsinger, disappointed by his friend’s performance, stopped at nothing to ask him the tough questions. “What are your plans?” he said. “Where do you want to go with your career?”

 The questions had no real answer, but losing in the fashion that Blanton did would leave most speechless.

 After Miramontes (10-5, 8 submissions) shot in on Blanton’s leg, Blanton (2-2, 1 KO) sprawled in order to avoid the takedown. Seconds later Miramontes was back on his feet, then on his back and then had the choke. The fight lasted just 59 seconds.

Blanton’s loss took place during the co-main event of Saturday’s Desert Rage VI at Cocopah Casino. The Kofa graduate has fought in four of the promotion’s cards, but Saturday’s fight against Miramontes was only an exhibition bout.

 “I think (Blanton’s) at a stage where he’s trained really hard and fights have fell through,” Hunsinger said. “He lost the first fight on such short notice. He never should have taken the fight on such short notice.”

 Short notice may be generous, Blanton said he had one-days notice and had been training for only a few weeks. But his background as a wrestler made him a candidate for the bout. His opponent in his first bout: Jesse Miramontes.

 In the fighters’ first meeting Miramontes won, once again by submission, via armbar. Two years later, the setup and the fight ended in similar fashion.

 “Last Wednesday I found out I was fighting him again,” Blanton said. “My standup was way better than when we first met, but his ground game was just phenomenal.

 “When (the choke) happened I was doing well, then I felt him on my back and all you can do is say congratulations to him. That’s a move I couldn’t do. I saw it happen in the UFC, but I’ve never seen a guy do that in the gym.”

 But because it was fought as an exhibition, the loss won’t count toward Blanton’s record. Neither will the win for Miramontes. Despite that, Blanton said it doesn’t make the outcome any easier.

 “It still sucks to lose the way I did,” Blanton said. “Next time I’m fighting, I’m going to have a training camp, no matter what.”

 Training was the one thing Hunsinger tried to instill in Blanton more than anything. Training and having Blanton avoid a possible third match against Miramontes.

 “I’m not going to have you fight him ever again,” Hunsinger said to Blanton. “Not unless both you guys are fighting in the WEC or something."