LEMOORE, Ca. — It might have been the greatest 10 seconds in Palace Fighting Championship history.

Featherweights Jorge Evangelista and Art Arciniega stood toe-to-toe throwing punches with the PFC World title on the line in the fifth and final round on May 8 at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino.

“It was a war in there,” said Fresno’s Evangelista, who edged former champ Arciniega of Oakdale by unanimous decision.

“I just wanted to show the fans a good fight. It’s not about winning, it’s about showing the fans that you’re a warrior.”

It could have been a huge mistake for Evangelista, who was easily ahead on the scorecards, to entice Arciniega (6-2) to slug it out in the final round.

Evangelista (7-2-1) controlled much of the fight, scoring in the early rounds with devastating knees and in the middle rounds with stiff leg kicks.

“I wanted to take his legs from him and reduce his power and you could see that in the last round he didn’t have the same power,” Evangelista said. “It feels good to have the belt, but I’m more happy with the showing and the respect that I earned tonight.”

Eleven other fighters earned much respect at PFC 8’s “A night of Champions”, which Comcast SportsNet TV announcer Andre Covington renamed “A night of the Challenger” midway through the show.

Three champions were dethroned and Porterville’s Shawn Klarcyk won the PFC World Bantamweight interim title by submitting Oregon’s Jason Georgianna.

Santa Rosa’s Nate Loughran (8-0) submitted Visalia’s Kenny Ento (9-4) in 2:30 of the second round of a middleweight title fight.

Loughran looked spectacular throughout the contest, pressed the action and submitted the ground specialist with a rear-naked choke.

“I didn’t really feel like I was a lot stronger than him like people keep saying,” said Loughran, who is a student of Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran David Terrell (6-2). “I think that people underestimate Kenny’s strength.  He has a lot of leverage in the ring. But I think that I paced myself to go five rounds and he paced himself for two and I think he got a little tired.”

Loughran didn’t look the least bit winded and looks like a one-man wrecking crew in the middleweight division, as he won his third fight in the PFC.

“I just kept working his body and really never attempted anything to his head,” said Loughran, who dominated the first round, scoring a takedown early and got the better of the ground game.

“The one thing that we noticed about Kenny is that he is really good at his boxing or kickboxing or he is really good at jiu-jitsu, but he has a hard time in the transitions from one sport to the next,” Loughran said. “We wanted to catch him in those transitions and take advantage.”

Ento landed some solid leg kicks in the second round and took Loughran down, but Loughran was able to take Ento’s back and then sink the choke.

“I’m excited to be the champ and I will fight anyone that my team or the PFC deems necessary,” Loughran said.
In the main event, Bakersfield lightweight Brian Cobb (12-4) defeated Atlanta’s Diego Saraiva (11-7-1) by unanimous decision for the lightweight title.

Cobb locked up his second belt, as he owns the Gladiator Challenge lightweight title.

“I think that this belt kind of validates the other,” said Cobb, who dominated the fight with his top game, keeping Saraiva on his back and pounding out a win.

“We don’t want mediocrity in this sport. We are always training to fight the best and I think Diego was by far one of my toughest opponents yet.”

Saraiva was stuck on his back scrambling for submissions throughout the fight.

But it was Cobb’s excellent wrestling and solid submission defense that prevailed.

“I just wanted to fight smart and avoid his submissions,” Cobb said. “I’m comfortable on top.”

Klarcyk (8-2) captured bantamweight interim title by submitting Oregon’s Jason Georgianna (7-3) at 57 seconds of the second round.

Klarcyk exclusively and relentlessly attacked Georgiana’s legs.

“I saw a whole in his game where he didn’t close his guard,” said Klarcyk who previously held the title before losing Oakdale champ Rolando Velasco.

“I did exactly what we planned. I kept my distance, didn’t take any damage, got the takedown and submitted him.”
The first round was action packed with several scrambles.

Klarcyk took control in the second round, working a knee bar and then switching to a toehold to finish the fight.

“He wasn’t tapping from the knee bar, so I switched to a toe hold and I heard the ankle pop and he tapped,” Klarcyk said. “I just want to thank my beautiful wife and tell her happy anniversary. We’re going on three years strong.”
In other bouts:

—Huron lightweight Sergio Cortez (4-3) defeated Lemoore’s Poppies Martinez (15-5), by referee stoppage due to injury with three seconds left in the first round.

Martinez controlled the entire round, landing a solid leg kick before taking Cortez down, mounting him and sinking a tight guillotine choke.

In a scramble Cortez worked out and Martinez’ rib was injured.

—Oregon heavyweight Devin Cole (8-6) defeated Arizona’s Vince Lucero (18-14) by technical knockout in 1:17 of the first round.
— Mexico lightweight Olaf Alfonso (7-8) knocked out Hesperia’s Chris Solomon (2-5) in 28 seconds of the first round.
— Fresno featherweight Casey Olson (7-2) submitted Lemoore’s Sergio Quinones (3-2) in 46 seconds of the first round.
— Sacramento lightweight Dustin Akabari (2-0) defeated Cody Canterbury (1-3) by technical knockout in 1:37 of the first round.
— Oxnard light heavyweight Lodune Sincaid (13-6) submitted Tulare’s Rafael Del Real (5-9) in 1:03 of the first round. Guillotine choke
— Sacramento bantamweight Joseph Benavidez (5-0) submitted Los Angeles’ Maurice Eazel (3-7) in 1:02 of the first round.
—Paradises lightweight Dan Russom (2-2) defeated Sacramento’s Thonglor Armatsena (1-1) by majority decision.
For breaking PFC news go to www.palacefightingchampionship.com. You can also find other PFC and Palace information at http://www.tachipalace.com.