By Caoilte de Barra
Day 2 of the 2022 IMMAF Pan American Championships is complete after a busy day of competition. The action got underway at 11 am (UTC-5) local time. Twenty-three bouts took place in Cage 1, of which eighteen ended via finish.
The Brazilian trio of Giulliany Perea, Josiane Oliveira and Ana Vitoria Diniz all booked their place in the finals by finishing each of their opponents. Perea submitted Colombia’s Danielle Duque with a kneebar in the first round to get things underway. Oliveira made it a double over Colombia by stopping Paula Aguilera in the second round. Diniz rounded off the hattrick of finishes with an armbar victory over Mexico’s Perla Mendoza Gonzalez.
Mexico’s Valeria Gomez continued her fine form against United States’ Hope Holmes. Gomez entered the competition on the back of her junior strawweight silver medal-winning run at the World Championships. Her first-round rear-naked choke win lines up an exciting clash with fellow World silver medalist Giulliany Perea in the final.
Colombian standout Mateo Lara secured his slot in the finals by making it two wins in as many days. The highly experienced flyweight was on the right side of the decision against Puerto Rico’s Joel Torres and will meet Mexico’s Jaime Sierra in the division decider.
Aruba’s sole entry Joshua Paredes got off to an impressive start in his first bout of the competition. He decisively beat United States’ Carlos Nanez over three rounds and will face Mexico’s Carlos Polito Guevara in the final.
The United States team had mixed success over the day. After suffering two early losses, Jonathan Powell and his fellow countryman, David Camacho, competed against each other, with Powell coming out on top. Shane Collins and Gabe Rednose made their mark on the competition with early finishes. The team finished the day with six finals scheduled for tomorrow.
Middleweight hopeful Emiliano Gonda kept Uruguay’s gold medal hopes alive by submitting Mikhell Allen with a guillotine choke.
Hard-hitting heavyweights closed out the day. Guyana’s Carl Ramsay and Trinidad and Tobago’s Jeremy Rodulfo each finished their opponents in the opening to set up tomorrow’s final.
The full list of today’s results can be found here, and the full schedule for Day 3 of the competition can be found here. All of tomorrow’s action will be available internationally on immaf.tv and in Mexico (only) on Facebook, starting at 11 am (UTC-5) local time with an estimated run time of 5 hours.
