Tyson Taylor
sports@pqbnews.com
Marco “Machete” Viedas triumphed in his first official mixed martial arts fight.
Viedas carved out a victory by unanimous decision at Battlefield Fight League 26 inside the Hard Rock Casino in Coquitlam on Dec. 7 in what he hopes is the first of many MMA fights to come. Viedas, 19 and a Ballenas graduate, was up against Rafael Escobar, a talented Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighter out of Coquitlam.
Taking place in the Bantamweight division, Viedas came out of the gates a little too excited according to his manager and long time coach Brett Fee.
“Marco came out of the gate a little too over zealous and with his hands a little too low he got caught a few times with some punches early on in the fight,” said Fee.
Once Viedas settled down he started to take over the fight in the first round, landing a take down and gaining dominant position over Escobar. However, near the end of the first round, Viedas was almost caught in an arm bar submission but was able to come out of the round unscathed thanks to some good defense. Round one ended up being scored in favor of Escobar.
Knowing he was behind on the scorecard, “Machete” came out much more composed in the second round and began to really take the fight over at this point. In the final two rounds, Viedas was a perfect five for five in his takedowns and spent the majority of those two rounds controlling the fight on the ground.
With the fight going to a decision, all three judges scored the bout 29 – 28 in favour of Viedas, handing him his first victory in his first MMA fight.
“I’m very proud of him for getting to this point. He’s a young fighter and has so much to learn, but he is doing his best to do everything right, from his diet to his training and to his rest, Marco takes it very seriously,” Fee said.
Viedas is an instructor at the Parksville Taekwondo School, where Fee said, “his students love him.”
He said he is excited after his first bout and everything he was able to accomplish leading up to that first fight.
“It’s been great having some of the awesome sponsors behind me,” Viedas said. “Island Surf Co., Siege Consulting, Ocean City Tattoos and Riptide Graphics have all helped me out. Having them as sponsors is huge, especially as an amateur right now because I don’t make money with the fights, it helps with being able to get my proper nutrition and get to train the ways that I need to, they really help me out big time.”
Coming away from his first fight without any injuries, Viedas is back and ready to resume training in preparation for the next fight, which could happen at anytime.
“You just never really know. At this point, because I’m just starting out, you have to be ready to fight whenever you have the chance to fight.”