Liveblog: ROC 24 Part 2

First up are the preliminary bouts, with Chris Aquino of Real Fighting taking on Louis Gaudinot of TSMMA. I've personally seen Gaudinot lop off someone's head at an amateur event, so this one could get bloody. Round 1 unfolds with Aquino exploiting his height and reach advantage on the feet and Gaudinot harnessing the power of his Hulk-green hair to slam Aquino and pound on him against the cage. Round 2 is more of the same, with Aquino almost getting his opponent's back after Gaudinot missed with a spinning backfist. Meanwhile, Gaudinot kept it up by nailing two more slams. Time runs out and Gaudinot is rightfully awarded the unanimous decision. Next up are Dave Church of Pellegrino MMA and John Salgado of Inner G Systems (with the "G" standing for "gangsta"). Church starts out with a successful takedown and nearly snags an armbar from the bottom, but Salgado doesn't like that so he stomps on Church's head. For such an egregious foul Salgado is docked two points, which means despite his hellacious battering of Church on the ground, the Pellegrino MMA fighter takes the round (Church does have some damn close armbar attempts though). The war escalates in the second round, as both men doggedly trade blows on the feet. Time runs out and they're really blasting each other, and when the scores are tallied it's declared a draw (in other words, if not for that two-point deduction, Salgado would've won it). Impressive performance by both men. The last prelim is TSMMA's Jose Villanueva against Joshua Montoya of Undisputed Fitness. Montoya scores with a lateral drop and Villanueva reverses rains down bombs that Montoya miraculously survives. Round 2 plays out in similar fashion, and when the final bell rings there's no question Villanueva has earned the unanimous decision. In his pro debut, the bantamweight Villanueva already looks like a force to be reckoned with.