Liveblog: ROC 24 Part 3

The Showroom at the Tropicana is now packed, and the first main card bout is Al Iaquinta of Serra/Longo against Fight Factory's Will Martinez. These two met as amateurs, with Iaquinta coming away the winner via decision. How much has time evolved these two? Apparently a whole hell of a lot. Round 1 sees Martinez stuff some seriously deep takedown attempts and pepper Iaquinta with knees and punches, establishing right off the bat that he's not going to get steamrolled by the lightweight juggernaut. Iaquinto does, however, get two takedowns, which may have tipped the crazy-close round in his favor. Round 2 is more face-punching as both make their make their cases as to who's the baddest, and Round 3 sees Iaquinta take charge by securing top position on the ground. Time runs out and the judges go to work, and when the scores are announced it's revealed that Iaquinta had a point deduction in Round 2 for grabbing the fence. The result: a 28-28 unanimous draw. There is no doubt Iaquinta and Martinez are meeting in the cage once again. They fought their hearts out and showed a ton of skills. Matt McManmon of Modern Martial Arts and Jay McClean of Advanced Martial Arts are up. This is an interesting match-up, as it should tell us which is better: modern? Or advanced? Based on Round 1, modern may have the edge, although that may be a function of McManmon's height and reach advantage and propensity for firing off knees from the clinch. Modern once more proves to be killer as McManmon spends most of Round 2 affixed to McClean's back with the figure-four and hunting for the choke. Advanced rallies in the final round, with McClean rocking McManmon early with strikes, but McManmon recovers to dominate position. The round ends with McClean employing a tight guillotine, yet it's too late for the change in momentum to sway the scoring. McManmon is awarded the unanimous decision. So far every bout has gone the distance. We're due for a finish. Will TSMMA jiu-jitsu instructor Fernando Bernardino vs. AMA FC/Renzo's Joey Camacho give us a decision as well? Camacho and Bernardino pick and choose their punches throughout the first, travelling the circumference of the cage and exploding every few paces in a round that's too close to call. Camacho's wrestling enables him to dictate where the fight goes in Round 2, as he hits two takedowns, and while his ground and pound is pretty much neutralized, he's able to avoid Bernadino's sub game. Round 3 is a carbon copy of the second, and once again time runs out and a decision is rendered. The winner: Camacho via split decision.