Live MMA in Costa Rica: A Travel Story

Costa Rica has a lot of mysteries. Why do people pay good money to have their luggage wrapped in Saran wrap? How can a country exist without an army? Why are the streets so narrow that two cars can’t fit without driving in the middle of the street and negotiating for space if another car shows up? (Driving around huge potholes makes this even more challenging.) Why do five zillion people swarm you at the airport insisting that you need a taxi and refusing to go away?  Why are there so many amazing varieties of strange fruit? Why do people in the stores constantly try to give Americans incorrect change? And why is it that a country where you can’t get things I’ve come to think of as necessities (such as coconut oil and bubblegum) just so happens to have an 8-man lightweight tournament on the exact same weekend that I happen to be there?

It was almost too good to be true. A friend sent me the link to Fite Nite’s Sin Limites. I was too excited about the possibility to even ask why someone would purposely misspell two words that already rhymed. After making sure the event was not on the other side of the country, I decided to look into it. Normally I buy tickets over the phone, but since I’d heard that Costa Rica will not prosecute thieves who steal items under $250 (thus making petty theft rampant) I decided it was a bad idea to give out my credit card number. Tickets were available for purchase at the door, or for 2000 colones off (about $3.50) we could get a messenger to deliver the tickets to our door. Hell yeah!  I got spoiled sitting cageside at local promotions; getting regular seats hasn’t felt the same since. Still, I didn’t want to shell out for cageside tickets, but the “VIP” tickets, at a mere 23 bucks a pop, seemed like the next best thing.

I spent about an hour perusing the website. The letter to the sponsors was the funniest. It stated that the majority of attendees were men between the ages of 16-34. That seems pretty accurate for MMA in general. However, it stated that those sitting at VIP tables have a “slightly older demographic, with a large amount of disposable income… This group is usually bilingual with yearly incomes in excess of $100,000.” Are they referring to the VIP section at strip clubs or something? As a teacher in a state that is dead last in education and cutting funding to the point where schools are increasing class sizes, sending teachers RIF notices and instituting furloughs, I found this hysterical. I realize that even the poorest Americans are quite rich compared to those who are truly suffering in developing countries. Still, I was hoping the Fite Nite promoters could wave their magic sponsor wand to more than triple my salary and teach me Spanish…except that I believe the wand would also increase my age and change my gender and I could do without that.

Another interesting thing on the website was the option of getting private fighting shows. “Enhance your company’s entertainment activity or even your personal celebration,” the site reads, pointing out that event includes DJ and animation, full security, staff, lighting and ambulance. Fighting at a private event seems strange to me, but at least the fighters are getting paid.

I quickly looked over the fight rules and noticed that many bouts were only scheduled for 2 rounds, unless there was a tie. Also, there were no elbows allowed… I went to the fights with my dad, and this was his first exposure to the sport. When he mentioned that MMA seems a lot more civilized than boxing, I wondered how much of that impression was due to the lack of elbows.

The day was Sabado 13 de Junio (er, Saturday June 13) at Torre Geko, Mall Real Cariari. Costa Rica appears to have more than its fair share of swindlers, so we wondered if the people charging us to park were actually at all involved with the promotion (or parking lot). We paid anyway and headed inside. After what can only be described as frisking by security, we got our shiny plastic emerald green bracelets to indicate we’d be sitting in the VIP section. The section was fairly empty, and most of the other people who were sitting there (as evident by their non-shiny bracelets) had only paid general admission. Where did all my rich bilingual buddies go? I wouldn’t have minded some free rounds of beer!

The first two bouts were boxing matches. Yacir Cruz from Nicaragua faced off against Costa Rica’s own Manuel Blanco. No one was landing solid combinations in the first round, but Manuel Blanco ended up getting a lot more shots in during the last three rounds for a solid win. Then Costa Rica’s own Elvin Perez (donning a gold sequin jacket) stepped out to fight Noel Gomez (Nicaragua) in a six-round boxing match. Both fighters had solid combos and some good exchanges, but Perez had a slight edge from the beginning, which he capitalized on throughout the latter rounds. Gomez spent a lot of time against the ropes, which didn’t really work for him. Perez was declared the winner.

Next was MMA Libres, which were not part of the tournament. Jason Fitzhugh and Ramsey Clark teed off for three rounds, and Fist Factory’s Fitzhugh (say that three times fast) won by split decision.

Finally, the MMA tournament began. The first two fighters were Sebastian Garguier (I believe from France) and Matias Vasquez from Chile. Because Vasquez got two points taken off for hitting in the back of the head (by a hypersensitive referee), Garguier had to get beaten by him one additional round. Vasquez won the match, 29-27. Next up were Argentina’s Fernando Martinez versus Mexico’s Ivan Perez. Martinez, who trains with Cobra Kai, pulled a Brian Bowles move (flying into closed guard with a guillotine in mid-air to avoid getting slammed) and then unfortunately was the victim of an inadvertent  groin shot. After a quick recovery, he managed to sink in a rear naked choke for a 2nd round win.  The third bout in the tournament wa Humberto Brown versus Costa Rica’s very own Alejandro “Mandarina” Solano (Rodriguez). Why a 1-0 fighter would be placed against Solano, with a 7-4 record, is beyond me. I believe saying Solano was given an edge to win would be a fair assumption. Win he did, sinking in a rear naked choke in the 1st round. Finally, Brazil’s Andres Oliviera fought Mexico’s Guillermo Serment. Serment managed to squeak out a split decision win against the Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt.

Another MMA Libres bout took place before the semifinales. Local fighter Eriko Vasquez scored a decision win against Panama’s Carlos Freia, much to the delight of the crowd… Someone in the audience figured out that “Vamino Eriko” rhymes, and everyone proceeded to scream that at the top of their lungs for all three rounds…  This gave me a really excellent headache, which made me realize I didn’t think the fight was all that outstanding. At least I was awake and jazzed for the rest of the fights. Who knows how many of the “slightly older demographic” were falling asleep despite the noise?

Fernando Martinez faced Matias Vasquez for the first fight in the semi-finals. Although Martinez had the edge in my eyes, Vasquez somehow won by split decision. In the following fight, Solano scored a well-deserved unanimous decision win over Oliviera. More MMA Libres followed– Costa Rican Franklin Morales got a 1st round knockout win against Colombia’s Cesar Montero, and Leonard Arguedas got a rear naked choke sunk in, winning his bout agains Jonathon Ramon.

And finally, the main event of the evening… Matias Vasquez vs. Alejandro Solano. Would that it were Solano vs. Martinez, but no such luck.  Solano knocked Vasquez out in the second round. Still, I wondered if “Mandarina” would have faired as well if his first fight wasn’t against a can or if the semifinals were called differently. It is all speculation, though we did find it interesting that all six of the local fighters won their respective bouts… No conspiracy theories here as Solano has lost local promotions…and I suppose the hometown advantage can go a long way.

I saw several people donning Bodog Fight t-shirts. The short-lived promotion featured a lot of elite level female MMA fighters. Tara LaRosa, Shayna Baszler, Amanda Buckner and Rosi Sexton all had fights in Costa Rica while fighting for Bodog. Of course, these fights were filmed for an international audience. I found myself wondering how female fighters would be taken locally in this promotion,  in a country where men are required to honk their car horn twice whenever a female walks down the street. While using the lady’s room I realized I was the only woman present wearing a fight t-shirt and jeans. Everyone else had on high heels, skirts or dresses and tons of makeup. Then again, that happened to me when I went to see The Hangover right in Tucson, too…so who knows? A fight is a fight, and women always seem to win the audience over. The fact that there have been many female fights in Costa Rica is more than we can say about many US states, so Costa Rica may very well be a good place for female mixed martial artists to fight. However, I’d warn anyone fighting in this promotion to avoid going up against a Costa Rican fighter as the referees seemed to take away points quite liberally for fighters who were not local.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed my five hours at Fite Nite: Sin Limites. I find it heartening to know that local promotions are popping up in all kinds of places. A chicken in every pot and MMA in every town, to boot!