In the main event, Groundslam Gym Yokohama’s Michinori Tanaka defeated Crisanto Pitpitunge of Team Lakay to become the new PXC Bantamweight Champion. The fight went the distance with Tanaka emerging as the Unanimous decision winner. The Classy Japanese fighter later acknowledged how tough it was to win the belt against the “Slugger” from the Philippines. All three scorecards ended with 48-46 for Tanaka, could have been 48-47 without the point deduction on Pitpitunge. Nevertheless, the point deduction had no effect on the final outcome, with three rounds out of 5 going in favor of the Japanese fighter.
Here’s the referee’s statement via his facebook page:
“Just to clear up the point deduction people are asking me about in the Championship fight......At the rules meeting we discussed all the rules including not putting your fingers in your opponents gloves to stop his hand movements so during the round I had to tell Crisanto many times to stop putting his fingers in Tanaka’s gloves so that he could attempt to stop getting struck in the face. At one point he stuck his fingers deep into the thumb hole even prompting Tanaka to complain about it so at that point after 3-4 warnings i said I'm taking a point after the round ends ,which as you all seen I did! Now maybe some people in the crowd were confused as to what happened because i didn’t stop the action! On a foul such as that, there’s no need to stop the flow of the action when in fact as it was could be addressed at the end of the round and Chris knew it was coming because i told him as they were fighting! Even after the deduction I had to keep warning him and his corner in between rounds to stop doing it! I hope that clears the air for everybody and provided a little education as to certain MMA rules that apply to all the fighters!”
– Tony D’ Angelo
The Japanese Bantamweight superstar and now PXC Bantamweight Champion, Michinori Tanaka remains undefeated at 8-0.
Rolando Dy-Navarette def Arex Montalban Armbar Rnd 1
Takumi Nakayama def Jonathan Pecyna Kimura Rnd 1
Syafiq Abdul Bin Samad def Wesley Machado Armbar Rnd 2
Ernesto Montilla Jr. def Jerome Wanawan TKO Rnd 2
Reno Remigio def Hong Seung Chan TKO Rnd 3
Trevin Jones def Troy Bantiag UD Rnd 3
Jang Yong Kim def Nate Thorell Kimura Rnd 1
Michinori Tanaka def Crisanto Pitpitunge UD Rnd 5