Junior welterweight up-and-comer Cain Sandoval scored a sixth-round stoppage of Romero Duno on Saturday in the main event of a 360 Promotions card at the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez, California. The five-bout card was streamed live on UFC Fight Pass.
Sandoval (14-0, 12 KOs) gradually beat the fight out of Duno (26-5, 20 KOs) over five rounds of back-and-forth power punches until he floored the former edge contender with a vicious right to the body have given up. Round 6. The 28-year-old veteran from the Philippines struggled to get to his feet, but the punch caught his wind, and he was counted out by referee Gerard White.
Sandoval dropped him!!! 🫨 #HFN pic.twitter.com/LXkzx4f5Ob
— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) September 1, 2024
It was a hard-earned KO, but one the 22-year-old Sacramento native wanted after going the 10-round distance in his previous two bouts.
“I’ve been working on my defense in the gym and it felt good to get the knockout,” said Sandoval, who had a swollen left eye (the result of taking too many right hands) and battled through a bloody nose and mouth have. “I wanted to knock him out earlier. I knew the body shots would work when I looked at his previous fights.”
Sandoval’s promoter Tom Loeffler said he was looking to take the boxer-puncher on an October show in Commerce, Calif., which would be the young gun’s fourth fight of 2024.
In the co-main event of the card, junior middleweight sub Sadriddin Akhmedov improved to 14-0 by scoring his 12th knockout and overwhelming Antonio Todd in the opening round of a scheduled eight-round middleweight bout. Akhmedov, of Astana, Kazakhstan, landed a monster right hand that dropped Todd (17-11, 9 KOs), a tough and savvy journeyman from Atlanta, then swung him along the ropes until referee Ivan Guillermo stepped in with the mercy stop at 2:31 of the round.
Akhmedov just dominated!! #HFN pic.twitter.com/cTd2aqasfz
— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) September 1, 2024
This was Akhmedov’s first fight under the 360 ​​Promotions banner.
On the undercard, light heavyweight prospect Umar Dzambekov stopped Edward Ortiz in the fourth round of a scheduled eight-round bout. Dzambekov (9-0, 6 KOs) faced a mirror image in Ortiz, also a slick southpaw technician, but he set the pace and landed the harder punches of the opening bell. Ortiz (13-2-2, 5 KOs), a former US national champion from San Antonio, boxed well in the pocket against Dzambekov, a nine-time Austrian national amateur champion, but the Russian-born southpaw broke through with hard hooks and crosses that finally took their toll in Round 4.
Ortiz was dropped twice before the fight was stopped. It was Dazmbekov’s first fight of 2024 after a busy 2023 in which he fought six times. Apparently the time off suited him well.
IT’S OVER!! #HFN pic.twitter.com/ilhrPf1fN4
— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) September 1, 2024
Daniel Robles (9-3-1, 5 KOs), of Oxnard, California, outpointed match man Jonathan Almacen (7-12-3, 2 KOs), of Metro Manila, Philippines, in a competitive and entertaining four-round featherweight bout , winning by scores of 40-36 and 39-37 (twice).
Angel Carrillo (3-0-1, 1 KO), of Oxnard, Calif., caged and unorthodox southpaw Josaphat Navarro (1-2-1), of Laguna Hills, Calif. (by way of the Philippines) in the third round of a four-round junior featherweight bout. Carrillo, only 19 years old, pressured and outworked Navarro until referee Gerard White saw enough punishment.
