Khashakyan pulls off comeback KO win at Valley Fight Night
A riveting rally that led to a third-round knockout victory for Alfred Khashakyan proved to be a large local highlight late Friday night at the Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City at Lightsout Promotions/Bash Boxing’s Valley Fight Night 3.
Khaskhakyan squared off with Anthony Paredes in the co-main event of the mixed martial arts card.
The Glendale Fighting Club-trained kickboxer earned his fifth straight knockout to improve to 5-1 when he stopped Peredes (3-2) at the 3:23 mark of the third and final round.
Down on the scorecards after a multitude of takedowns by Peredes in the first two rounds, Khashakyan needed a finish to win the fight.
Following a referee stand-up, Khashakyan began stalking his opponent, firing off right hands and kicks, mixing up the body and the head.
He stifled a clinch against the catch and moved forward, landing a big right straight, then a kick to the body, then a right hand to the body and an immediate left hook upstairs before unleashing a barrage of lefts and rights that led to the referee stopping the bout.
Elsewhere locally, Daniel Clark, who’s trained by Glendale resident Alberto Crane of Burbank Gracie Barra, notched a first-round submission win, while GFC’s Levon Sargsyan sustained a first-round submission loss and GFC teammate Vardan Sholinian was forced to pull out of his bout with an injury.
Clark (4-2) defeated Marlen Magee (3-3) at the 1:53 mark of the first round, landing knees from the clinch to floor his opponent before transitioning to a rear-naked choke for the tap.
Christian Rodriguez (2-2) defeated Sargsyan (2-3) via far-arm choke at 2:25 of the first.
Sholinian (5-1) reportedly wanted to fight scheduled opponent Anthony Hernandez (2-0) despite an ankle injury, but his coaches and manager called a halt to it.
Southern California crowd favorite Thor Skancke (7-6) knocked out Jason Cordero (5-7) in the first round in the card’s main event.
- Jonathan King of the Clinch Report contributed to this story