MMA
Fights at the Rail Yards, tonight!
Jackson's MMA Series
Watching some fights down by the railroad tracks just got a lot less ghetto.
The newly refurbished Rail Yards, just south of downtown, is now the go-to spot for hipster points, and will be hosting its second weekly community market mere hours after they pack up the cage. But tonight the old blacksmith shop belongs to the fighting community, as an all-amateur card of fighters will strip to the waist and try to use each other as stepping-stones as they climb the mountain of glory.
The nine-fight Jackson’s MMA Series card, Protégé, starts at 7, at 1100 2nd St SW, and will feature Albuquerque fighters from local gyms taking on comers from elsewhere in state. Tickets to this uniquely-set event are available at Hold My Ticket.
At the top of the card is a fighter whose career I’ve followed ever since he won the Jackson’s Edge Challenge in 2011. Ricky Esquibel, of the Jackson-Winkeljohn camp here in Albuquerque, battles Chris Brewer of Alamosa in a main event battle that should have been a 125 lbs (flyweight), had Brewer not missed weight by 2 and a half pounds.
To see some rare footage from Esquibel’s first fight—in which he impressively got out of a tight spot by picking up his opponent, slamming him, and strangling him—please refer to this blog post I wrote at the time.