LEMOORE, Calif. – Palace Fight Championships welterweight title-holder Olaf Alfonso showed up at the Tachi Palace Casino and Hotel with a live Mariachi band to defend his middleweight title for the first time. Unfortunately the band couldn’t help Alfonso defend the takedown and the crowd favorite lost his belt to a hot prospect from Humboldt County.
Kyle “Humboldt” Pimentel wasn’t known from much more than his tall bleach-blonde Mohawk coming into this fight but the Norcal Fighting Alliance representative met Alfonso’s aggression with a good dose of his own coupled with technical tenacity; clinch, takedown, pound, repeat. Alfonso’s savvy kept him in the fight but Pimentel took the advice of an overzealous fan yelling “punch him in the nose,” which has been the recipient of much abuse over the span of Alfonso’s career, and forced the champ to absorb plenty of punishment under the stress of full mount. Pimentel made Alfonso take heed of his motto, “Fear the Hawk,” with continuous ground-and-pound, earning a doctor’s stoppage at 2:48 in the third round to capture the PFC 170-pound strap.
After the fight, Pimentel said that the doctor was the only person who could prevent the fight from going the distance. “I know I probably wouldn’t be able to finish him because he’s a complete bad ass,” Pimentel said.
Seven fights, seven finishes for Pimentel prompted Sherdog.com founder Jeff Sherwood to call him “legit,” and grappling with David Terrell and the NCFA daily ensures Pimentel is one to watch for the future. He answered every question the wily veteran Alfonso and PFC gold, like the WEC before, it is a pre-requisite for a call up to the big leagues. In a few more fights, Pimentel may be ready to answer that call.
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