Photo: William Burkhardt (bjjpix.com)
The 2013 adult black belt featherweight world champion, Augusto “Tanquinho” Mendes, made his victorious MMA debut last Saturday, in Mesa, Arizona. Mendes has been training MMA since 2012, when he met with former UFC champion Ben Henderson.
Mendes’ debut was against Jamie Carskaden as part of the event Duel for Domination 6.
Tanquinho submitted the featherweight Jamie Carskaden in the first round. Tanquinho fought as an amateur as decided by his coach John Crouch, who wanted the fighter to get used to cutting weight and adrenaline before debuting among professionals, which should occur in 2014. The fighter plans to cut down a few more pounds to bantamweight.
In the fight, Tanquinho barely broke a sweat. He took down his opponent with a beautiful double leg takedown and fell in side control and place the arm triangle.
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