Sep. 6—Albuquerque MMA fighter Jesse Tafoya is fully invested for his fight on Friday against David Miramontes — in more ways than one.
“I actually bought the pay-per-view (replay) of his last fight, because I couldn’t get it for free,” said Tafoya, who’ll face Miramontes in the flyweight (125-pound) main event of a pro-am card at Jackson-Wink MMA Academy. “So I was able to get a good amount of information.”
Tafoya (5-5), who trains at Jackson-Wink, is invested in the more traditional way as well, having trained hard and intelligently for a fight he hopes will get him back in the win column.
In his last fight on Feb. 11 in Beaumont, Texas, Tafoya lost by first-round submission (rear naked choke) to Jesús Urbina, a tough, experienced El Pasoan who is no stranger to Albuquerque MMA fans.
An illness leading up to the Urbina fight, Tafoya said in a phone interview, affected his weight cut.
“It really wrecked my body,” he said. “… I have a crazy pace; I’m a very active fighter. Keeping my pace wasn’t happening, and I gassed.”
There’ll be no gassing on Friday. His weight cut, he said, has been “really good. I feel really good.
“One of the things that I focused on for this camp was just getting my body into such good condition that even on the worst day possible I could still (maintain that pace).”
So, what did the $20 — OK, $19.99 — Tafoya invested in that pay-per-view reveal about his opponent?
Miramontes (4-6) a California native who lives and trains in Texas, has lost his last three fights, all by submission.
Tafoya doesn’t see that as necessarily a positive from his point of view.
“Sometimes you look at that and say, ‘Oh, he’s lost his last three.’ But sometimes people get sick of (losing) … and might come out a little harder, train a little better.”
On tapology.com, Miramontes’ foundation style is listed as “chingazos,” Spanish slang for throwing down in a big way. Three of his four victories have come by KO or TKO.
Yet, from what Tafoya has observed, Miramontes is more a would-be takedown artist.
“He seems to be a standup fighter who shoots for a lot of takedowns,” he said. “… He doesn’t seem very high-level on the ground … but he’s aggressive, for sure.”
Of his own style, Tafoya said, “It started out being jiujitsu, but at this point I think I’m extremely well-rounded.”
Tafoya, 28, began studying martial arts at the age of 7, dedicating his early years to wushu kung fu. He began training in MMA at 13, had his first amateur fight at 18 and turned pro five years ago. Before the loss to Urbina, he’d won three in a row.
As invested as he is in MMA, his part-time job as a prep cook at The Daily Grind pays the bills.
He plans to be cooking in the cage on Friday.
The Bird and the Kat: Sept. 23 promises to be a big night for two Albuquerque-area fighters.
Moriarty MMA fighter Tim “Dirty Bird” Means (32-15-1) is scheduled to face Portugal’s Andre Fialho (16-7) that evening on a UFC Fight Night card in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Means has lost his last three fights but remains a popular and respected fighter in UFC circles. Fialho, who now lives and trains in Florida, also has lost three in a row.
That same night, Bosque Farms boxer Katherine “Kat” Lindenmuth (5-1) is scheduled to face Yadira Bustillos (7-1) in Long Beach, California. It’s a rematch of a September 2022 bout won by Bustillos via majority decision — an outcome disputed by Lindenmuth.
The Lindenmuth-Bustillos signing was first reported by boxingnewmexico.com.