Lemoore High wrestler wins first bout in UFC match at Save Mart Center

He convincingly won his fight Saturday night at Fresno State's Save Mart Center.

The Las Vegas-based UFC hosted a 13-bout card Saturday night at the Save Mart Center, and while Perez may not have been the main event, there were many in the audience there just to see him.

Perez pleased the crowd by defeating Carls John De Tomas in his inaugural debut in a three-round bantamweight fight.

Perez won with a second-round tap out in the second round.

“It means a lot to me to get my first fight,” Perez told The Leader in a recent article. “I’ve been waiting a long time and because it’s in Fresno makes it that much better.”

The UFC is an American mixed martial arts organization based in Las Vegas and features the top-ranked fighters in the sport.

Perez is the first Lemoore athlete to earn a UFC contract, and he got it by fighting in the UFC’s “Dana White Tuesday Night Contender Series” held Aug. 8 in Las Vegas. The weekly show highlights up and coming contenders and features five matches. Winners aren’t guaranteed contracts, so a fighter needs to impress the judges.

Perez was the only fighter that night to earn a contract.

Most recently, Perez was the 2014 MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) Tachi Palace 125-pound champion. Championships, whether on the wrestling mat or in the ring, come relatively easy to Perez. In high school, under the tutelage of Lemoore High School’s Marcio Botelho, a one-time wrestling champ himself, Perez was a three-time West Yosemite League champ, two-time Divisional champ and was ranked in the state’s top 12 wrestlers in his weight class.

 “I started wrestling in the sixth grade and from there began wrestling in middle school and then high school,” remembered Perez. “My brothers started wrestling, so we just made it a family thing.”

After watching friends train in MMA, Perez, thanks to his wrestling background, thought that maybe he could compete. “I just saw some friends training, and I wanted to try it,” he said. “I didn’t want to regret that I didn’t try.”

Ultimately the talented athlete won the Tachi Palace 125-pound title, compiling a 14-2 record. “I fought all over California.”