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Angel "Of Death" De Anda
is no push over Article By Phil Lanides
 They
say that the squeakiest wheel gets the oil. In the case of two
fighters like Gladiator Challenge Heavyweight Champion Angel “of
Death” De Anda and the next challenger to his crown, Dave “Bad Man”
Huckaba, most of the attention usually goes to Huckaba. Always good
for a quote, he never shies from a microphone, and always freely
expresses his mind. Its all part of the mind games that the veteran
knows how to play so well.
But De Anda and his somewhat quiet demeanor shouldn’t be mistaken
for a fighter who’s being intimidated. Strength and confidence lie
just beneath the surface for the champ, and on September 18th at
“Undisputed,” De Anda will get a chance to prove just that. The
champ’s most recent victory came at the July 18th “Patriots” event,
where he ran his record to 8-1. Here’s a description of the fight
from Oakdale Leader sportswriter Ike Dodson, who was live on the
scene:
“In the night’s main event, Oakdale MMA heavyweight Angel De Anda
(of Modesto) closed the evening with a dominant total knockout of
previously unbeaten Josh Appelt to successfully defend his Gladiator
Challenge belt in the division.
De Anda’s fight against undefeated Appelt in the feature event
proved a perfect finale for the card. He landed devastating strikes
to rock his bigger opponent and cleverly avoided all of Appelt’s
takedown attempts in a busy first round. De Anda took Appelt’s back
several times and landed heavy blows until referee Herb Dean could
wave off the strikes and call the fight. De Anda (8-1) is on pace to
see another title defense in the Gladiator Challenge heavyweight
division against Dave Huckaba, who knocked out his opponent just
seconds into the first round on Saturday. Huckaba made several
references to his quest for the heavyweight title after his brutal
victory, and was even heard predicting a knock out of De Anda after
witnessing the Oakdale fighter’s successful title defense.”
This type of coverage shows the GC fans that even the mainstream
sports world is getting geared up for this huge showdown. And though
Huckaba may make more noise, fight fans would be well-served not to
write off the champ. He’ll be ready.
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