SANTA YNEZ, California — Unbeaten Brazilian Wilson Reis (6-0) of Philadelphia registered a close, unanimous five-round decision over Abel Cullum (11-2) of Tucumcari, New Mexico to capture the first-ever EliteXC bantamweight title Friday in the main event on ShoXC: Elite Challenger Series.

The main event fighters – both Abel and Wilson – displayed high-level grappling skills, but Reis (pronounced “Hace’’) did enough to ground out a victory by the scores of 49-46 twice and 48-47.

“This was my dream, to win the 140-pound world title,’’ said southpaw Reis, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt who improved to 4-0 since coming to EliteXC in January 2008. “This is all very exciting.’’
 
Cullum, who had a 10-fight winning streak snapped, appeared physically smaller and was stepping up in weight. But he gave a fantastic account of himself, landed the vast majority of the telling punches and seemed to win over the crowd in attendance.

“No one wants to lose, but he was a strong guy and tough for me to keep off,’’ said Cullum, the King of the Cage 135-pound titleholder. “I wanted to be the aggressor, but I wound up on the ground too much. I thought the referee could have stood us up a couple of times, but it didn’t happen.’’
 
Los Angeles-based ProElite, Inc.’s live fight division, EliteXC presented the event from the Chumash Casino Resort.

In other SHOWTIME fights, Shane Del Rosario (5-0) of Irvine, California, scored a second-round TKO (strikes) over Carl Seumanutafa (4-1) of San Francisco, California. In perhaps the fight of the night,  David “Tarzan” Douglas (6-1) of Antioch, Calif., registered an upset third-round TKO (strikes) over Malaipet (3-3) of Rancho Cucamonga, California.

In other action, Jaime Jara (20-5) of North Highlands, Calif., earned a hard-fought split decision over previously undefeated Giva  Santana (12-1) of Laguna Niguel, Calif., and Eric “Bad” Apple (10-1) of Orange County, Calif., submitted (rear naked choke) Matt  Makowski (3-1) of Philadelphia in the second round.

In the non-televised bouts: Scott Lighty (4-0) of San Luis Obispo, Calif., registered a 4:15, first-round TKO (strikes) over Jamiah Williamson (3-1) of Los Angeles; Damian Douglas (3-1) of Antioch scored a 0:46, first-round submission over  Joe Schilling (1-3) of Los Angeles; Steve Gable (3-0) of San Diego, Calif.,  won a split decision (29-28 twice and 28-29) over Josh McDonald (3-3) of San Francisco; Luke Riddering (2-0) of San Luis Obispo, Calif., stopped John Corstophine (1-2) of North Highlands, Calif., on strikes at 3:44 of the first; and Fernando Bettega (3-2) of Los Angeles submitted Mono Otero (3-3) of Albuquerque, N.M., with a rear naked choke a 2:27 of the opening round.

— ProElite PR

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