SANTA CRUZ >> It’s safe to say, Lian Bragg, a former softball player turned mixed martial artist, hit a home run at Daniel Compton’s Central Coast Fighting Championships 5 on Saturday night.

Bragg (3-1), a Scotts Valley High alumna, competed up a weight class and took it to Clovis’ Juanita Perez (1-1) to secure her unanimous decision as well as the vacant CCFC championship at 115 pounds at Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium.

After her win, the newly crowned champion raised the title belt over head, much to the delight of local fight fans.

“It was awesome,” Bragg said. “My first fight was with this promotion and I lost. So it feels like a complete 360, coming in with a main event title shot, and getting the belt.”

Bragg earned a takedown in the first period, and earned substantial riding time before unleashing a flurry of punches at the horn.

She remained the aggressor in the second round, and when she tried to pull her opponent off of the fence for another takedown, Perez was docked a point for grabbing the fence. That made the third/final round, a mere formality.

“I knew I just had to stay awake, not get knocked out,” she said.Exhausted, Bragg endured a relentless finish from Perez, but it wasn’t enough for Perez to sway any of the three judges.

A title fight was also held at 155 pounds: Soledad’s Brandon Rodriguez (4-0) earned a TKO of Pleasanton’s Benny Salas (4-3).

Nine of the MMA fighters made their amateur debuts and most of them showed plenty of promise, including Santa Cruz’s Rylan Oatey (0-1) at 145 pounds.

San Jose’s Raul Ortiz (2-0), a Scotts Valley High alum who trains at Dark Horse Gym, beat Oatey (0-1) in a fireworks-filled unanimous decision.

Ortiz said it was a rewarding victory.

“Oh, my God, that was everything,” Ortiz said. “In front of the home crowd, in front of all my friends and family, my girlfriend. That was incredible. My teammates. Yeah, that was great.”

Ortiz bombarded Oatey with a flurry of punches from the opening bell. Oatey cut to the other side of the octagon and caught Ortiz with a right that sent him to the mat. Ortiz locked up Oatey with a standing arm bar and landed several unanswered punches.

“He was more durable than I was expecting,” Ortiz said. “I landed some hard shots and he was eating all of them, so I was very impressed.”

Ortiz took Oatey to the mat in the second round, but Oatey fought valiantly from his back as each fighter landed face and body shots. The third round was a replay of the second.

“I’m tired,” Ortiz said. “I definitely need to work on my cardio.”

Soquel’s Luciano Moreira (0-1), who moved to California from Germany in August, was on the wrong end of a split decision against Hayward’s Israel Mejia (1-0) at 145 pounds.

Moreira, who trains at FreeFall MMA in Santa Cruz, was knocked down by a punch from Mejia in the first round, but he quickly got up and back into the brawl and scored a late takedown. Mejia was the aggressor in the second round, but Moreira secured another takedown in the third and landed a few punches while on top.

Thinking he did enough for the win, he stopped attacking with Mejia pinned down. His decision to do so proved costly.

“I should’ve (expletive) finished him, man,” Moreira said. “There was like 15 seconds left. I was like, ‘There’s control. I got it (the win).’ I should’ve went off and blasted him. No mercy. I had mercy. No (expletive) mercy.”

Five other MMA fights were held. Gilroy’s Ethan Robledo (1-0) earned a TKO of Salinas’ Jorge Perez (0-1) at 135 pounds, and Menlo Park’s Ryan Leong (2-0) TKO’d Alameda’s Andres Garcia (0-1) at 170.

Fremont’s Arabaz Ahmed (1-1) earned an arm triangle submission against King City’s Eduardo Cesareo (0-1) at 135 pounds, and King City’s Gabriel Gutierrez (3-0) won with arm bar submission against Gilroy’s Michael De Frates (1-1) at 155 pounds.

Salinas’ Brandon Fasy (1-0) won by unanimous decision over San Jose’s Bryan Perez (0-1) at 155 pounds.

Brazilian ju-jitsu

San Francisco’s Zach Tucker (180 pounds) locked Scotts Valley’s Jacob Horton in a buggy choke twice but was unable to get Horton to submit in their jiu-jitsu match. Still, Tucker was rewarded with the win for coming close.

Tucker was conversational and cocky with Horton, the CCFC welterweight MMA champion who has a black belt in jiu-jitsu, throughout their bout.

“That wasn’t luck, ” Tucker told his opponent mid-match, after nearly pulling off the low-percentage submission move. “I stop everyone with that.”

After Horton worked himself free and into a more favorable position, Tucker asked,” Oh, you’re trying too?’

Horton said “no,” and Tucker responded, “I think you’re lying.”

Knowing Horton was the hometown favorite, Tucker did his best to get under his opponent’s skin throughout the bout. He even cheered for Horton mid-match.

Several other county residents competed in jiu-jitsu matches. Watsonville’s Ruben Chavez-Garcia (150) won by decision over Soledad’s Carlos Padilla, Santa Cruz’s Forrest Gleitsman (168) beat Matt Quinn with a rear naked choke submission, and Santa Cruz’s Lorenzo Figueroa (230) defeated Ivan Gonzalez by submission. Anthony Cuesar (175) defeated Aptos’ James Timko.

In other jiu-jitsu action, San Francisco’s PJ McGrane (150) beat Gilroy’s Brandon Lam; Katerina Kalivitis (155) defeated Gilroy’s Alexa Figueroa with an ankle submission; and Visalia’s Myke Lujan (175) earned a draw with Salinas’ Montae Price.

Stick fighting

Escrima stick fighting, a Filipino martial art that focuses on weapon-based combat, made its debut at CCFC. And, knock on wood, or, in this case, rattan, fight fans in attendance, judging from their cheers, gave every indication they’d like to see the discipline return to the promotion.

Milpitas’ Chris Manisay, who elected to compete shirtless, and San Jose’s Jose Mancillas battled to an exhilarating draw. Protected only by padded gloves and headgear that draped over the neck, both fighters emerged bloodied and full of joy.

“That was really fun just to display Filipino martial arts,” Manisay said. “I hope it really opens people up (to trying it.). We’ve been saying, ‘Make Escrima Great Again.’ We’re trying to put it back on the map.”

Manisay endured a pair of cuts on his left ribs, and Mancillas suffered a cut near his left eye from his headgear after he was slammed to the canvas.

Both fighters wore their cuts with pride.

Manisay said his lashes didn’t sting.

“No, not at all,” he said. “Rattan wood. It hits you and it feels like a little slap. But I guess it’s all the adrenaline going through my body.”

In other stick fighting matches, Patrick Pinson defeated Darwin Caballero, and David Velasquez beat Jason Inay by mismatch. Pinson, Caballero, and Inay elected to include elbow and knee pads among their safety gear.