Albuquerque’s Matt Leyva, who had grown a full beard for a role in a Hollywood movie, entered the cage at Tingley Coliseum clean-shaven Saturday night.

It’s doubtful the beard would have softened the impact of Anthony Birchak’s right hand.

Birchak dropped Leyva with that right, then hammered the Albuquerquean with a flurry of punches on the ground en route to a victory by first-round TKO in the main event of Jackson’s MMA Series X.

The end came just 1 minute, 22 seconds into the fight.

Birchak, who fights out of Apex Mixed Martial Arts in Tucson, improved his record to 9-1. Leyva is 9-3.

Tucson’s Anthony Birchak pounds on Matt Leyva of Albuquerque, resulting in a TKO at 1:22 of the first round. (Greg Sorber/Journal)

Both fighters weighed 135 pounds.

“I wanted to change levels,” Birchak said of his sudden victory. “I threw that inside kick, double jab … put (the right hand) right on the chin.

“After that, I just unloaded (on the ground). That’s what I do.”

Fighters from Albuquerque’s Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA, the host gym, went 6-2 on the night. The outcome of the main event, however, sent home a crowd estimated at 450 less than happy.

In Saturday’s co-main event, Jackson-Winkeljohn’s Conrad Padilla, 145 pounds, defeated Rolando Cespedes, 145, of Las Vegas, Nev., by unanimous decision.

Padilla, who had been idle for more than a year, improved his record to 4-0. Cespedes is 2-2.

The official scorecards read 29-28, 30-27 and 30-27.

Padilla was dropped by a Cespedes left hand in the second round, but recovered quickly and experienced little trouble before or after.

Any nerves deriving from his long layoff, Padilla said, disappeared when he saw his wife and daughter in the crowd as he walked to the cage.

“That gave me a spark,” he said.

In another pro fight, Jackson-Winkeljohn’s Mike Justus, 155 pounds, defeated Manuel Cespedes, 155, of Las Vegas, Nev., by third-round stoppage due to strikes.

Referee Craig Zellner stopped the fight with just 32 seconds left, ruling that Cespedes wasn’t defending himself against Justus’ repeated elbows.

The more powerful Cespedes, Rolando’s brother, manhandled the tall, thin Justus in the first round. But the Albuquerque fighter rallied in the second with elbows from stand-up and on the ground from his back.

Justus is 2-1 as a professional, Cespedes 2-2.

In amateur bouts:

⋄  Eric Dodson, 135 pounds, of Jackson-Winkeljohn, defeated Scott Ingram, 135, of Parker, Colo., by unanimous decision. Dodson is 2-0, Ingram 3-4.

⋄  Jon Sparks, 150 pounds, of Jackson-Winkeljohn, defeated Allen Washington, 150, of Parker City, Colo., by first-round submission (triangle choke). Sparks is 5-3, Washington 3-4.

⋄  George Clynes, 155 pounds, of Jackson-Winkeljohn, defeated Randy Ray Sanchez, 155, of Silver City, by unanimous decision. Clynes is 4-1, Sanchez, reluctant to engage throughout, is 1-4.

⋄  Ricky Esquibel, 125 pounds, of Jackson-Winkeljohn, defeated Nick De Fiore, 125, of Parker, Colo., by split decision. Esquibel is 3-0, De Fiore 4-2.

⋄  Matt Johnson, 155 pounds, of Denver, defeated Michael Asmar, 155, of Jackson-Winkeljohn, by split decision. Johnson is 3-0, Asmar 2-1.
— This article appeared on page D11 of the Albuquerque Journal