Lapwai's Noriega wins amateur MMA debut in front of hometown crowd at Clearwater Combat

Apr. 19—His math teacher did it.

So, on Saturday night in the Clearwater Combat mixed martial arts event at Clearwater River Casino, Lapwai's Marcisio Noriega proved that he could do it too.

Noriega watched his math teacher, Chris Katus, win a MMA bout last year in a similar event in about 40 seconds.

One year later, Noriega stepped out from backstage to a chorus of cheers. Among the sold-out crowd of about 1,600, it seemed like the entire city of Lapwai had come out to support him in his amateur debut.

"It was just a crazy moment," Noriega said. "I mean, just having that feeling of a whole 1,000 (person) community right behind you is just amazing. There's not (many) feelings in the world that can beat that when you have that many people to support you at such a low level, especially for my debut. It's just crazy and awesome to fight in my hometown."

Noriega won a back-and-forth battle with a 1 minute, 42 second triangle choke over Grangeville's Jeremiah Seaver.

Nick Beirl, who spent a portion of his childhood in Lewiston and now resides in the Spokane area, won the main event with a three-round TKO of Lapwai's Nate Sahme.

Canadian Jag Bhullar beat Mike Morales in the co-main heavyweight title — a match that was rebooked within the 48 hours prior to the event after their original card in southern Idaho was canceled.

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Aurelio Morales, an Orofino High School grad who now lives in southern Idaho, made the several rows representing his hometown proud with a majority decision victory over Lewiston's Zander Johnson in the bantamweight.

Hometown hero

Eight months ago, Noriega began to train in the ways of MMA with local former UFC fighter Austin Arnett at Arnett's Martial Arts America in Lewiston.

"He's such a great coach," Noriega said. "He pushes everybody to their limits. He's made so many fighters that are just big names here and upcoming big pros."

Noriega has hardly missed a day of training since then, Arnett said. The former Lapwai basketball player's athleticism has translated well from the hardwood to the cage.

The jiu-jitsu that he partakes in on Tuesdays and Thursdays paid off in the cage in particular, Noriega said.

The former Wildcat opened with a bang, slamming Seaver to the ground, but Seaver twisted around to come up on top. The two scraped on the mat until Noriega twisted around to apply the triangle choke. The bell signaled the end of the bout. Noriega galloped around the octagon as the arena greeted his victory with the type of reception which a proud community gives its best.

"He fought great. Beautiful performance," Arnett said of Noriega. "Went out against a tough opponent and got a takedown, got reversed, went through adversity, and was still able to fight back and then get a triangle choke, which a triangle choke's a high-level submission to be able to get. So to watch him be able to show his training in the fight. It was awesome."

The support of his family, friends and community meant everything to Noriega.

"They all showed up for me. They all bought tickets to see my nine minutes, if it went the distance, my nine minutes," Noriega said. "It's just awesome to have people who love you and care for you and support you right behind you."

Claiming the title

With a remix of "My God is an Awesome God," playing, Nine Mile Falls' Nick Beirl made his way to the octagon for the main event, pausing to pray at the gate before pointing to the sky as he jumped around.

Beirl, whose father died when he was 2 1/2 years old in the Lewiston area, returned to a place that, by all measure, he could have wished to avoid.

Instead, it was a site of triumph and visible pride as he won his event via TKO, leaning on his grappling. Tied 1-1 going into Round 3, Beril hit his opponent with a 1, 1-2 series of punches to emphatically claim victory.

"I've fought a lot of places in my life, and this place is absolutely insane," Beirl said. "This place is everything they said it was going to be. It was insanely loud, insanely frantic, the energy here was just so unbelievably impressive, and it felt like people were rooting for me too, even though it wasn't my crowd in my arena."

Beirl said that his Christian faith has influenced his life as a proud husband and father of four.

Fighting for them, every punch and bruise is worth it.

"Being able to do something that I love, my kids get to watch me do it," Beril said. "It's a hard, brutal sport, man, but the payoff is so great, because I get to stand up in front of all these people and talk about how much Jesus loves them. I just couldn't ask for anything more."

Amateur fights — Ty Shannon def. Dylan Swearingen (unanimous decision); Oleg Shlevco def. Marcos Baruch (verbal tech), R1, 1:44; Marcisio Noriega def. Jeremiah Seaver (leg triangle choke); Brendon Youngblood def. Dylan Cronkhite (majority decision); Matthew Newbern def. Canaan Ortega (TKO 2:49, R1); Theo Jenkins def. Josaiah Babcock (TKO); Jamison Hunt def. Jacob Guertin (choke); Marco Ratano def. Eston Berglund (TKO).

Bantamweight — Aurelio Morales def. Zander Johnson (majority decision).

Co-main heavyweight title — Jag Bhullar def. Mike Morales (choke).

Main event — Nick Beirl def. Nate Sahme (TKO 00:12, R3).

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2260, staylor@lmtribune.com, or on X or Instagram @Sam_C_Taylor.