LEMOORE - Hanford's Chad Mendes put on a show Thursday night at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino's "Most Wanted" mixed-martial arts fight card.

And he did it with only one good hand for half of his featherweight fight.

Mendes took control early against Mike Joy, scoring on punches and takedowns then held on to win a unanimous decision of the main event at Tachi Palace Fights 1.

The win came despite believing to have broken his right hand midway through the second round.

"I caught him with a punch on the forehead and my knuckle is swollen," Mendes said after the fight. "It might be broken."

Mendes spent the majority of the fight in commanding positions.

The fighters finished the first round with Mendes on top of Joy's back, raining down punches on the side of head.

In the second round Mendes was able to shoot Joy (7-5) to the ground and stay on top before the injury.

"I just tried to throw elbows and stay out of his way after that," Mendes said.

The win improves the former Hanford High and Cal Poly star wrestler's record to 5-0.

The Hanford native's next fight is set to be a match in World Extreme Cagefighting, one of the elite MMA organizations.

"That's the next step," he said. "This fight was suppose to take care of that."

In other fights on the night:

l Lemoore's Poppies Martinez found out he was going to face Sergio Salcido two days before the fight.

The unknown opponent prooved no problem.

Martinez defeated him in the second round by tapout via an armbar to improve his MMA record to 17-5.

l In the co-main event, David Mitchell improved to 8-0 by defeating War Machine (10-3) by split decision in a welterweight bout.

l In a match of light heavyweights, Oakland's Leopaldo Serao (16-7) beat Merced's Phil Collins (7-5) by split decision after going on the defensive to Collins' aggressive punching style.

l Ulysses Game improved to 4-1 by knocking off Martin Sandoval (4-2) in a flyweight bout.

Sandoval was forced to tap out 36 seconds into the second round when Gomez caught him with a rear naked chokehold.

l Michael McDonald beat Carlos Garces by knockout in the first round of their bantamweight bout.

McDonald (8-1) caught Garces with a flurry of punches that sent him to the floor. McDonald then continued to attack his opponent by standing over him and punching until the referee stopped the bout.

l Joe Soto of Porterville (8-0) beat featherweight Mike Christenson after locking the fighter in an armbar 2:06 into the first round.

l In the featherweights, Francisco Loredo (4-5) won by split decision over Exeter's Chris Tangonan (2-1).

l In a women's flyweight match, Michelle Ould (4-2) beat Las Vegas' Jessica Rakoczy by technical knockout in the second round after mounting her.

Rakoczy had fought in previous Tachi boxing cards before making her MMA debut.

(Oct. 9, 2009)