"The Project" was halted at least for a while, as Sentinel sports reporter Jeremy Luchau ran into trouble in his second mixed martial art fight on Friday at the Palace Fighting Championships in Lemoore.

Bakersfield's Juan Lopez defeated Luchau with a rear naked choke in 33 seconds of the second round.

"I didn't have the gas," Luchau said after the fight. "I got tired. I shouldn't have tapped out. The choke wasn't anything that I haven't seen before."

Lopez was in charge of the fight from the onset catching Luchau early in the first round after the "writer-turned-fighter" tried to get off a kick.

Luchau was able to work from his back for the rest of the first round. He nearly had Lopez in an armbar, but he wasn't able to hold it.

"I know he knew that he was picked for me to be an easy fight," Luchau said. "That wasn't the case; they wanted to test me."

Luchau says he still has more fight in him, "Hell, no [I'm not done], I have a lot more to prove. I was just super tired."

In other results:

l Former World Extreme Cagefighting light heavyweight champion Doug 'The Rhino' Marshall, of Visalia, made his successful return to Lemoore by knocking out Merced's Phil 'The Pain' Collins 40 seconds into the second round.

Marshall hit Collins with a right cross to the temple that dropped the Merced native to the canvas. Marshall improved to 8-3, and Collins, who is the No. 1 ranked PFC middleweight, dropped to 6-4.

Collins won the first round, after connecting on several jabs to the head, and he was able to take Marshall down several times.

The bout in Lemoore was a one-time deal for Marshall, who stepped out of the WEC cage for the first time in his career. He is still under contract with Zuffa, the WEC and Ultimate Fighting Championship's parent company.

Marshall, who last fought in Lemoore in 2006, had his last three bouts in Las Vegas where the WEC relocated once Zuffa bought it out. He successfully defended his title twice before losing to Brian Stann.

Marshall defeated Lodune Sincaid, who was on the first season of the reality television show The Ultimate Fighter, to win the title.

Collins gave up a middleweight championship bout to take the match with Marshall. And despite the loss, his decision turned out to be a good one because PFC middleweight champion Nate Loughran, of Santa Rosa, took a bout on today's UFC card in Las Vegas.

Isiah Larson of Saint Paul, Minn., and PFC Light Heavyweight championship Los Angeles' Jorge 'Van Damme' Oliveira fought to a no-decision after the two fighters fell out of the ring midway through the third round and Larson fell on top of Oliveira on the rail. Oliveira could not continue to fight, and PFC championship rules state that the fight must go three complete rounds so that judges can have a decision.

In a battle of Kings County, it was Corcoran's Alex Ortiz winning his mixed martial arts debut by defeating Hanford's Javier Cervantes in a featherweight bout.

Ortiz won by knockout in 58 seconds of the second round because of strikes.

Ortiz got a takedown early in the second period and was able to work his way onto Ortiz's chest where he connected with seven straight shots to the head before the referee stopped the fight.

Lemoore's Paul 'Chivo' Gonzales improved to 2-0 as Bakersfield's Alfredo Mirales (0-2) tapped out because of a rear naked choke on him in a Welterweight fight.

Lemoore's Mickey D. Martinez improved to 6-1-1 as he defeated Fresno's Chyayondray Johnson (0-3) after the referee stopped the fight because of strikes.

Las Vegas' Ulysses 'Useless' Gomez improved to 2-0 winning by submission after Sacramento's Hector Alex Sandoval in 51 seconds of the first round after Sandoval gave a verbal tapout.

Oakland's Dominique 'Fallen Angel' Robinson added to his impressive MMA resume with a second-round knockout against Bakersfield's Chuck Kim. The fight was called at 2:00 into the second round because of strikes. Robinson improved to 13-2-1 and Kim dropped to 6-7.

North Highland's Jaime 'El Cucui' Jara (19-5) defeated Sacramento's Marcus Gaines (4-5) with a guillotine choke in 1:54 in the first round.

Porterville's Joe 'The Hammer' Soto (2-0) defeated Visalia's Darren Crisp (4-3) by knee bar submission in 1:08 when the former California high school state champion and two-time junior college All-American got the taller fighter on the ground and just took over.

Fresno's Casey 'The Underdog' Olson defeated Tito 'Trill' Jones of Sacramento.

(July 19, 2008)