CES establishes new
standard with award-winning year in mixed martial arts
PROVIDENCE,
R.I. (Dec. 29, 2011) – One full year after the highly anticipated launch
of its mixed martial arts division, Jimmy Burchfield’s Classic Entertainment
& Sports has blazed exciting, new trails in combat sports and established a
new standard of excellence among its competitors.
With five action-packed shows –
all at the revered Twin River Event Center in Lincoln, R.I., New England’s hub
for combat sports – CES drew record crowds in 2011 and closed out a successful
year as the region’s No. 1 promotion among its peers.
The Boston Herald and NortheastMMA.net both named Classic Entertainment
& Sports New England’s No. 1 mixed martial arts promotion in 2011. CES’ Todd “The Hulk” Chattelle of Pawtucket,
R.I., earned Fighter of the Year and Comeback Fighter of the Year honors from
the Herald after finishing 4-0 in
2011 and winning CES’ inaugural MMA middleweight title in November. Patrick Sullivan earned Best
Matchmaking honors, and CES’ “Nowhere To Hide” show on June 10 was named the
best local card on paper, highlighted by the main event between former Ultimate
Fighting Championship (UFC) contender Alex
Karalexis and Taiwan Howard.
“I’m proud of the tireless work
put in by my team to make Classic Entertainment & Sports the top promotion
in New England, and it’s a tremendous feeling to be honored by the premier
voices for local coverage in our area,” Burchfield said.
“The true winners in all of this
are the fans. You’re the reason we work day and night to bring you the best in
mixed martial arts, and your support is what drives us to continuously set the
bar higher each time. What separates us from our competitors is we’re never
satisfied. There are no days off in this business. Regardless of our success, there’s
always room for improvement, and after an award-winning year in 2011, we’re
looking forward to reaching new heights again in 2012.”
CES signed four fighters to its
mixed martial arts division in 2011, including Chattelle, Karalexis, top-ranked
Framingham, Mass., featherweight Saul
Almeida, and veteran middleweight Scott
Rehm of Boston. In addition to choking out Brett Oteri of Taunton, Mass., on Nov. 18 for the CES MMA
middleweight title, Chattelle (10-6, 8 KOs) recorded back-to-back wins over Woody Weatherby and Jeff Nader at Twin River. His current
four-fight win streak is the longest of his career, improving his record from
6-6 to 10-6.
Almeida, ranked No. 1 in the
145-pound division in the NortheastMMA.net professional rankings, also had a
stellar 2011, finishing 4-0 after losing his first and only fight in September
of 2010. Almeida (11-1) began the year with a unanimous-decision win over Bobby Reardanz at CES’ “Rhode Rage”
show in February and also defeated No. 3-ranked Tateki Matsuda at the Bellator Fighting Championships in August
before closing 2011 with a split-decision victory over Kevin Roddy at CES’ “Undisputed” show on Nov. 18 at Twin River.
The 2011 season also featured
several highlight-reel knockouts; Wilfredo
Santiago Jr. of Lawrence, Mass., scored the most impressive knockout of the
year, stopping Francisco Ferreira of Providence, R.I., 27 seconds into the
opening round of their middleweight bout on Sept. 9. Rehm flashed his trademark
punching power on that same show, knocking out Steve Skrzat of Burrillville, R.I., in 29 seconds. Providence’s Mike Campbell was involved in three
knockout finishes in 2011; he defeated Mike
Medrano and Jeff Anderson via
first-round knockout, and also lost by first-round knockout to former King of
the Cage champion Tony Hervey of
Detroit in June.
Among the most inspirational
moments of the year was Adam Quitt’s
victory over Hector Sanchez on April
8, the first win of Quitt’s career in his final bout. A 35-year-old firefighter
from Framingham, Quitt entered the cage in honor of the late Doug Bolanes Jr., CES’ promising
middleweight prospect from Framingham who died tragically in an automobile
accident in March. Quitt defeated Sanchez via guillotine choke in the opening
round and donated his entire purse to The Douglas Bolanes Jr. Organization,
which was founded to help improve the lives of aspiring athletes.
“The Bolanes family endured two
tragedies this year. It’s inconceivable for any family to have to deal with
such hardships,” Burchfield said. “They will forever be in our hearts and
prayers. We will work to help The Douglas Bolanes Jr. Organization, which his father
had worked so hard to build before his tragic passing. Doug Jr. is our champion
for life, and his family will always be a part of ours.”
Other noteworthy bouts in 2011
included Howard’s controversial win over Karalexis in June, Chris Cole’s dominant win over Chris Concepcion in September, No.
1-ranked light heavyweight Greg Rebello’s
bloody win over Cody Lightfoot in
September, and Keith Jeffrey’s
comeback win over Kevin Horowitz in
November. Jeffrey, a Pawtucket native, returned to the cage for the first time
in 13 months and defeated Horowitz via rear naked choke in the third round.
CES MMA returns Feb. 3 at Twin
River with “Extreme Measures,” its first show of 2012, featuring two heavyweight
showdowns: former UFC contender Josh “Heavy”
Hendricks (18-8, 5 KOs) of Mansfield, Ohio facing Groton, Conn., native Josh Diekmann (12-3, 8 KOs); and
Providence’s Eric Bedard (3-0, 1 KO)
battling Tyler King (3-1, 1 KO) of
Stoughton, Mass. Rebello (13-3, 7 KOs), a Providence native, will also be
featured on the card, along with Pawtucket’s Pete Jeffrey (4-4, 2 KOs) in his first fight since September of
2010.
For more information on all of
CES’ upcoming shows, visit www.cesboxing.com
or www.cesmma.com.
– CES –
Congrats CES on a successful great year of MMA. Their new card is already shaping up to be a huge one. Check it out by clicking on the Upcoming Local Fights tab at the menubar!
If You Enjoyed This Article Please Comment. Support us by following our twitter and our facebook fan page. It is the best way to stay up to date on local MMA! Any news you would like us to share email us at westernmassmma@gmail.com. Thanks!