CES MMA returns to Lincoln Rhode Island with what they call their home at the Twin River Casino. If you have never been to Twin River Casino I urge you to check it out. It has free valet parking and is loaded with great restaurants and slots galore. The event is called Never Surrender and it set to take place on April 13th, 2012. Jimmy Burchfield and company stay very busy. I would like to thank CES's matchmaker Pat Sullivan for keeping me well informed of the fight card. We really appreciate the love we get from you guys. I am gonna do a little teaser for you all to whet your appetite. I am here to pump you up!! Let's begin my friends...
Steve "Sandman" Dunn is set to fight Freddy Mello. Steve fights out of Wai Kru and has a record of 6-1. He is a well rounded fighter with 2 decision, 2 ko and 2 submissions...can't get anymore well rounded than that. His only loss was against Paddy Thompson in January of 2011. Freddy is 2-0 and fights out of Team Aggression. He has one submission win and one decision. He hasn't fought since 2008 so this fight could come down to how hard each fighter has been training and who has the least cage rust.
The biggest fight on this card is of course against Todd "the Hulk" Chattelle vs John "Doomsday" Howard! Todd has a record of 10-6 and has fought tons of top ranked guys. He has a four fight win streak and is looking to keep it rolling. He has in his resume 8 KO victories and 1 submission win. John Howard, of course, a UFC veteran is looking to use this fight as a stepping stone to get back in the UFC. John is moving up a weight class to fight Todd. He fights out of Wai Kru and is 15-7 with 4 KO, 6 submission and 5 decision wins. Both fighters were interviewed at the last CES show when the fight was announced and they both are excited to stand and bang and put on a show for us all! Thank you CES for getting this great matchup for us! Pat Sullivan, the matchmaker for CES told me this "It's very rare to see fighters take fights like this. Chattelle can fight anyone in this region and pack the venue and do that forever. He doesn't have to fight Dooms, but he wants to fight the best. This is the 5th fight I've matched for Todd, and he has never turned down an opponent. DoomsDay could fight ANYONE in the country. He wants to fight the best. It's a fight where each fighter is taking on the best they can, with more at stake than any fight I've ever seen on a local level!!!!!" Pat pretty much said it all in those few sentences. This fight has the potential to be one of the best matchups we have ever seen in New England and is more than likely going to be top fights of 2012!!
Keith Jeffrey is set to fight Chip Moraza-Pollard and this is going to be another great one. Keith fights out of Tri-Force MMA and is 6-2-1 in his career. Five out of his six wins come via submission. His last fight was at November's CES against Kevin Horowitz which he won via rear naked choke in round 3. In his way is Chip Moraza Pollard. Chip fights out of Cape Cod Fighting Alliance and has a record of 6-3. They call him The Surgeon and I assume it is because four out of his six wins come via KO. This is another great matchup and to me on paper it looks to be a classic standup vs ground fighter.
Brennan Ward is from Rhode Island and now has a record of 2-0. Both of his dominating wins were ref stoppages to punches in round 1. Harley Beekman is 4-0 and has 3 KO victories all in the first round. His other win was a submission and 3 out of his four wins all ended in the first round. In this fight you won't want to blink because you might miss a knockout!!
Thomas Evans trains out of TUML/Tri-Force and has a record of 2-0. His two wins were over Fred Mandrachia and Christian Rivera. They both were first round stoppages, one to punches and other to triangle submission. His opponent Dominic Warr has a record of 1-2. His only win came at CFX against Joe Powers in July. This is going to be a really good fight. Tom and Dominic love to put on a good show and I feel this one is going to be very fast paced.
Then there is Abe Pitrowski against Nick Drummond. Abe has a record of 5-1 and trains out of Tim Burrell BJJ. He has three submission wins and one KO victory. His only loss was to an ex Strikeforce fighter Marc Stevens. His opponent Nick fights out of Wai Kru and comes into this fight with a record of 3-0. He has two submission wins and one KO victory as well. All of his wins ended in the first round. He hasn't fought since 2010 but I am sure he has been training hard in the meantime! This is another very evenly matched fight as you can tell by how they won. This definitely could end up with another submission victory for one warrior on April 13th!
Jim Pitner is taking on Zach Costello. Jim fights out of USMMA and has a professional record of 2-1. I have not seen him fight but he has fought some tough guys, Robbie Roberts and James Boran to be exact. He has two submission victories in his resume. Zach fights out of Maxx Training Center and comes into this fight with a 1-0 record. His only victory to date was a submission victory over ThomasRoy Gossler at WCF back in June of 2011. I see this fight being a pretty good ground battle.
Dinis Piava Jr is signed to fight on Gilvan Santos. Both fighters have experience fighting for CES. Dinis fight out of Keith Allen MMA and has a record of 1-2. All three of his fights were for CES and his last fight was an unfortunate disqualification from a knee to a downed opponent. This left a bad taste in his mouth and is looking to make it up to the fans in this bout I am sure! Gilvan fights for Team Link and has a record of 0-2. He lost a very close split decision in one fight and the other he lost via submission to Andre Soukmathath. Just like Dinis, both of his fights have been for CES. Both fighters are fast paced and love to stand and bang. I expect this fight to be a fast pace in your face standing clinic!
Another great fight on this card is Pete Jeffrey against Lucas Cruz. Pete has a record of 5-4 and fights out of Tri-Force MMA. He has wins over Saul Almeida and is fresh off a decision win against Lionel Young. He is a well rounded fighter with 3 KO/TKO victories, 1 decision and one submission win. Lucas Cruz is undefeated as a professional with a record of 2-0. He trains with Novo Unaio and puts on a show everytime he fights. He has one KO victory that was a flying knee that shocked the crowd in attendance. He has a submission win against Lionel Young so both fighters have wins over a common opponent. Will the experience of Pete Jeffrey get him the victory or will the young up and comer Lucas Cruz continue to impress his fans and everyone in attendance. We will find out at the next CES!!
Last fight on this card is Scott Rehm against Bob Burton. Rehm is a seasoned veteran with a record of 6-5. All of his career wins are knockouts or ref stoppages due to punches. He trains out of Pro-Elite Training Center and is a young 43 years old. He is living proof that knockout power does not go away with age!! Keep it up Rehm. Bob comes into this fight with a record of 1-1 according to Sherdog and he trains with American Top Team. He has one submission victory in his career and all of his fights professionally were with Combat Zone. On paper I would think Bob would want to get this fight to the ground as soon as possible and test Rehm on the ground. You can't argue with the stats of Rehm and his knockout power. Rehm's key to victory to me, is to stuff the takedowns and keep it standing.
I hope you all enjoyed my teaser and I hope it gets you all excited for the fights as I am for 'em. What are you all waiting for?? Get your tickets to this event by clicking here. This show definitely could sell out even if it is in a big casino. Last CES was packed and they didn't have Hulk and Doomsday on the card which is worth the $35 ticket price alone! We will be at this show taking pictures and will have lots of live updates to share with you all when we are there. Any fighters whose records are wrong, please let me know I will gladly fix them!
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