Reality Fighting is set to return this weekend on September 22nd 2012 at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. They are the longest running promotion in New England and if you look at their card you can see why. They normally have all professional cards much like CES but this one has a few amateur fights on it. It has two title fights on it. There were three but Ahmed Hollis dropped out and I have not heard if they have found a new opponent for Dwight Grant. Kipp Kollar, the promoter and Joe Cuff do a fine job and if you have never seen a Reality Fighting show, you are missing out. The casino is simply gorgeous and there is so much to do there before the fights start, including losing all your money in the slot machines! Tickets are still available at the door and online here and start at around $35 bux I believe. Let's break down the matchups...
For the first fight we have Asa Zorn against Rob Brown at 145lbs. Both Asa and Rob are making their amateur debut. They will be fighting their ammy debut in the big arena so let's hope they are ready. For the other amateur fight they have Tollison Lewis against Darryl MarcAurele Jr. at 165lbs. Tollison trains with Wai Nei in Maine and has a 1-2 record. He just recently won his last fight against Dustin Theriault via rear naked choke in Rd 2 at NEF Fight Night IV. His opponent, Darryl has a record of 1-0. His sole win came back in 2008 where he won from a referee stoppage in Rd 1. I have not seen Darryl fight before but I can tell you Tollison is always a pleasure to watch and puts on a great show. Now onto the pro fights of the evening.
Robby Slade is set to face Thiago Carfi in the 145lb division. Robby trains with Team Aggression and has a record of 2-0. He has a decision victory and a submission victory in his professional career. His decision victory was a real close bout with Andre Soukmathath at Cage Titans which many of you will remember. His opponent Thiago has a 1-0 record. His sole professional win came from a ref stoppage to strikes against Sergio Da Silva back in 2011 at a previous Reality show. This is an excellent matchup that I see being a great standup battle. Robby can handle things on the ground too if needed but I see this one being great standup.
Steve Carr will be fighting Thane Stimson at 145lbs. Steve trains with CTMMA and has a record of 1-1. He won his pro debut against Joe Boxer via submission. His second fight he lost to John Naples from ref stopapge in round 2. He suffered an eye injury and is now back in action. He puts on a great show and has some of the best standup I have seen. His opponent Thane has trained with Team Alpha Male and has a record of 1-2. He has lost to Rob Font via KO at the last Reality and lost to Zech Lange at a Warrior Nation show. His pro win was over Tyson Chartier that he won with a quick guillotine in Rd 1 at April's AFO. He is a great wrestler and has a great ground game. This is a great matchup between striker versus grappler. Steve Carr has great striking but don't get me wrong he has a great ground game as well. Thane I believe has the better wrestling which he might be able to use to his advantage. This one is going to be a great war.
Dan Cormier is set to face Michael De Los Reyes at 125lbs. Dan had a great amateur career and just went pro back a few months ago. He fought a tough first pro fight against Billy Giovanella who has been rolling through everybody he faces. Dan has great striking but Billy was just too strong and heavy for him and he suffered a loss. He will be looking to bounce back and I know has been training hard. His opponent Mike, I have seen fight many times. He has a record of 1-7 and I think I may have seen just about all of them. He is a tough kid and knows how to scrap. Even though he has a 1-7 record, Mike is very tough to finish. In fact he has only been finished twice out of his 7 losses. I see this fight being an awesome standup battle and the crowd is going to be in for a treat!
Dennis Norton will be fighting Walter Howard at 205lbs. Dennis will be making his pro debut this Saturday night. Walter his opponent has a 1-1 record. He won his first pro fight via decision and lost via ko strike. Not much information for me to give some insight on this one but I would imagine it is going to a standup battle and you won't want to blink or use the laboratory during this fight.
Eric Sommers is set to face Roger Zapata in the 185lb division. Eric has a 2-1 record and is from CTMMA. He lost his only pro fight loss to Jason Ward late in the second round due to a ref stoppage. His last win came at Cage Titans where he won via submission in Rd 1. His opponent Roger also has a 1-1 record which he lost a decision at a NJ show against Mike Wade. He won his last fight at Warrior Nation against Josh Mellen. This one is very evenly matched and I think this fight can really be taken anywhere. Eric has great standup and is great on the ground. We will have to watch this one and find out.
Bob Valentine will faceoff against Maykon Santos at 155lbs. Bob will be making his pro debut. Maykon has a record of 0-1 and fought once in New Jersey where he lost via unanimous decision. Not much information for me to predict where this fight will go but that doesn't mean it isn't going to be good! Now onto the big fights!!
Aniss Alhajjajy is fighting Matt Bessette at 155lbs. Matt Bessette trains with Underdog BJJ and has a record of 8-4. He always fights tough fights and this is going to be no exception. His last fight he was in rare form and suffered a disqualification from an illegal upkick to Andres Jeudi. Jeudi was unable to continue so the DQ happened. Matt was totally bummed out and felt horrible. No doubt he has been training hard and is ready to put on a war. His opponent Aniss trains with TPS and I believe has a 6-3 record. His last fight he fought Jimmy Davidson at Cage Titans in a 5 round war that was stopped due to punches in the fifth round. Aniss was down in the rounds anyways but it was a great fight. This is going to be a fight you don't want to miss. Both fighters are very well rounded and this fight could go either way. I see most of the fight being on the ground with a nice back and forth battle. Now onto the title fights!
For the Featherweight Title Fight Erik Lee will be facing John Naples. Erik has a 3-0 record and won two of his three wins from submission. He will be ready wherever this fight goes, from whether it is a five round war or not! His opponent John is 2-0. He beat Terin Swanson from a ko and beat Steve Carr from ref stoppage. This is a great fight between the striker John Naples and jiu jitsu Erik Lee. The beauty of well matched fights is I can't predict where it will go! I can see this fight starting out standing for a few rounds and it may come down to a submission ending. How do you all see it going down??
For the Featherweight Title Fight Erik Lee will be facing John Naples. Erik has a 3-0 record and won two of his three wins from submission. He will be ready wherever this fight goes, from whether it is a five round war or not! His opponent John is 2-0. He beat Terin Swanson from a ko and beat Steve Carr from ref stoppage. This is a great fight between the striker John Naples and jiu jitsu Erik Lee. The beauty of well matched fights is I can't predict where it will go! I can see this fight starting out standing for a few rounds and it may come down to a submission ending. How do you all see it going down??
Then for the final fight of the night is the Bantamweight Title Fight between Joe Cushman and Jeff Emil Haddad. Joe trains with Team Aggression and has a record of 10-4. He has two KO, 2 SUB and 6 decision victories. Remember folks, this fight is for five round so it may very well not go the distance. He lost 1 by KO, 2 by sub and 1 by decision. His opponent Jeff trains with Fighting Arts Academy and has been training hard to defend his title. He has a 3-0 record and his last fight will always be imprinted into my brain. It was against John McLaughlin and for a previous Reality show. Jeff got hit with a big right hand that bloodied his nose badly. I can't remember if it was broken or not but he battled through it and in the 3rd round he threw a head kick that connected and knocked John out. There was no going to the scorecards and the belt was rightfully his. He was supposed to defend it at a few Reality shows ago but had to drop out due to injury I believe but this one is happening and it is going to be great. This fight is so hard for me to predict. I know Joe is going to want to wrestle Jeff down and control the fight that way and I would think Jeff would want to keep it standing and tire Joe out. This is a tough fight for both fighters and I can't wait to see it live!
This wraps up another teaser brought to you by WesternMassMMA.com. If I got any fighter's records or teams wrong let me know and I will gladly change it. Reality has brought us another solid card and it is going to be a show you don't want to miss. The last three fights on this card could EASILY be headline fights on any show's card and lucky for us we get them all on the same show!! Well it is getting late and I am all out of witty jokes so I have to bid you all adieu. I plan on getting myself some brick oven pizza in the casino and watching some great battles. We will be there with the live play by play and The Artist will be taking photos for you all. Hope to see you all there. Thanks to Joe Cuff and the entire Reality team for keeping us up to date.
This wraps up another teaser brought to you by WesternMassMMA.com. If I got any fighter's records or teams wrong let me know and I will gladly change it. Reality has brought us another solid card and it is going to be a show you don't want to miss. The last three fights on this card could EASILY be headline fights on any show's card and lucky for us we get them all on the same show!! Well it is getting late and I am all out of witty jokes so I have to bid you all adieu. I plan on getting myself some brick oven pizza in the casino and watching some great battles. We will be there with the live play by play and The Artist will be taking photos for you all. Hope to see you all there. Thanks to Joe Cuff and the entire Reality team for keeping us up to date.
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