New England Fights will be having their first show in Bangor Maine this Friday. It will be held at Darling's Waterfront Pavillion and it will be an outside show. It looks like the weather is going to be beautiful so it should make for a great day. There were originally set to have 22 fights on this card but many have dropped out due to injuries. They now have 15 fights total planned and that includes 7 of them being pro fights. Tickets are still on sale and you can get them here. Tickets start at around $37 bux. It is a long haul for us in Western Mass but we are going to make it up there and you should too. Maine is beautiful this time of year, and it is cooler. I am anxious to see this new venue and how they will set up the cage and all the seats. There are many great match ups on this card but one that should be noted is the title fight between Ray Wood and Lenny Wheeler. Let me break down the card for you and keep in mind this will not be the exact fight order.
130 Stephen Desjardins 2-2 (Team Irish) vs Trevor Hebert 0-1 (Frosty's First Class)
At a catchweight of 130lbs Stephen Desjardins takes on Trevor Hebert. Stephen is from Team Irish and comes into this fight with a 2-2 record. His last fight he fought Connor Murphy and won with a submission in the second round. He showed some great wrestling and was able to get his takedowns to control the fight. Trevor is from Frosty's First Class and has an 0-1 record. He fought Mike Brown and lost very early to a quick submission. I think it is pretty safe to say that this fight is going to be a ground battle.
135 Kim Russell 0-0 (Balanced Ground MMA) vs Tara Mitchell 0-0 (Wes Littlefield’s)
At 135lbs Kim Russell takes on Tara Mitchell in the sole female bout. Kim is from Balanced Ground MMA and will be making her amateur debut. Tara is from Wes Littlefield's gym and will also be making her amateur debut. Not much to predict here with both fighters making their debuts but the ladies will do their best to get everyone in the audience pumped.
145 Charlie Stambach 0-0 (Team Irish) vs Derek Shorey 2-6 (The Shop/Team Kaos)
Next up is Charlie Stambach against Derek Shorey at 145lbs. Charlie is from Team Irish and will be making his amateur debut. Derek is from The Shop/Kaos gym and has a 2-6 record. Derek has lost all 6 of his fights to submissions. He won one via submission and the other win was due to fighter not answering the bell. Now looking at this fight you can see Charlie is giving up some fight experience in this matchup. However he is from Team Irish so I know he will be ready for a battle. I definitely see this one being another ground battle and ending by submission.
145 Caleb Hall 2-0 (Moontide MMA) vs Zackary Adams 0-1 (Young’s MMA)
Then NEF has Caleb Hall taking on Zackary Adams at 145lbs. Caleb is from Moontide MMA and has a perfect 2-0 record. Cory won one fight due to ref stoppage to strikes and the other to submission. He has outstanding wrestling which he uses to maintain control the entire fights. Zackary is from Young's MMA and has an 0-1 record. His only fight he lost to Jason Libby via ref stoppage to strikes back in Fight Night I. I feel this is going to be a real close fight and will most likely be a ground battle. Just don't let it be boring guys!
155 Jeremy Tyler 0-1 (Team Irish) vs Tollison Lewis 3-7 (Balanced Ground MMA)
Jeremy Tyler takes on Tollison Lewis at 155lbs. Jeremy is from Team Irish and comes into this fight with an 0-1 record. Jeremy fought Tollison at the last NEF and lost via submission. Guess he wanted an instant rematch and that is fine. Tollison is always game. Tollison is from Balanced Ground MMA and has a 3-7 record. Tollison has fought some tough fighters in his amateur career. He won two out of his 3 wins via submission. Tollison will be looking to show that his win last NEF was not a fluke and he can do it again. Jeremy of course thinks otherwise!
170 Steve Erland 2-1 (Team Irish) vs Justin Francisco 1-3 (AllStar MMA)
Next up is Steve Erland against Justin Francisco at 170lbs. Steve is from Team Irish and has a 2-1 record. He won his last fight decision at the last NEF against Dylan Morrison. His only loss came to Brian Sparrow via submission. His opponent Justin is from Allstar MMA and has a 1-3 record. Two out of his 3 losses came from decision and the other one was ref stoppage to strikes. His sole win came via decision and he is coming up from New Jersey. I feel this one is going to be a close battle and come down to a decision.
180 Scott Lavoie 1-0 (Team Irish) vs Rob Higgins 0-0 (CMBJJ)
Scott Lavoie will take on Rob Higgins at a catchweight of 180lbs. Scott is from Team Irish and has a 1-0 record. His only fight he won via submission in just 23 seconds at a previous GFL. His opponent Rob is from CMBJJ and will be making his amateur debut. This is going to be a battle with two of the big schools up in Maine. I, for one, can't wait.
185 Ramon Saintvil 1-0 (CMBJJ) vs Jacob Cameron 0-2 (Independent)
For the last amateur fight of the evening, NEF has Ramon Saintvil taking on Jacob Cameron. Ramon is from CMBJJ and has a 1-0 record. His last fight was at 205lbs I believe and he is dropping down for this battle. He fought at the last NEF and won with a knockout in the first round. No doubt he will be looking for the KO once again. Jacob is an independent fighter and has an 0-2 record. He is hungry for his first amateur victory. For his two losses, he lost one from head kick knockout and the last one was ref stoppage to strikes. This is a tough fight for Jacob and I think he is going to have to take this to the ground if he wants to win this. I haven't seen Ramon's ground game but NEF fans sure know he can knock people out.
145 John Raio 0-3 (Frosty's First Class/Choi's) vs Damon Owens 0-0 (Young's MMA)
For the first pro fight of the evening, NEF will have John Raio taking on Damon Owens at 145lbs. John trains with Choi's and Frosty's First Class MMA. He comes into this fight with an 0-3 record. He had a great amateur career and has struggled as of late. It should be noted that he has fought some tough professional fighters. One of them was for Bellator and the other one was to Ray Wood so you see my point. This however is a much better match up for him. Damon is from Young's MMA and will be making his pro debut. Damon has struggled in his amateur career and has already lost to John Raio via unanimous decision. However he is always ready for a battle and now that he is pro it is a clean slate! I would like to see this fight be an all stand up fight...let's make it happen guys!
145 Bruce Boyington 2-5 (Young's MMA) vs Asa Zorn 0-2 (Hard Knocks MMA)
Bruce Boyington will be taking on Asa Zorn at 145lbs. Bruce trains with Young's MMA and has a 2-5 record. Bruce has fought some tough guys in his career and has lost most of them to submissions. Don't let his record fool you, he can knock you out if you let your guard down. He had the highlight reel spinning back kick knockout of Keegan Hornstra that no doubt NEF fans watched at least 15 times on Youtube. Asa is from Hard Knocks MMA and comes into this fight with an 0-2 record. Asa is looking for his first victory of his career and so far has suffered two quick losses early in the rounds. This is a tough fight for Asa and if he is going to win it, he is going to have to take Bruce down but to be honest I don't see it happening.
145 Josh Parker 4-6 (Independent) vs Christian Rivera 5-15 (Fisherman's Den)
Josh Parker takes on Christian Rivera at 145lbs. Josh is an independent fighter and has a 4-6 record. Most of Josh's losses came by submission. He fought at the last NEF and got caught in a triangle submission to Jesse Erickson. He has won a couple submissions and a decision in his career. He is a real good independent fighter. Christian is 5-15 and trains with Fisherman's Den. Christian hasn't won a fight since 2010 but he is always ready for a battle. He has won 3 submissions in his career. This is a great match up I feel for both fighters. I see this being a stand up battle and I am anxious to see the outcome.
175 Andrew Hughes 0-0 (Team Irish) vs Joe Palazio 1-0 (Team Rukus)
At 175lbs Andrew Hughes takes on Joe Palazio. Andrew will be making his pro debut and is from Team Irish. Andrew was 5-1 in his amateur career and is very well rounded. He has some submission, ref stoppage to strikes and decisions for his wins. Joe trains with Team Rukus and has a 1-0 pro record. Joe also had an excellent amateur career. He got his first pro victory at CES against Joe Cronin in which he won with a first round guillotine. Joe is also very well rounded with his wins. This is going to be a great fight and definitely could be fight of the night. I feel it will end with a submission or by decision but it is going to real close I feel.
170 Ryan Sanders 4-4 (Young's MMA) vs Emmanuel Walo 3-1 (AllStar MMA Team)
Next up is Ryan Sanders against Emmanuel Walo at 170lbs. Ryan is from Young's MMA and has a 4-4 record. All four of Ryan's wins came via submissions. He always fights tough fighters and is always ready for a battle. His opponent Emmanuel is from AllStar MMA and has a 3-1 record. He is coming up to Maine from New Jersey and has two decision victories and one submission victory. His only pro loss came via decision. Again I feel this is a real close match up and the fight could go either way.
160 Jon Lemke 3-0 (Team Irish) vs Matt DesRoches 4-0 (Wulfrun MMA)
Jon Lemke takes on Matt DesRoches at 160lbs for the first USA vs. Canada Match up. The idea was to have USA vs. Canada on this card but unfortunately many of the fights dropped out but NEF still has two of them and they are good ones. Jon is from Team Irish and has a 3-0 record. He has two ref stoppages to strikes and one decision win. His stand up is looking better and better each fight and is ground game is just as dangerous. Matt comes into this fight from Wulfrun MMA and has a 4-0 record. All four of his wins came from ref stoppages. Now as they say someones 0 must go and one fighter will receive their first professional loss. I see this fight being an awesome stand up battle.
145*TITLE Ray Wood 3-0 (Young's MMA) vs Lenny Wheeler 6-2 (Wulfrun MMA)
The last fight of the evening is the title fight between Ray Wood and Lenny Wheeler at 145lbs. Ray is from Young's MMA and has a 3-0 record. Ray never has a boring fight and always fights tough fights. The last fight against Ahsan Abdullah he was being dominated but in the second round he battled back and got the submission victory to keep his perfect professional record intact. His opponent Lenny is from Wulfrun MMA and comes into this fight with a 6-2 record. He has 3 ref stoppages to strikes and 3 submission victories. For his two losses, he lost one to submission and one to ref stoppage to strikes. As you can see both fighters are tough fighters and very well rounded. This is worthy of a title shot and I of course will be rooting for Team USA Ray Wood!!
Well there you have the full preview of the NEF fight card Nations Collide. NEF has put a lot of man hours behind the scenes to bring MMA up to Bangor so make sure you all show them your support and come out. Thanks to NEF for sharing the fight card with us and always keeping us up to date. I really like the idea of having USA versus Canada and although they didn't have as many match ups as they would have liked to have, I still think it is worthy of the theme. I am very curious to see how the Maine fighters match up with the Canadian mma stars. Thanks for reading this and stay right here for the full play by play by yours truly live from the event. We will not have our regular photographer up there for this one but we will make do. See you all there.