"NEF has garnered a reputation for providing its fans with an unmatched quality of entertainment," stated NEF co-owner and promoter Nick DiSalvo. "When our fans buy a ticket and come to the Colisee they expect to be treated to several hours of knock-outs, submissions, and great fights. That is what we strive to put together for them, and we do it at very reasonable ticket prices."
NEF brass credits those affordable ticket prices coupled with quality fight cards as the catalysts behind four wildly successful events this year. The promotion is averaging around 3,000 fans per show, outperforming many local competitors by four to five times in terms of attendance. Yet achieving such prosperity has not come without its challenges.
"It's a lot of hard work and endless hours of planning and negotiating," said NEF co-owner and matchmaker Matt Peterson. "Take this card, for instance. We've put together some fights that fans have been clamoring for for a while now. John Raio (4-0 amateur record) and Ray Wood (5-1 amateur record) is a dream fight in Maine and we're making it happen on this show. John Ortolani (6-6) and Bruce Boyington (3-4) are another pair of fighters who have been extremely popular on the regional scene in New England. Ryan Sanders (4-2) and Jarod Lawton (1-1) are two of the best welterweights Maine has ever produced. A ton of time and energy goes into putting these fights together. And, unfortunately, many fights don't come to fruition. We had a lightweight title fight scheduled for this card between Jamie Harrison (4-1) and Dez Green (5-0). I was informed the other day that Jamie had suffered an injury in training and would be unable to compete on this card. We're going to try to do that fight on one of our early cards of 2013."With the skyrocketing popularity of NEF in Maine, DiSalvo warns fans not to wait to get their tickets, "On our last show in September we had a line of over 1,000 fans buying tickets at the door. It took a couple of hours to get all of them tickets even with the box office fully staffed. Some of them missed the first few fights on the card as a result. My point is - get your tickets early, avoid the line, and get right in to see all of the action!"
The FIGHT NIGHT V fight card (subject to change):
PRO
135 Paul Gorman 9-9 (Academy) vs Adam Toussaint 5-4 (Havoc) [BANTAMWEIGHT TITLE]
170 Ryan Sanders 4-2 (Young’s MMA) vs Jarod Lawton 1-1 (IABJJ)
155 Bruce Boyington 3-4 (Young’s MMA) vs John Ortolani 6-6 (Triumph)
145 John Raio 0-0 (MMA Athletix) vs Ray Wood 0-0 (Young’s MMA)
155 Jon Lemke 1-0 (Team Irish) vs Ahsan Abdulla 1-1 (Bombsquad)
AMATEUR
125 John Parker 0-1 (Team Nitemare) vs Ken Foster 0-1 (Independent)
135 Derek Shorey 2-5 (Bill Jones’ Shop) vs Cody Sargent 0-1 (Independent)
135 Eric Austin 1-0 (MV Wrestling Club) vs Steve Sobel 1-0 (Independent)
135 Elias Leland 1-1 (The Academy) vs Tommy Balzano 3-1 (Team Irish)
135 Nick Spencer 2-1 (Choi’s) vs Brandon Bushaw 2-2 (Fitness Edge MMA)
145 Shawn Goodrich 0-0 (Havoc) vs Edward Milville 0-0 (CMBJJ)
155 Jesse Erickson 2-1 (CMBJJ) vs Drew Waltz 1-1 (Young’s MMA)
155 Will McCall 1-0 (Team Irish) vs Steven Bang 0-0 (CMBJJ)
155 Rob Vandastine 0-0 (IABJJ) vs Nate Charles 0-4 (Balanced Ground MMA)
165 Tollison Lewis 2-2 (Balanced Ground MMA) vs Tim Tucker 0-2 (Independent)
170 Dave Norton 0-0 (Team Irish) vs Chris Ouellette 0-0 (Havoc)
170 Andrew Tripp 2-0 (Team Irish) vs Brian Sparrow 3-0 (Pro Elite)
185 Buck Pineau 4-2 (Choi’s) vs Josh McAuliffe 0-0 Young's MMA 46-6 amateur boxer
195 Crowsneck Boutin 0-2 (Independent) vs Tony Wells 0-1 (CMBJJ)
205 Brent Dillingham 3-0 (MMA Athletix) vs Ben Raven 0-0 (Sipayik Boxing Club)
HWT Kevin Smith 0-0 (Young’s MMA) vs Brandon Newman 0-2 (Team United Muay Lao)
Fight Night V is slated for November 17 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston, ME with a special start time of 5:00 PM. For more information on this event, visit www.NewEnglandFights.com. You can watch NEF videos at www.youtube.com/NEFMMA, follow them on Twitter @nefights and join the official Facebook group “New England Fights.” Tickets for Fight Night V are on sale now atwww.TheColisee.com or by calling The Colisee box office at 207.783.2009 x 525.
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