CES 44: The Fallout
Travis Lizotte
On Friday night May 12th CES MMA made its return home to Twin River Casino for the 44th event in the promotion's history following a brief stop on the North Shore for CES 43. The promotion brought out their big guns for this show including; Fan Favorite and the people's Featherweight Champion Matt “The Mangler” Bessette as well as Providence’s own slugging heavyweight Greg Rebello, both fighters looked to punch their tickets to the National Circuit with what turned out to be impressive wins at CES 44.CES has made quite a reputation of producing talent worthy of the UFC and the best could be yet to come with the likes of Bessette and Rebello waiting in the wings. Bessette would defend his Featherweight crown against the Texas finisher; Rey Trujillo who took the fight on short notice when Bessette’s original opponent; Jeremy Spoon, was forced out of the title fight just weeks before. Bessette defended in decisive fashion as he battered the Texan with an arsenal of strikes to the face and body that left Trujillo unable to answer the opening bell in round three. Rebello would make it six wins, in his last seven fights at the expense of Denver’s King Kevin Sears Jr. who survived an absolute onslaught of powerful strikes through the first two and a half rounds before falling victim of a Guillotine choke with just twenty seconds left in the fight.
On the topic of nationally-recognized fighters, two former UFC combatants also made their CES returns as Sean Soriano bounced back from a three-fight losing streak when he stopped New York’s Jacob Bohn with a leg kick that drew a verbal submission in the second round of their Featherweight battle. Also, former Ultimate Fighter contestant Jon Manley would throw down with Manny Walo in a Welterweight contender fight with the winner facing the CES Welterweight champion; Christopher Curtis. Walo was able to outlast and out strike the Manley MMA fighter; Jon Manley as he earned a Unanimous Decision victory and a showdown with Curtis. Also on Friday night’s stacked Main card; Light-Heavyweight star in the making Mike Rodriguez improved to 7-2 with his third consecutive first-round finishes when he TKO’d fellow Light-Heavyweight Alec Hooben out of New Jersey. Looking to keep his train rolling and his record unblemished; Undefeated Flyweight Carlos Candelario threw down with what ended up bring his third opponent since the fight was announced, as he submitted New York's Timothy Wheeler by Rear Naked Choke in the first round. Another exciting star in the making; Middleweight Contender, Justin “The Fort” Sumter followed up on his back-to-back first round Knockouts, to earn a hard fought decision victory over Brian Sparrow from Sandwich Massachusetts as they rounded out the main card which aired live on AXS TV. The undercard included three fights; including a female bantamweight matchup between undefeated Jennifer Norris from Baltimore Maryland and the fast rising star Scary Kerri Kennison from Team Link in Hooksett New Hampshire who made her Pro debut Friday night earning a decisive Unanimous Decision victory over the veteran Norris. Rounding out an exciting night of action Pawtucket’s Toby “TNT” Oden welcomed Philadelphia Pennsylvania's Paul Sims to the CES cage and to the Professional ranks as the fighters battled to a decision that went the way of the new comer Sims. Finally, in the opening fight of the night, Middleweight Reginaldo Felix Knocked out fellow Framingham native Adam Quitt in just thirteen seconds of the opening round. Here are some of the stories worth following after an exciting night back at Twin River Casino for CES 44.
