Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Bouts to Watch at Upcoming New Jersey Pro Shows

There’s a pair of upcoming pro shows in New Jersey with some seriously stellar bouts on tap.  February 19th will bring us Lou Neglia’s Ring of Combat 28, and the mega-fight card includes:

    • Gian Villante vs. Bret Kohan, a classic “big, mean knockout striker against big, mean knockout striker” match-up.  This one is for a ROC belt, and odds are there will be very little lay-and-pray involved.
    • Ryan LaFlare vs. Justin Haskins, which pairs a red-hot Bellmore Kickboxing grappling stud against a Kurt Pellegrino-trained ex-wrestler and WEC veteran.
    • Louis Gaudinot vs. Tuan Pham, a meeting of lightning-fast face-punchers.  Remember when cartoon characters would engage in fisticuffs and all viewers would see was a cloud of dust and flying limbs?  That’s what’s going to happen here, only with referee Kevin Mullhall yelling “Don’t grab the fence!  Watch those knees!  Oh my God he killed him!”

On February 26th, a week after ROC 28, Monte Cox’s Adrenaline MMA promotion links up with Newbreed Fighters for the Garden State-based organization’s first pro show.  That card includes:

    • Tom Gallicchio vs. Mike Dolce, which pits one of New Jersey’s best welterweights against a heavy-handed TUF veteran.
    • Dante Rivera vs. Herbert Goodman, a pairing of one of the area’s most popular fighters against some cat from the Midwest.

It looks like 2010 is starting off strong in terms of pro MMA offerings.  Hopefully this will keep up.