Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Five Reasons Why This Weekend's Ring of Combat is Important

NEW JERSEY


Ring of Combat 48 is set to go down this Friday in Atlantic City, N.J., and this particular installment of the seminal Northeast MMA show is one not to be missed. Sure, it will have all the usual trappings of violence and skill, and will feature some of the best and most promising fighters the region has to offer. But ROC 48 has something else going for it in the form of five fighters whose futures could very well involve the letters "U", "F" and "C" - and who doesn't like to have a leg up on the future?


Those five reasons why ROC 48 is important are...

  • Brendan Barrett - As ROC's reigning heavyweight champ, Barrett is a veteran with seven and a half years of experience who settled into his winning groove a couple years ago, and is now a tall order for anyone to try to dethrone. Barrett can slug it out and he can grapple, and though injuries have dogged him in the past, he seems to have finally managed to turn his body into the well-oiled machine it needs to be to remain the king of the Northeast.
  • James Jenkins - The bearer of ROC's featherweight crown, Jenkins is a polished scrapper who throws everything out the window and starts banging once he takes one on the chin. This makes him a favorite of both fans and promoters alike, and as we saw this past weekend with Matt Brown, dudes who take a beating and come back to dish it out are worth their weight in gold in the fight game.
  • Andre Harrison - Harrison also has a featherweight title to his name, and as a product of Bellmore Kickboxing Academy, is capable of waging wars, finding submissions and pounding opponents out. Unlike Barrett and Jenkins, Harrison has yet to taste defeat in the cage, and could very well be riding that streak on to bigger things soon.
  • Chris Wade - Long Island MMA's Wade is the proud holder of ROC lightweight belt, and to earn it, he clawed his way to the top with a blend of collegiate-level wrestling, jiu-jitsu knowledge and all-around grittiness. However, what makes his ROC 48 best especially intriguing is the fact that he is literally fighting the most worthy opponent around: Frankie Perez.
  • Frankie Perez - As one of Team Ricardo Almeida's standard bearers, Perez is to jiu-jitsu what squirrels are to nuts, and those skills have prevented him from tasting defeat as a pro. He and Wade comprise the absolute elite of ROC's 155-pound up-and-comers, and when two of the region's best clash (which, for one reason or another, doesn't always get to happen), it's a real treat.

No comments: