Season’s beatings, fight fans! This Friday night, November 18th, Lou Neglia’s Ring of Combat returns to its Atlantic City home at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino for another stellar night of MMA action. This may be the best fight card put together this year by Neglia and company. Although every Ring of Combat event seems to be better than the last so this is not much of a surprise. As if this card was not intriguing enough, an unprecedented five world title fights are on the schedule for this event.
Headlining this event will be Pete “Drago” Sell (9-5), defending his welterweight crown against Nordine Taleb (3-1). This is the first title defense for Sell, who is coming off a very impressive come-from-behind submission victory over Elijah Harshbarger last June. For Taleb, this is a great opportunity and his toughest challenge to date. Taleb is on a three fight winning streak that saw him defeat always tough, John Salgado last June. Taleb is a talented striker and Sell is a well-rounded fighter. If this fight stays standing, expect some serious fireworks. However, the edge goes to Sell if it spills to the mat. Either way, this will be a fun one to watch.
Speaking of first title defenses, undefeated BJJ ace, Tom DeBlass (5-0) steps into the cage for the first time as Light-Heavyweight Champion to defend against the Russian phenom, Davit Tkeshelashvili (1-1). Davit’s record is listed at 1-1, but from what I understand, it is actually more like 11-3. Davit has very heavy hands and some solid takedowns. DeBlass has proven to have a tough chin and an A+ ground game. Tom loves his ever improving hands so we could see these two stand and bang for a bit. If Davit takes DeBlass to the ground, it will be a short night for the Russian. This one should be outstanding.
We will also see the Lightweight Title decided as Al Iaquinta (6-0-1) defends his newly won championship against Patrick Audinwood (9-2-1). Iaquinta has put on some great shows for the fans in his young career and this one should be no exception. Audinwood is coming off two straight losses in the UFC so he would love nothing more than to get back in the win column and bring home a title at the same time. No doubt, Iaquinta would love to spoil that party. This contest has “fight of the night” written all over it so get ready to be entertained for three rounds in this one.
In other title action Deividas Taurosevicius (13-5) will defend his Featherweight Championship against Marlon Moraes (5-2-1) and rounding out the championship bouts will be Jimmy Rivera (8-1) against Anthony Leone (9-4) for the Bantamweight Title. Either of these bouts could be your “fight of the night” as well so you will not want to miss any of them. These five title fights are pay-per-view caliber match-ups so expect some intense battles and hard earned victories.
Other familiar names on this card will be the likes of Uriah Hall, Drew Puzon, Ryan Vaccaro, Mike Prokop, Aung La N Sang, Frankie Perez, and Pat Defranco. It is almost Thanksgiving and I, for one, am thankful for New Jersey being home to some of the best MMA action in the country. For more information and tickets, head over to the Ring of Combat website ASAP. See you guys at the fights!
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