CES MMA coming to Hartford on September 17
by Brian Woodman Jr. on 09/16/21
The Connecticut Convention Center will host CES MMA on
September 17.
Connecticut favorite Matt Bessette (24-10) will fight Ryan
Dela Cruz (11-6) for the vacant lightweight title during the evening’s main
event, whivch will be five rounds. Bessette currently holds the CES
featherweight belt.
The card also includes a bantamweight world championship
fight between Joshua Smith (8-5) and Jay Perrin (8-4).
The other bouts include;
- A welterweight bout between Gary Balletto Jr. (6-2) and Daniel Frunza (4-1).
- A lightweight bout between Eddy George (3-0) and Rodolfo Barcellos (1-1).
- A middleweight bout between Justin Sumter (7-4) and Albert Tadevosyan (7-1-1).
- A lightweight bout between Alexandra Ballou (2-1) and Gabriella Gulfin (2-3).
- A flyweight bout between Harris Bonfiglio (2-1) and Kyle Lindner in his professional debut.
- A featherweight bout between Nate Ghareeb (3-1) and Eduardo Rodrigues (1-0).
- A flyweight bout between Israel Galvan (1-2) and David Durao in his professional debut.
- A bantamweight bout between Aaron Reese (0-2) and Charra Phon in his professional debut.
During the previous CES MMA event, which was held at MGM
Springfield on August 6, John Howard (29-16) earned a unanimous decision win
over Ozzie Alvarez (8-7). The judges scored the welterweight bout 29-28, 29-27
and 29-26.
Carlos Candelario (8-0) of New Britain, who recently earned
a contract with the UFC following his recent appearance on the Tuesday Night
Contender Series, defeated Miguel Restrepo that evening. Two judges scored it
30-27 and one scored it 29-28.
Chris Disonell (6-4) knocked out Will Smith (3-4) at 3:38 in
the first round of their bantamweight bout.
Kody Murray, in his professional debut, submitted fellow
featherweight Miguel Cuevas (1-1) with an arm triangle at :44 in the first
round.
Eddy George (3-0) won his lightweight bout against Tony
Jackson (0-1). The referee waved off the fight at 2:06 in the first round due
to unanswered strikes.
Ashiek Ajim (4-1) won his bantamweight bout with Richard
Barnard (2-7) at 34 seconds into the first round courtesy of unanswered elbows
and hammer fists.
Tom Pagliarulo (2-0) knocked out Josh Hardy (0-1) with a
right cross at 1:59 in the first round.
Nick Fiore (2-0) submitted fellow lightweight Jay Ellis
(15-99) with a rear naked choke at 1:29 in the first round.
Nate Ghareeb (3-1) defeated Dajun Robinson (5-0) during a
featherweight bout. He knocked Robinson out at 5:00 in the first round.
Thad Jean submitted Sage Phillippe at 3:59 in the third
round of their featherweight bout. Both fighters debuted that evening.
