Ring of Combat 75 is set to go down about an hour from now, the card features two title fights, 13 bouts, and some awesome storylines. Here’s four quick things I’ll be watching for (I’ll be cageside btw).
Tommy Lane’s Return to the Cage
Tommy Lane is Chris Weidman’s protigee. What Weidman was to Matt Serra, Lane is to Weidman. The kid is an absolute stud, a former D1 wrestler who absolutely dominated his professional debut at ROC 74 back in October. With a win tonight, Lane could vault himself to the top of the east coast’s regional rankings after just two fights.
Francis Marshall’s Big Test
Fighting out of Mississippi, Francis Marshall is one of ROC 75’s hottest prospects. He was 5-0 as an amateur, and now sports a 4-0 professional record, three of which coming by finish. He’ll certainly be put to the test tonight, however, as he’ll be facing MMA veteran, and former ROC title challenger Michael Lawrence, in what should be Marshall’s biggest test to date. With an undefeated record, a win tonight could draw Marshall some major attention from the sports biggest promotion.
The James Gonzalez vs Phil Caracappa Superfight
In my opinion, this is the best fight on an already stacked card. If you want a more in depth breakout on this one, checkout this masterpiece I wrote yesterday. But to summarize, this is a title fight between the two men who I believe are the east coasts top 135 pound prospects. Gonzalez is the current champ, but only claimed the title after Caracappa vacated the title to take his shot on the Contender Series, and now he’s back looking to reclaim what’s his. C’mon, does it get any better than that?
The Continued Rise of Dennis Buzukja
Dennis Buzukja is Ring of Combat’s current posterboy, and I’m gonna go out on a limb and say he’s the top prospect in east coast MMA right now. He won the ROC Featherweight title in about 30 seconds in his last fight, and he’s looking to make his first defense tonight. He has an impressive 6-2 record, and at only 24 years old, he has all the makings of a future champion. If he wins tonight, I really think he’s only a fight or two away from another shot with the UFC.
Tonight’s card is streaming live on Fite TV starting at 8:30, make sure to check it out!
