Trilogy/Black Belt Productions Presents:

Combat Zone 15Marked Men

Saturday, April 22 from Club Lido in Revere, MA

Promoter Bruce Marshall and matchmaker Roger Woo bring the Bay State the first event in its history to feature a cage. This card has gone through a lot of changes – here’s the final card, which is chock full of some awesome fights.

Earl Bauer (Unleashed) 4-2 vs. Brendan Hoaxie (Shikakuryu JJ)

            At some point in the future Bauer is going to deal with someone who can sprawl on him and throw bombs, and it’s going to be an ugly fight. This, however, will not be that night. I’m guessing we’ll get to see the reverse triangle again.

Biggie’s Prediction: Bauer  

Eddie Felix (Dragon Warrior) 1-5 vs. Collin Boyle (Strikezone)

            I’m not sure about this one – Felix got his first win, and seems to be more comfortable throwing some punches standing. I think his biggest downfall was his standup, and with some punches mixed into his game, he’s able to get the takedown he needs, and use his size and strength to get the win. Boyle comes from a strong camp, so who knows how he’ll do.

Biggie’s Prediction: Felix

Brian Olsen (Strikezone) 5-1 vs. Brian Vetell (Renzo) 1-1

            Olsen has dominated local competition, with incredible wrestling and heavy hands to complement it. Vetell has a couple of fights in the NYC Underground scene, losing to the much smaller (but very talented) Kareem Ellington in his first fight. I’m told that Vetell is a strong wrestler who should be much heavier than Olsen. As seen in his fight versus Tyler Oleksik, Olsen has shown that he can still bring the pain to a larger, stronger wrestler.

Biggie’s Prediction: Olsen

[FIGHT CANCELLED - VETELL DIDN'T GET HIS EKG DONE IN TIME]

Eddie Saldana (Dragon Warrior) vs. Rob Gagnon (Submission Arsenal) 0-1

I didn’t get to see Gagnon’s only fight, a submission due to exhaustion loss to the new Homer Simpson of local MMA, Jesse Rebell. You can never tell what you’re going to get with the Dragon Warrior camp – you can get someone who’s mostly a grappler, or a brawler. Being to close to call using logic, I’m going to flip a coin.

Biggie’s Prediction: Gagnon 

Dan Kobus (MSA) 0-2 vs. Mark Matheson (Dragon Warrior) 0-1

Neither of these guys has really impressed in their brief MMA careers. Kobus was composed in his latest fight, keeping JP Christini frustrated by using his reach to stay out of KO range – he also got a good takedown before being quickly submitted. Matheson was in a back-and-forth battle last week, and was really tough to determine his talents.

Biggie’s Prediction: Kobus

Ben Manseau (Team Woo) vs. Mike Bodner (Dogpound)

Both first time fighters, so we really have no idea who’s going to take this one. Since Roger Woo is the matchmaker though, I have to assume his student should have a good chance of victory.

Biggie’s Prediction: Manseau

Greg Mucci (Dogpound) 0-1 vs. Colby Brown (Team Irish) 1-0

I saw Mucci fight, and he really couldn’t do much from his back in his loss to Steve Stulpin. I did not see Brown fight, but given the usual well roundedness of Team Irish (including good wrestling), my gut instinct is to go with Brown.

Biggie’s Prediction: Brown

John Romano (MSA) vs. Mark Sirkin (Strike Zone) 0-1

This is another who-the-hell-knows match up. Sirkin was doing pretty good against Bauer, stopping all his shots and landing hard knees before he got caught in Bauer’s sneaky setup for that goddamn reverse triangle. Romano’s an unkown, and MSA’s performance has been hit-or-miss lately.

Biggie’s Prediction: Sirkin

Jack “Dynamo” Wilmarth (Aggression) 3-0 vs. Bob Pupa (Drgn Warrior) 5-3

             Two dangerous strikers, but Wilmarth displayed his well roundedness in his defeat last week of BTT Black belt Joao Amaral.  Dynamo is smart enough to stay away from Pupa’s bombs, and tear him down with leg kicks. Once it hits the ground, I believe Wilmarth has a huge advantage.

Biggie’s Prediction: Wilmarth

[FIGHT CANCELLED - PUPA SITES PERSONAL REASONS]

Joao Amaral (Boston BTT) 1-3 vs. Will Kerr (Strike Zone) 2-0

            Amaral is fresh of a decision loss to Jack “Dynamo” Wilmarth, losing the standup battle and having his takedown attempts sprawled upon for much of the match. Amaral is fighting a very similar opponent in Kerr – strong wrestling, heavy hands, and enough submission knowledge to keep him safe and able to deal out damage. I don’t think a week is enough time for Amaral to improve where he was lacking, so it looks like Kerr will defeat his second BJJ black belt.

Biggie’s Prediction: Kerr

Elias Rivera (Dogpound) 3-3 vs. Matt Fletcher (MSA) 2-0-1

Nobody seems to be able to stop Fletcher’s takedowns. Rivera has never really been much of a standup fighter, and I don’t think his wrestling is up to par with Fletcher. That being said, it’s going to be another boring as all hell 8 minutes before Fletcher gets the decision.

Biggie’s Prediction: Fletcher

Jason Dublin (Boston BTT) 4-5-1 vs. John Howard (Brazilian Impact) 4-0

“The Violator” and “Doomsday” are scheduled to do battle again, and I’m not sure why. Howard dominated their first meeting, taking down Dublin and utilizing some solid GnP for the win. Dublin’s boxing and wrestling have improved a lot, but Howard seems to get exponentially better with every fight. I think the difference between this fight and the first one is that Howard won’t let this one go to the judges.

Biggie’s Prediction: Howard

**For the past several days I had Dublin’s name up here, but it was an error – sorry for any confusion it caused**

Keith Rockel (MSA) 11-4-1 vs. Carlos Rodriguez (Combined MA) 1-4

            There is absolutely no chance of Rockel losing this fight. I know I’m coming off as a dick, but let’s just be honest with ourselves.

Biggie’s Prediction: Rockel

There’s we have it folks, come on down to scenic Revere and check out the CAGE.