On September 10, Cage Titans returned MMA to Plymouth Memorial Hall with their show “United.” In the main event that night, undefeated up-and-comer Frank Sforza defeated Featherweight Champion Billy Jones. Undefeated as an amateur as well as in his professional career, Frank has been steamrolling his way through the 145-lb division. With the Jones victory he also steamrolled his way to Northeast MMA’s September Fighter of the Month.

Of course, from inside the cage, it didn’t always look like he was steamrolling. According to Sforza, “In the first round, I was taken down and took a shot in the face. Jones gave me a nice shiner.” But in the true form of an MMA fighter, Sforza added, “I was lovin’ it.”

Sforza trains at South Shore Sport Fighting, one of the top schools in New England. Right out of the Boston area, he was a 4-time wrestling state champion in high school, and won New Englands once after two 3rd-place finishes. He headed up to Iowa Central for a year of college, but “spent too much time partying and chasing girls.” He decided to head back home to “get the boot in the [butt]” from his father, and enter the military to learn discipline and put a few years of maturity on himself.

Six years, a junior college degree and four Air Force deployments later, Sforza has joined the Air Force Reserves and is 7-0 in his MMA career. With four amateur fights under his belt, and three victories professionally, Sforza is continuing to impress. His most recent victory, over Billy Jones of Team Kaos at Cage Titans’ September 10 United event, solidified his rising star in New England’s Featherweight division.

When asked about his style, Sforza says that while he prefers wrestling his opponents, he does not shy away from working on the other parts of his game. “I’ve been working heavily on my Jiu-Jitsu and kickboxing since I started fighting, and so I’ll usually try my hand at those at the start of a fight. If things start going south, I’ll go back to the wrestling pedigree.”

Going into the fight against Jones, Sforza knew he was in for a battle. He initially wanted to stand, but after the first round decided going to the ground was a wiser strategy. Coming into the third round, he wasn’t sure if he was really making a mark on Jones— Old School had Sforza winning the first two rounds, but we all know that may not mean much in the cage— but when Jones yelled “Oh, [expletive]” out of frustration during a Sforza double-leg special, the soon-to-be champ knew he had won. A rear naked choke made it official later in the round.

Frank Sforza is only 27 and has been fighting in the cage for less than 19 months, but he has not slowed his meteoric rise. Having spent six years doing security work as a Military Policeman he’s looking for work in the security field and spending every day in the gym. “You know, I never had to put effort into working out hard. It was always outside of the ring that gave me trouble. Well, that part of my life is over with and I’m looking forward to taking on anyone, anywhere, anytime.” With that attitude, and the ever-improving skill set he brings to the table, perhaps we’ll see Sforza adding some more spice to the front end of the Featherweight Division.

From Dustman