Ring of Combat 87 goes down as usual in the Tropicana Hotel and Casino Showroom this Friday, September 19th. ROC President, Louis Neglia, is a NJ MMA Hall of Famer and a pioneer in the sport. Lou has been putting on quality cards and helping guys get to the UFC for a long time. That remains his goal as he will continue to put some of the best talent on the east coast in his cage and see who can leave with their arm raised in victory and move on to even larger fights and venues. I will have the pleasure of hosting the pre-fight show and trying not to get in the way of Professor Jay Regalbuto, who will handle the blow-by-blow call with me at the commentary table.
ROC 87 Main Event
ROC 87 will be capped off with the newest flyweight champion being crowned. The title is vacant, and the main event will feature veteran Hector “Super Borciua” Iglesias (3-3) trying to stop someone many consider a super prospect in “Relentless” Ryan Burgos. Ryan is the younger brother of former UFC stand-out “Hurricane” Shane Burgos and they both have always represented Team Tiger Schulmann. Relentless has been a wrecking machine with stoppages in all 5 of his previous contests (3 ammy, 2 pro) and has only been taken past the first round one time. There are good genes in that family and Iglesias has a huge opportunity for the biggest moment of his career and a signature win if he finds a way to pull it off and win the championship.
Fight Card…
The co-main event is a title elimination bout and features two welterweights who are undefeated. Devan Worth is 26 yrs old and 4-0 with 3 finishes and is well trained at Bellmore Kickboxing and Transcend Grappling Academy. His opponent is Jonathan DiLorenzo. DiLorenzo is 34 yrs old. He got off to a quick 2-0 start as a pro after a 4-0 amateur campaign, including a first-round finish at Bellator, but has not been back in the cage since February of 2022. He’s doing his thing at David Branch BJJ and Cruz MMA. We will see if the layoff affects him as one of these warriors will get their first loss.
Donald Arana has a nice 6-1 amateur record at 145 lbs and has been very active the last couple of years. Looking at Tapology to see his fight history, you can see that he and his team at Longo MMA had a path they wanted to follow to get to his pro debut, which will come Friday night. They will welcome Anthony “Snipes” George, who trains with Terry Gold’s Brooklyn MMA. I have been friends with his coach Terry for years and he has always believed that Snipes has next level skill and talent. Some injuries and life issues have delayed the process after George won his debut at ROC 68 in 2019. Terry, Snipes and I had a video chat yesterday and here is some of what they had to say…
Terry Gold on the layoff…. “Snipes will have no cage rust, trust me. He’s been working extremely hard and his focus is where it needs to be. This begins our journey to the UFC that we started in 2019. Everyone will see Friday night.”
Snipes George on his matchup…”Nothing but respect for my opponent who has been impressive and trains with a tremendous team. I have to concentrate on what I do best and that’s how I will walk away with the victory. I want to thank my whole team for pushing me and putting in all the extra work, even with the little details, allowing us to have success.”
This is a 145 lb tournament championship bracket, so the winner will be well rewarded
The 135 lb tournament championship will also be on the line at ROC 87 as Kyle Hammell repping Gracie Sports, battles Billy Alexander out of Gym-O in NC. Both of these men and their teams travel up from North Carolina. It’s very familiar to them as they have been putting their talent on ROC fight cards for years. This might be fight of the night. Both of these gentlemen are exciting and will bring it.
Interview with Cam Scalio below:
In my “Spotlight Fight of the Night, we are featuring the pro debut of two huge lightweight prospects facing off. Training with UFC legend and hall of famer, Matt Serra out of NY, we have Tom DiGennaro who is 6-1 as an amateur and has a legitimate ground game. His opponent is PA born and bred Cameron Scalio, who has nestled into south Jersey and trains with good friend, former college wrestling teammate and current UFC fighter, Andre Petroski (12-4). Their squad is Marquez MMA who boasts a long roster of UFC vets and up and coming fighters.
They also get the benefit of training with sister schools Team Taino and Webb MMA. You can check out my interview with Cam above as he fills us in on his path into fighting and how he sees this matchup. I featured this particular match-up because I see them as very similar. They have both been very active the last few years with fighting and grappling and are both training with some of the best coaches in the world. I’m hoping for a stand-off in the takedowns, and we are treated to a stand-up battle, but if it does go to the ground, we will be treated to very high-level skills on both ends. Philly vs NY….doesn’t get any better.
Ray Longo is going to be busy tonight working corners as Demetri “Night Night” Nictas looks to even his record up (2-3) as the flyweight welcomes the challenge from Sergio Rivera who won his pro debut via 3rd round RNC stoppage in February. Rivera trains out of No Limits KB, Transcend Grappling and Freedom BJJ. He’s definitely getting a lot of looks.
Juan Vides is making his pro debut and will have a chance for some revenge as he takes on Marcus “the Blackstar” Reid in a re-match from their amateur careers. Reid got the W with a 2nd round rear naked choke and has gone on to get his pro license and go 1-1 thus far. Reid is easy to remember as he always looks like the happiest guy in the building. He’s got a million-dollar smile and a ton of awesome personality to go with it. Doubt that helps him in the cage though, lol. But there’s no doubt he will be ready with a mentor like Matt Serra. Vides gets his grind on with the Tiger Schulmann crew.
On the prelims, we have 3 amateur fights. It was great to see the NJ Athletic Control Board add some flexibility and evolve as NJ cards can now have pro/am cards. I’ve been cage-side when amateurs like “the Irish Dragon” Paul Felder, Joe “Bodybagz” Pyfer, Andre Petroski were pulverizing opponents working their way through the ranks. You never know who the next “one” is.
Might it be one of these young men.. Jalin Willis vs DJ Tirelli 147 lbs.. Nathaniel Smith vs Ryan Sipavicius 154 lbs Joseph Krenkel vs Jake Chambers 135 lbs
ROC 87 live stream is absolutely free on ToroTv.Net
Doors open at 8 pm and first bell is 8:30
