i'm wondering how many know of him, and what their opinions of him might be.
he's a local NYC fighter - pretty competent on the ground and strong on the muay thai. he won an IFC tournament a few years ago, got subbed by eddy rolon at another IFC and tko'd by jose rodriguez at a vengeance at the vanderbilt show, and recently tko'd a much bigger bryan vetell at an underground nyc event.
i ask because he wanted to know about getting bigger fights (higher profile, etc), so i'm curious what the general consensus is on him (if there is one).
kirik, when i interviewed him years ago, he had dreams of fighting in the ufc. when i interviewed him after the first underground nyc show, he said he was doing it to represent the bronx, and to show the neighborhood kids what a real mma fighter could do.
perhaps he should take some baby steps, and start with some fights at Mass Destruction, Reality Fighting, or Combat Zone - the top organizations in the Northeast
the road to the UFC isn't going to be through the NYC Underground event
thanks biggie. i think i should point out that he fought at the IFC twice when it came to new jersey, fought at BAMA, fought at vengeance at the vanderbilt, and has only recently down the underground shows.
I think he has a lot of potential if he starts looking at fights as steps in a process.
I would stay away from underground events as they will do nothing for his exposure. I have seen him fight a couple times and he has a lot of the tools for the next level. He has the "look", Good stand-up,and a solid knowledge of the ground. I thought he was going places untill the losses to Eddie and Jose.
I would think his best bet would be to fight at 205 on a couple Northest shows like Neglia's and Reality Fighting as if he was starting his career over as he wins and creates a buzz bigger fights ahould be easier to get.
he's got an impressive 7-3 record, his first fight almost 5 years ago; but can how would he fair against the Northeast light heavyweights (they've got him listed at 203)?
Throw him in there with Jerry Spiegel, Jordan Pergola, Norm Schack (the up-and-coming light heavies) etc. and start the ball rolling again
phil, i agree - i think the loss to jose rodriguez kinda derailed him. i do think fighting at the underground shows has kinda helped him get back on track (get his confidence back, gain momentum), and his last opponent there was no scrub.
i will definitely recommend ring of combat or reality fighting to him.
I met him once (did a class with him in Williamsburg) seemed like a very nice guy. I saw that he is representing something called Team South Bronx (does he train by himself). Maybe it would not hurt to attach himself to a more established team where there is already a relationship with promoters etc. Also, with a larger team comes a pool of deeper talent to learn from and train with. Just my .02 cents again seemed like a respectful nice guy. wish him good luck.
i have no clue what "team south bronx" means in terms of where he's training or who he's training with, but he was definitely in shape at his last fight.
He looked in great shape at that underground thing and the guy he fought was huge and I have heard was a good wrestler.
Sometimes things like that are good for the confidence.
If he gets his head and heart into making it to the next level he has the rest of the tools. With his strengths if he takes each fight individually and trains for the opponents gets good game plans together he could go really far. By the way how old is he?
Showed a TON of heart and skill in his last victory vs brian vetell.
Seemed like a really nice guy too.
For exposure, I agree with fighting in some higher profile East Coast events. He could also continue to fight at the NY Underground to keep him tuned up.
