On a milestone New England Fights card dominated by first-round fireworks, Jonathan Piersma went the distance with a ground-and-pound clinic and overwhelmed one of the promotion’s most enduring stars Saturday night.
Piersma followed his gameplan to the letter and hammered out a unanimous decision over Ryan Sanders to win the vacant professional welterweight title in the main event of NEF 50, held at Aura in Portland, Maine.
Fighting in front of a sold-out crowd heavy with Sanders’ supporters and targeted by the Bangor, Maine veteran’s taunts and trash talk in the lead-up to the fight, Piersma (5-1) arrived from Rochester, New York, and did all his talking on the canvas.
True to Sanders’ forecast that he would shoot for the leg and try to force the action to the mat, Piersma did so in every round and never gave Sanders enough breathing room to unleash his vaunted strikes.
Piersma swept all five rounds on each of three scorecards and enjoyed the last word on the microphone in the center of the cage.
“It feels good to win in my first trip to Maine,” Piersma said. “He did a lot of talking, and he’s a tough guy, but I felt like I dominated the fight.”
All but one of Piersma’s wins as a pro have gone to the final bell. The setback for Sanders (20-10) ended a streak of five consecutive wins by stoppage, four in the first round.
Others experienced that rush on the historic anniversary docket with a parade of electrifying, early endings.
Twelve supporting bouts reached a verdict in the first round, several in a matter of a few seconds. Two others were halted in the second stanza, while only one bout prior to the main event went to the scheduled limit.
Jared Turcotte, Ras Hylton, and Robert Gray were the three prime contenders for knockout of the night.
Turcotte, formerly one of Maine’s most decorated high school and college football players, backed up a 35-second choke-out in his summer debut with a 13-second demolition of Regian Da Silva, Jr.
After a brief exchange in the center of the cage, Turcotte landed one shot that sent his New Hampshire opponent by way of Brazil into la-la land.
“I work hard at this. My goal is to get knockouts, and that’s what the fuck happened,” Turcotte said. “My goal actually was for this one to get to the second round, but I’ll take a 13-second KO any time.”
Bellator veteran Hylton (9-6) has decked his past two opponents in a total of 29 seconds. He expended only 16 ticks of the watch Saturday in a heavyweight shellacking of Indiana’s Jordan Mitchell.
Hylton followed Mitchell to the canvas after the first haymaker and continued his assault to solidify the stoppage.
He dedicated the win to his wife, Janice, in honor of 10 years together.
“She took a drug-addled moron and turned him into something respectable,” the heavy hitter known to his fans as Rasquatch and the Jamaican Shamrock said.
In an amateur cruiserweight contest, Robert Gray (1-0) knocked out Cody Dular (1-1) in 30 seconds. Gray landed a right hand so powerful that it actually launched Dular off his feet into the air. Dular was unconscious for several moments following the knockout and needed attention from the ringside physician.
In an eagerly anticipated grudge match, Matt Denning (8-16) entered the cage in arguably the best shape of his career and exploded to a convincing win over Carl Langston (2-7) at 145 pounds.
Denning backed up his own self-assured forecast and simultaneously dispelled Langston’s claim that he was merely fighting for the paycheck. After intercepting one of several sweeping kicks from Langston, Denning gained control of his opponent’s back and earned a tap to rear naked choke at 1:01 of the first round.
The quick turn of events ended Langston’s modest two-match winning streak as a pro while giving Denning his third win out of eight fights in the past six months alone.
Three other pro bouts ended in short order.
Mohammad Al Kinani (4-1) spoiled Tymar Miles’ debut with a technical knockout in 1:57. It was the second straight win for the rising lightweight star.
Detroit’s Darren Gibbs (3-10) showed that his record is beyond deceiving with a vicious kick to the inside of Nate Grimard’s leg, followed by a heelhook to end the night for Grimard (2-2) at 1:49 in their 150-pound catchweight clash.
Brian Cosco, a knockout victim of Denning in his pro debut earlier the year, turned the tables and spoiled the maiden paying voyage for Justin Kangas with a keylock at 1:18.
As was the case on the pro side, the main amateur attraction also went to the scorecards, with Zach Faulkner (5-3) grinding out a majority decision over newcomer Chase O’Brien.
O’Brien landed a late barrage that might have ended the fight in a few more seconds. Instead, he settled for a 28-28 draw in one judge’s view and a slim 29-28 loss on the other two cards.
Danny Wahlberg rose from the ashes to defeat Eddy Pena by rear naked choke at 2:13 of the second round in easily the most sensational comeback of the evening.
Pena may have emptied his arsenal with an explosion that nearly persuaded the referee to call a halt on at least two occasions. In desperation mode, Wahlberg threw a couple of token counterpunches before taking Pena’s back to set up the fantastic finish to the featherweight scrap.
In another stunning twist of plot, Nick Mulrey (2-0) escaped a near-guillotine from Chris Strout (0-3) and just as quickly locked in a D’arce choke to hasten the end of their featherweight showdown in only 41 seconds.
The lone women’s bout of the occasion went to Cassidy Bedard (2-0), who subdued Lindsey Kelley by rear naked choke with just 20 seconds remaining in their opening round. It was the mixed martial arts debut for Kelley, who accepted the challenge on two weeks’ notice.
Other amateur results:
Ed Davis (2-0) defeated Patrick Mitchell (1-1) by strikes one minute into the first round.
Tristan Wood (1-0) overpowered Armon Bryant (0-1) via guillotine at 42 seconds of the second round.
Soren Mercer (1-0) finished Rosen Iliev (0-1) with an arm triangle at 1:55 of the first round.
Teddy Politis (3-1) TKO’d Aaron Rodriguez (0-1) in the second round at 1:23.
NEF announced that its next card is set for Saturday, February 11, 2023 at Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, Maine. One of the featured attractions at NEF 51: “Banger in Bangor” will be an amateur title bout between 2-0 bantamweights Key Baltazar and Nate Dorr. Tickets are available now at www.TicketMaster.com.
