Tag Archives: C.J. Ewer

mixed martial arts, MMA, New England Fights

CALEB HALL TAKES NO SHORTCUTS IN MIXED-MARTIAL-ARTS CAREER

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Bangor, Maine (September 3, 2018) – There’s no evidence that Easy Street exists in the world of professional mixed-martial-arts.

 

 

 

If it did, it’s safe to say Caleb Hall wouldn’t be able to find it, even if he were furnished the most precise global positioning system and the unlimited kindness of strangers.

 

 

 

Hall is wired to fight hard, fight often, and fight against the best available competition to give himself an accurate barometer of where he stands in the sport.

 

 

 

That won’t change this Saturday, September 8th, when he takes on C.J. Ewer in a lightweight bout at New England Fights 35: “Wicked Season.” The card will take place at Cross Insurance Center in Bangor with an opening bell time of 7 p.m.

 

 

 

Hall, 24, a multi-time state champion wrestler during his career at Dirigo High School, isn’t bothered that he’ll be taking on a hometown hero who has been a titleholder for the regional promotion. It seems he subscribes to pro wrestling legend Ric Flair’s mantra: To be the man, you’ve got to beat the man.

 

 

 

“Whoever they offer and put in front of me is who I’m going to take on,” Hall said. “It doesn’t matter to me. It’s a big fight and it’s in his hometown. That definitely makes it more interesting.”

 

 

 

The fight is a natural pairing for two of Maine’s top pros. Each is eager to get back into the NEF hexagon, for opposite reasons, after their results earlier this year.

 

 

 

Hall handled John Ortolani, a wily veteran with main-event experience on his 20-fight ledger, in an impressive April pro debut. His game well developed from a double-digit total of amateur scraps, Hall earned a submission via the rarity of a Von Flue choke at 2:16 of the opening round.

 

 

 

Two months earlier, Ewer sustained his first loss in the pro cage by kneebar against Kemran Lachinov. He’s tough on home turf, however, as evidenced by a stoppage of Rumford’s Mike Hansen last summer.

 

 

 

“We have similar styles and similar games,” Hall said, “I try not to think about my opponent too much and just try to fight my fight. He’s a tough matchup no matter who he’s in there against.”

 

 

 

Since making his debut only a month after he crossed the legal age threshold of 18, Hall has carved out a reputation as a relentless, crowd-pleasing competitor who isn’t picky about his opponents.

 

 

 

That’s made life easier for NEF co-owner and matchmaker Matt Peterson, who can always count on Hall being ready for prime time near the top of the bill.

 

 

 

“Caleb reminds me a lot of Devin Powell, our former lightweight champion. Devin most recently won in the UFC, the largest fight promotion on the planet,” Peterson said. “Devin got to where he is through good, old-fashioned diligence – desire, dedication, discipline and hard work. Caleb’s approach mirrors Devin’s. He’s not looking for the easy path to get where he wants to go.”

 

 

 

Everything else about Hall’s progression in the sport has been measured conservatively.

He toiled in the amateur ranks for more than five years, wanting to make sure that his acumen was developed and his repertoire well-balanced.

 

 

 

“I think I’m pretty well-rounded in every area,” Hall said, “My wrestling is still probably the strongest part of my game, but everything else is starting to catch up, like my submissions and my striking.”

 

 

 

Hall never budged from his amateur weight of 145 until moving up to 155 – historically NEF’s deepest and toughest pro division – for his shot at Ortolani.

 

 

 

He and Ewer are now jockeying for position in a class that provided great success for the likes of Powell, Bruce Boyington, Ryan Sanders, Jon Lemke and Jesse Erickson. Advancing to that fray would have been foolhardy if Hall hadn’t done things the right way physically and nutritionally.

 

 

 

“For me it’s been more about training and putting it on the right way. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I could still make 145, but this is a lot better for my body,” Hall said. “I was in the same weight class from the time I entered the sport when I was 18. It was a lot of weight cuts, but I was coming right out of high school wrestling where that was all part of it.”

 

 

 

When he fought at 145, Hall said his day-to-day weight when not in training was just shy of 170 pounds. He can now comfortably carry 175 to 180 between bouts. Less last-minute dehydration is necessary to reach the lightweight limit.

 

 

 

“He’s on the treadmill every day. He’s logging his training hours with commitment and focus,” Peterson said. “He’s living the lifestyle. It’s guys like Caleb that really get me excited about the sport, because they show us the best stuff that human beings are made of, and they give us a glimpse of what we’re capable of as people. If Caleb Hall hits the heights that he’s set for himself – and I’m confident that he will get there – it will be because he earned it the entire way.”

 

 

 

Hall appreciates the perception that his fight with Ewer is a big one in the NEF title picture and beyond, but as always he is eager to steer clear of the hype.

 

 

 

“I had a lot of confidence going in (against Ortolani), and that hasn’t changed,” Hall said. “I see every fight as your biggest fight, anyway. That’s just how I try to approach it. This sport has a small window.”

 

 

 

Three five-minute rounds aren’t much time in the grand scheme, either, although it’s a grueling grind when two action fighters such as Hall and Ewer are going at it.

 

 

 

Despite their first-round finishes last time around, Hall won’t be surprised to see this one venture closer to the advertised distance.

 

 

 

“We’ll see what happens. I don’t go in there thinking I’m going to take him out,” Hall said. “I expect it to be a war. It’ll probably go deep into the second and third rounds, and we’ll see who swims.”

 

 

 

NEF’s next mixed-martial-arts event, “NEF 35: Wicked Season,” will see the company make its return to the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, Maine.  The event is scheduled to take place this Saturday, September 8, 2018 with a bell time of 7 pm.  Tickets are on sale now at www.CrossInsuranceCenter.com.

mixed martial arts, MMA, New England Fights

BOYINGTON TRIUMPHANT IN RETURN, ERICKSON SETTLES A SCORE AT NEF 32

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Lewiston, Maine (February 4, 2018) – Two years of traveling the world in pursuit of mixed martial arts glory had not even a shred of negative impact on Bruce “Pretty Boy” Boyington’s mystique in the New England Fights cage.

 

 

 

 

Battered, bloodied Taylor Trahan somehow made it to the end of the second round at Androscoggin Bank Colisee, but a relentless Boyington punctuated a dominant performance with a rear naked choke at 1:08 of the third in the 150-pound main event at “NEF 32: Super Saturday.”

 

 

 

 

Boyington (15-11) had fought in such diverse locales as New York City and Moscow since his most recent NEF appearance. He extended his winning streak in the promotion to four fights at the expense of Trahan (7-9).

 

 

 

 

Four other professional bouts and 10 amateur affairs highlighted the busy evening.

 

 

 

C.J. Ewer’s bid to become the first simultaneous NEF champion in two different divisions fell short against Kemran Lachinov.

 

 

 

 

Lachinov (6-2), a Bellator veteran based out of Ludlow, Massachusetts, captured the vacant welterweight crown with a tapout to a kneebar at 3:01 of the first round.

 

 

 

Ewer was undefeated in three previous pro fights, including a submission victory over Mike Hansen for the middleweight strap six months ago.

 

 

 

 

Hansen also absorbed a choke-out loss on this card. Coming off a week of controversy about their agreed-upon catch weight, Jesse “The Viking” Erickson showed that his apparent size disadvantage was no issue.

 

 

 

 

After dominating the early exchanges, Erickson (10-7) applied a guillotine. With Hansen (5-9) appearing unresponsive, the referee stepped in and stopped the contest at 2:41 of the opening round.

 

 

 

 

Aaron Lacey rebounded from the first loss of his career, thoroughly dominating veteran Josh Parker in a 145-pound tangle. Lacey (5-1) controlled the lone round of the bout, dropping Parker (6-10) with a knee to the head. He maintained control with a vicious assault to the body, then sent Parker to dreamland via rear naked choke at 4:30.

 

 

 

 

Persistence paid off for independent mainstay Zenon Herrera, who picked up his first professional victory in his seventh try. Both Herrera and opponent Nate Charles have an extensive boxing background, but it was Herrera’s domination on the ground that paved the path to an unanimous decision.

 

 

 

 

In the headline amateur event, Ryan Burgess scored a narrow victory over Nate Boucher in a grueling, ground-and-pound flyweight fracas.

 

 

 

 

The bout between former Mountain Valley High School wrestling teammates was billed as a grudge match, fueled by a war of words on social media. Not surprisingly it ended in a lengthy embrace after the bell, with both men lying spent in the center of the cage.

 

 

 

 

There was little to choose between the Rumford rivals. Burgess (3-2) pushed the attack in rounds two and three and may have gained the final 29-28 edge on two scorecards with a few well-placed knees to the midsection. Boucher (2-2) swept all three rounds in the other judge’s estimation.

 

 

 

 

With the victory, Burgess snapped a two-fight losing skid and earned a June title fight against Justin Witham. Burgess initially won the title back in 2015.

 

 

 

 

Kam Arnold (2-0) left an indelible impression on both the crowd and opponent Kyle Kenney in his first-round victory. After patiently finding a seam, Arnold slammed Kenney to the canvas early in the bout and gained the TKO with a barrage of strikes at the two-minute mark.

 

 

 

 

Former amateur light heavyweight champion Ryan Glover (4-2) made a triumphant return in his first appearance since losing the belt exactly one year ago. Glover ended a slugfest with newcomer Joe Berube by verbal submission to strikes in the opening seconds of the third round.

 

 

 

 

Mohammad Al-Kinani ran his amateur record to 3-0 with a first-round TKO of Isaac Therrien. It was Al-Kinani’s stand-up acumen against Therrien’s wrestling background, and Therrien gained the early advantage with three takedowns. He was unable to keep the action on the deck, however, and Al-Kinani’s fistic prowess proved too tough to overcome.

 

 

 

 

Likewise, Shawn Lunghi kept his record perfect through three fights with a first-round rear naked choke over previously unbeaten Devin Corson. The convincing, 68-second victory earned Lunghi an April shot at the amateur featherweight title against Taylor Costantino at NEF 33 in Portland.

 

 

 

 

Former University of Maine football standout Carlton Charles delivered the quickest knockout of the evening. Charles rebounded from his initial loss in November with a 12-second stoppage of Delmarkis Edwards, who was making his debut at 175 pounds.

 

 

 

 

Stacy Lupo picked up his first win in the cage over David Hart. Lupo used knees and kicks to gain the advantage before gaining the TKO via strikes at 1:10 of the opening round of the 155-pound scrap.

 

 

 

 

In a wildly entertaining women’s bout to christen the card, B.J. Garceau made a successful amateur debut with a split decision over Sarah Ziehm. All three judges offered a 29-28 verdict, but a strong start and authoritative finish gave Garceau the edge. Garceau dedicated her debut to awareness of diabetes, a disease she battles outside the cage.

 

 

 

 

 

Two other women’s bouts went the distance. Catie Denning won her debut by unanimous decision over Chelsea Elizabeth, while Amanda Gallo made her trip from Florida pay off with a clean sweep of the cards against 2017 NEF rookie of the year Jayda Bailey.

 

 

 

 

NEF returns to Portland, Maine, at Aura on Saturday, April 14. To purchase tickets for “NEF 33: Riptide,” go to www.auramaine.com and use pre-sale code “NEF.”

 

About New England Fights

 

New England Fights (“NEF”) is a fight events promotions company. NEF’s mission is to create the highest quality events for fighters and fans alike. NEF’s executive team has extensive experience in combat sports management, events production, media relations, marketing, legal and advertising.

mixed martial arts, MMA, New England Fights

RUMFORD’S HANSEN GETS LONG-AWAITED SHOT AT MMA GOLD

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Matt Andrikut v Mike Hansen square off in MMA action from NEF 25.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Rumford, Maine (August 3, 2017) – New Mike Hansen’s dreams of becoming a mixed martial arts (MMA) champion were admittedly premature. Then they were derailed for nearly a decade by a combination of injuries, service to his country and fatherhood.

 

The teenage ambition that made Hansen believe he could conquer the world, or at least his little corner of it, never went away, though.

 

Twenty-nine months after resurrecting his career with New England Fights, Rumford’s Hansen (5-5) finally gets that coveted title shot. He will battle hometown favorite C.J. Ewer (2-0) at “NEF 30: Rumble in Bangor” this Saturday, August 5 at Cross Insurance Center for the organization’s vacant middleweight title. The card starts at 7 p.m.

Hansen, who turned 32 on July 21, says the opportunity fulfills an early goal while living and fighting in Massachusetts back in 2005.

 

“I was 19 years old and thought I had a great head on my shoulders, so I called out the (World Fighting League) champion at the time, who was John “Doomsday” Howard,” Hansen said. “I said that I wanted that belt and that I was coming after him. Knowing what I know now, he probably would have whipped the (crap) out of me.”

 

Howard went on to compete at the highest level with Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) and is now a veteran of 37 journeys into the cage. Hansen’s career path had many more stops, starts and detours.

 

He started with six amateur wins out of the gate and won his initial professional foray with ease. The title fight will take place on the eve of the 12th anniversary of that pro debut.

 

“Being 19 years old, I was kind of cocky. I remember telling my dad nobody could compete with my wrestling,” Hansen said. “Back then, MMA hadn’t really evolved. The wrestler had the advantage over the jiu-jitsu guy. You could just hold a guy down and snuggle and hug and sweat out a win.”

 

After his first knockout loss, Hansen promised his father he would quit the sport. But he had already caught the fever, and his confidence was sky high.

 

Hansen was training for a bout at Laconia, New Hampshire’s bike week when he suffered a broken ankle two weeks before the weigh-in. He recovered and was in training for another fight when he was stabbed and beaten with a baseball bat in what could have been a fatal case of mistaken identity.

 

He remarkably walked out of the hospital a day later and soon embarked on a more structured path as a combat engineer in the United States Army. While enlisted, Hansen suffered a serious shoulder injury. Even after retirement, a return to the MMA cage seemed unlikely.

 

Then came a fateful call from an old friend and neighbor, NEF co-owner and matchmaker Matt Peterson, and the rest is history. Hansen has carved out a reputation as one who will take on any opponent in any weight class at any time, and perhaps there is no greater example than the Ewer matchup.

 

“The belts are vacant at 170, 185 and 205 (pounds). I can make weight for all those if I have enough time,” Hansen said. “I guess Peterson thought it made sense to kill two birds with one stone and put me in with Ewer at 185. Six weeks ago is when they called me, and at first they asked me about 170. I really liked the fight, but the weight didn’t make sense. I was sitting on the couch at 248.”

 

Hansen has spent most of his time in the heavyweight and light heavyweight divisions.  He was glaringly outweighed in his last bout, a February loss to Ras Hylton.

 

Only once previously has he downsized to the middleweight threshold, a February 2016 loss to Zach Elkins. In the case of Ewer, who has done most of his work at 170, meeting in the middle might play to Hansen’s advantage.

 

“We’re two different styles of fighters. He’s coming up in weight and I’m coming down,” Hansen said. “He’s never been in the cage against anybody with my kind of power. When I’m hitting somebody at 200 pounds, I’m hitting them with the force of somebody who’s 245. My opponents have told me they’ve never been hit harder by a guy my size. I feel like it’s my fight to lose, as long as I don’t make any mistakes and go in there with the stamina I need to have.”

 

Hansen is confident against Ewer, who had a 5-2 amateur record with notable wins over Ricky Dexter and Crowsneck Boutin before turning pro. He knows better, however, than to underestimate any fighter out of the Young’s MMA stable.

 

“I feel like I’m the more talented fighter and that I have more tools in my tool box. But I know Young’s MMA is a great camp and that he trains with a lot of great guys,” Hansen said. “Chris (Young) finds a way to set you up to fight the fight you need to win. Look at the Pat Kelly fight (against Rafael Velado). They prepared to turn that into a kickboxing fight, and then he went out and did just that.”

 

Hansen has seen his name rise into the New England top-five conversation. Most of the fighters ahead of him have experience with larger promotions.

 

He said a win over Ewer could inspire him to travel and continuing to pursue the dream. That’s consistent with the personality he has shown through this second act of his career.

 

“I’ve been fighting the top-level guys in NEF for about the past two-and-a-half years,” Hansen said, “I always told Peterson to set me up with a guy who’s in the top 10 or just above me. I wanted to work my way up.”

 

From his days as a high school state wrestling champion at Mountain Valley High School, Hansen flaunted a distaste for winning that served him well.

 

In those days, he wore a T-shirt that read, ‘Nobody remembers second place,’ with four gold medals beneath it. Hansen’s attitude remains, but the mainstay of Berserker’s MMA out of the Greater Rumford Community Center noted that it is never only about himself.

 

“I want to win the title for all the people who have supported me and trained with me in Rumford. I also want it for my gym. We’ve done this three times in the amateurs and now we’re going to do it with a pro,” he said. “(GRCC is) just a little on-profit that helps people pursue their dreams. I’d love to hang that belt on the wall. It shows people in the community what we’re capable of here, and hopefully it gets them interested and grows the gym. That’s my goal.”

 

Tickets for “NEF 30: Rumble in Bangor” are available at CrossInsuranceCenter.com.  For more information on the fight card and event updates, please visit NewEnglandFights.com.

 

About New England Fights

New England Fights (“NEF”) is a fight events promotions company. NEF’s mission is to create the highest quality events for Maine’s fighters and fans alike. NEF’s executive team has extensive experience in combat sports management, events production, media relations, marketing, legal and advertising.