Why I Want to Attend Bellator 93
Over the last eight years, I hadn’t been watching a lot of MMA. I’d catch an occasional UFC at a friend’s house, but I never ordered any pay-per-views and wasn’t a fan of the Ultimate Fighter. Part of this was probably due to the regret of not being successful in my attempt to fight, the other was a lack of interest. If I didn’t know the person who was fighting, I found it hard to care.
With Unlocking the Cage (UTC), I began attending at least one fight on each of my trips. On the first trip, I spent Cinco de Mayo watching a 6 hour Cage Titans card in Plymouth MA. It was a great night of amateur and pros and I probably would have enjoyed it even more if I hadn’t torn the cartilage in my ribs earlier that day (Thanks to this guy.) It led to some great interviews and a new love for the sport I’d forgotten about.
The second UTC covered the rest of the Northeast with NH, ME, and VT, not exactly what would be considered MMA powerhouses. I had even considered skipping that section of the country and would have if Marcus Davis’ gym wasn’t in Bangor, Stephen King’s hometown. I wasn’t too hopeful about finding a fight, but I lucked out with in New England Fights 3 in Lewiston, Maine, Tim Sylvia as the headliner.
I had just spent a few days with the guys at The Shop MMA in New Hampshire and was looking forward to watching a few of them fight on the card. I also managed to interview a few fighters an hour prior to the event, one of which was Ryan Sanders from Young’s MMA, a gym I hadn’t heard of. Ryan impressed me as a kind, intelligent young man with a great sense of humor and dedication to the sport. His fight was one of the most impressive of the night, about a hundred times better than Sylvia’s 12 second KO, yet not as flashy as Ryan’s teammate, Bruce Boyington‘s incredible 10 second KO.
This Thursday, Bellator is putting on a show at the same venue, the Androscoggin Bank Colisee, and Ryan will be one of the main fights on the undercard. He’s taking on an undefeated opponent and it promises to be a great match. I think Ryan has quite a career ahead of him and you’ll be seeing a lot more of him in the future.
Another fight I’d like to see is John Raio vs. Vince Murdock. When I watched John fight back in June, I had been rooting against him as he was fighting Derek Shorey, a fighter I’d just interviewed and become friends with. John won that bout and I interviewed him a few months after. This time I’m definitely in John’s corner and hoping he gets the win.
Although I won’t be able to make it to Thursday’s show, I’ll be turning in to the free show on Spike. Here’s a look at the full card. Tomorrow I’ll discuss why I’m so interested in it.
