6. Phight Club: Big Wins for Local Fighters in MMA & Boxing… Pyfer Gets UFC 303 Performance Of The Night Knockout
UFC Middleweight Joe “Bodybagz” Pyfer came up with a massive early Round 1 KO against Canadian Marc-Andre Barriault and picked up another “Performance of the Night” in the process. He celebrated to chants of U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! during International Fight Week in Las Vegas and further showed why he’s a main card fighter and a Top 10 World Level contender. He proceeded to call out UFC fan favorite Paul Craig to continue his climb into the rankings.
On the local scene, the CFFC continued to cement its hometown flag in Philadelphia. Its international campaign running strong as the UFC’s Minor League of America. They had an excellent Fury Grappling card on May 24 and soon after, enjoyed a full weekend stay with CFFC MMA on Friday June 14th and a new Muay Thai promotion led by Eddy “The Taino Warrior” Torres on Saturday, June 15th.
Sonny “The Bronco” Conto image via Tapology
Sonny “The Bronco” Conto delivered an in-tight full exchange KO to a worthy opponent at Danny Garcia’s Atlantic City card. His unbeaten streak rolls on to 13-0. The South Philly Heavyweight looked sharp and bulkier in a quick return after a UD win in February.
Patrick “The Brick” Brady BKFC debut TKO Win— image via BKFC
Also, in the fighting universe, the first up-and-coming local fighter to compete in the BKFC Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, Patrick “The Brick” Brady came up with a decisive victory in his debut. He knocked his opponent down 5 times to zero and ended the fight with a TKO in Round 2.
One of the area’s favorite coach and community member, Taylor Samarco got back in the winning column with a tactical approach and picking up points to get her arm raised. The Team Taino family let her hear it!
Marquez, Taino, and Webb had a solid hot streak stretching through the amateur and semi-pro ranks, and Pyfer rounding things out.
Bassil “The Habibi” Hafez, a native to Philly/Delco who now fights out of Denver, CO, made his long awaited return after stepping up on short notice against one of the Welterweight divisions rising stars in Jack Della Maddalena. Despite being a massive underdog, he took the fight to the final bell and put on the fight of the night. On June 1st at UFC 302 he dominated his fight against Mickey Gall from start to finish. Being the showman that he is, Hafez talked some trash and coerced Gall to swings, even with the win in the bag and went on to get a unanimous decision victory.
UP NEXT
Jaron “Boots” Ennis makes his long-awaited return to the boxing ring this weekend and is doing so in the Wells Fargo Center here in Philadelphia. He takes on David Avanesyan in defense of his IBF World Welterweight title. The boxing world is waiting for Boots to fight some of the world’s best and now that he owns the IBF belt, it’s likely that will happen should he handle business on Saturday.
Andre Petroski returns to the octagon only 3 months after an unlucky loss in Atlantic City. He takes on Pittsburgh’s Josh Fremd and looks to snap a short losing skid after starting his UFC career 5-0.
It shouldn’t be long before we have new fight announcements from the UFC’s Pat Sabatini, Jeremiah Wells, Bill Algeo, and Nursulton Ruziboev.
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