Travis Lizotte "Full Contact Writer"
Calvin Kattar's Combat Zone MMA returns tomorrow night from downtown Manchester, New Hampshire as the Kattars and company present Combat Zone 80 Araujo vs. Chase from the Armory at the DoubleTree Manchester. A promotion a buzz following the huge success of Combat Zone 79 which played host to Dana White's Looking for a Fight, Combat Zone bounces back here with a mixture of disciplines as the night plays host to Grapplers, Kickboxers and MMA athletes alike. 17 total conflicts are set to be decided Saturday night, 9 of them coming in the MMA realm, 7 settled by way of Kickboxing and a Grappling Super Fight between veteran BJJ players Jeff Joy and Christos Papadelos. Doors to the DoubleTree will open at 3:30pm with an opening bell due to sound at 5pm local time.
The Amateur MMA card is highlighted by debutees as all but one of the six Amateur MMA bouts will feature caged newcomers. Combat Zone veteran Lucas Moreira (1-1) returns following a loss to Jideofor Ojukwu (6-2) at Combat Zone 79 as he meets Combat Zone 77 combatant Hunter Darling (0-1) in a Welterweight contest. Combat Zone Middleweight veteran KTA's Joe Peters (2-3) touches em up with the debuting Frashley Paula at 185 pounds. Also Light-Heavyweight Anthony Palazolla (0-1) ends a nine year layoff following a Unanimous Decision loss to Yorgan De Castro in 2014 as he welcomes the MMA debut of Trey Legraw (1-0 Kickboxer, UD Combat Zone 78).
The rest of the MMA amateurs on Saturday night's card will be making their debuts as Kyle Boller meets Ryan Wakrow at Bantamweight, Miguel Rodriguez and Jason Gomez mix it up at Flyweight and amateur females Melissa Santos and Danielle Okula meet at a fight weight of 120 pounds.
On the main card; three professional MMA contests will take place beginning in the Middleweight division as Trifecta's Jon Ciampa (1-1) welcomes the Pro-Debut of New Hampshire's George Demera (Debut, 1-3 as an Amateur). Ciampa looks to shake off a first round TKO defeat at the hands of Mus' Aib Baiyina (1-2) last month, when he makes his second bid, for his second professional victory, Saturday night against Demers. F5 Fight Team's George Demers has been around the local MMA scene since 2015, he turns pro here some 8 years later and he looks to do so swiftly, as all four of his Amateur fights were decided inside the first two rounds. This fight should be non stop action, until its stopped, as I do not see these two Middleweights going to the judges.
In the Co-Main event at Saturday's Combat Zone 80, Flyweight veteran David Durao (0-1) makes another bid for his first professional victory as he awaits the pro debut of KTA's Josh Mederios (3-1 as an Amateur) at a Catchweight of 130 pounds. "The Spider Monkey" David Durao has been away from the cage for nearly two years following his professional debut in September of 2021. A pair of cancelled bouts have lead to an extended absence for Durao who finally returns Saturday night, hungry to notch his first professional victory against a very game Josh Mederios. Mederios leaves behind a 3-1 Amateur career Saturday in the co-main event as he looks to keep intact a personal three fight winning streak, against the toughest opponent of his career. Mederios checked in with our Steve Domenico in "The Room Podcast" during the lead up to Combat Zone 80, check out the complete interview below.
Women's Featherweights take center stage in the Combat Zone 80 main event as the highly touted F5 Fight Team prospect Fernanda "Ferocious" Araujo (2-2) returns off a narrow split-decision loss to Kylie O'Hearn (3-2) at Combat Zone 79 when she looks for her second promotional victory and the third victory of her professional career Saturday night. Standing in her way; Pennsylvania's own Brigid "Khan" Chase (3-2), Chase makes her New England MMA debut at Combat Zone 80 looking to bounce back off a loss of her own, against Claire Guthrie at Invicta 50. Chase carries with her an impressive resume as she arrives in New England looking to put a stop to the hype behind Araujo, and finish her, as she has done in all three of her professional victories. Chase is to be no easy ask for Fernanda, who needs to show up on her "A" game Saturday night if she hopes to brake back into the win column against yet another tough opponent. This is actually a very well matched bout between two highly skilled women looking to make the jump to the next level. We have a "sneaky interesting" fight on our hands here as these female Featherweights bring it home Saturday night in the Combat Zone 80 main event!
New England MMA's Jeff "Combat Cowboy" Clark and Travis "Full Contact Writer" Lizotte will both be in house at Combat Zone 80, keeping you closer to the action with live updates on all the action both here on the website and through our New England MMA Social Media channels.
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