LEWISTON, Maine — Distance and timing were magic words for Ray “All Business” Wood and Bruce “Pretty Boy” Boyington on Saturday night.
Both mixed martial artists from Young’s MMA in Bangor were at their competitive best when they stayed true to their definitions of those fighting words, using that discipline to win New England Fights MMA state championships to highlight the NEF XIV card held before 2,500 fans at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
The undefeated Wood (5-0) retained the NEF featherweight crown with a second-round knockout of Brazilian Gabriel Baino in the main event, while Boyington finished off Auburn’s Jesse “The Viking” Erickson with a succession of unanswered strikes midway through the second round of their battle for the vacant NEF lightweight crown.
“It was an awesome showcase,” said Wood, who returned to competition after a nearly 14-month layoff because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament suffered just after he won the belt on the Bangor Waterfront in July 2013.
Yet Wood’s first title defense nearly fell through after Baino showed up late for the mandatory rules meeting — leaving the Bucksport native temporarily without an opponent until negotiations between NEF MMA co-owner and matchmaker Matt Peterson and members of the Combat Sports Authority of Maine produced a compromise in which Baino was fined a portion of his purse but allowed to go on with the bout.
“That was the longest 30 minutes of the day,” said Wood.
Seven hours later, after Wood’s hand was raised in victory, Baino may not have been so enthused about the compromise.
For while he had some success early in the bout in close quarters along the cage wall, when the fighters were separated, it was all Wood, the damage being inflicted by high-flying kicks, well-placed knees and accurate strikes.
“His stand-up was his weakest point, so we had to work straight punches, getting off the straight jab,” said Wood. “The whole fight was setting it up, setting it up and then getting the finish.”
The end came in the middle of the cage at 3:14 of the second round, when Wood landed a flying knee to Baino’s chin that sent the challenger to the canvas for the final time.
“That’s my goal from now on, to finish fights, and to get the knockout was perfect,” said Wood. “I felt amazing. Honestly, I’ve never felt better.”
Boyington (7-7) faced a similar challenge before winning his second title belt in less than five months.
Erickson was focused on getting the match to the ground against the Old Town native, and he had some success early in the first round, threatening Boyington with both an armbar and a rear-naked choke.
But Boyington escaped those submission bids, and like Wood, he made the most of the standing battle, particularly during the second round when he eluded several takedown attempts and left Erickson defenseless with a succession of unanswered punches, mostly jabs launched from the center of the cage.
The bout was halted at 2:15 of the second round.
“Distance and timing was a very big focus point tonight because of his reach and because of his game plan, we knew he was going to try to get hold of me and take me down,” said Boyington, who previously won the Massachusetts-based Cage FX lightweight title in April.
“I lost track of that at the beginning of the fight, but in the second round, I was able to keep him at bay, and then I just kept throwing the jabs because it was so easy to do.”
Tim “The Terror” Goodwin of Columbia, South Carolina, won the night’s third title fight, taking the NEF bantamweight crown from Portland’s Paul Gorham with a five-round unanimous decision.
Goodwin delivered a steady dose of ground and pound, scoring early takedowns and then smothering Gorman along the cage wall sufficiently to win four rounds on two of the three judges’ scorecards and three rounds on the third scorecard.
Immediately preceding the title bouts, Bangor’s Jon Lemke showed off his striking skills in a first-round knockout of West Virginian Amos Collins.
Collins knocked Lemke down with an early uppercut and established ground control, but once Lemke got back to his feet his fists proved decisive.
A left hand to the chin midway through the round sent Collins backward, and from there, Lemke (4-2) landed numerous strikes as well as several well-placed knees and elbows en route to ending the fight at 3:48 of the period and scoring a victory in his first bout at 145 pounds after previously competing at 155.
“I was able to get back up, and he was swinging for the fences, so I knew I had to bring it to him,” said Lemke, who fights out of Marcus Davis’ Team Irish MMA Fitness Academy in Brewer.
Welterweight Ryan Quinn, a Danbury, Connecticut, product who trains with the renowned American Top Team out of Coconut Beach, Florida, muscled his way to a unanimous decision over “The” Ryan Sanders of Bangor.
One of the state’s most popular mixed martial arts practitioners, John “First Class” Raio, made his farewell appearance in the cage, but it didn’t go as planned, as Dover-Foxcroft native Derek Shorey used a guillotine choke to force the postal worker from Topsham to tap out at 3:48 of the opening round.
Other winners in the eight pro bouts that followed 17 amateur contests were bantamweight Elias Leland of Portland, who stopped Brandon Bushaw of Westbrook and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, with a rear-naked choke at 1:19 of the third round; and lightweight Ricky Sylvester of Orlando, Florida, who stopped Tollison Lewis of Gorham by armbar at 3:45 of a back-and-forth opening round.
