New England Fights will expand its amateur championship ranks at its next mixed martial arts show, with one title fight already scheduled along with two other bouts that will determine the top contenders.
Aaron “Relentless” Lacey of Young’s MMA in Bangor will face undefeated Dylan Lockhard of Derry, New Hampshire, to crown the promotion’s inaugural amateur featherweight (145-pound) champion as part of NEF XIX on Sept. 12 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston.
Lacey (5-1) is ranked fourth among New England amateur flyweights while Lockhard (3-0) is rated fifth.
Both have quality victories to their credit, with Lacey’s victims including two other ranked fighters in Dom Cofone and Dixfield’s Caleb Hall. Lockhard handed recently crowned NEF amateur lightweight champion Josh Harvey his lone defeat with a first-round submission victory last November at Rockingham Park in Salem, New Hampshire, and he also owns a win over Hall.
“I’m super excited for this fight,” said Lacey, who has won two straight bouts since his only loss to 7-0 Matt Tullos in April 2014. “It’s a tough matchup between two top-10 guys.”
Ricky Dexter of Bangor and Team Irish MMA Fitness Academy of Brewer will try to rebound from his first defeat when he battles C.J. Ewer of Young’s MMA in a 170-pound clash, with the winner to get a future shot at the inaugural NEF amateur welterweight belt.
Dexter won his first three bouts with first-round stoppages before falling to Harvey by a first-round submission in their June battle for the NEF amateur lightweight crown.
“The taste of defeat definitely left a foul taste in my mouth,” said Dexter, rated seventh among New England amateur lightweights. “You better believe I’m more hungry than ever to get this win.”
Ewer, a former wrestler at Foxcroft Academy and the University of Southern Maine, won his first three fights within a span of 10 weeks before putting his MMA career on hold while serving overseas in the U.S. Air Force security forces.
“Ricky Dexter seems like a really tough fighter,” Ewer said. “You can’t judge him on his last fight because Josh Harvey is elite — he’s the next Ray Wood. I feel like this will be a great matchup.”
And Mike Crespo, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor from MMA Athletix in Bath, will face Ryan Burgess of Mexico in a title eliminator for the chance to face newly crowned NEF flyweight (125-pound) champion Dustin Veinott on a future card.
Crespo is 3-2 with a win last month over Caleb Costello that ended a two-fight losing streak. Burgess, a former three-time state wrestling champion at Mountain Valley High School in Rumford, made his MMA debut in June with a unanimous-decision victory over Justin Witham.
Harvey set for title defense
Josh Harvey, the former Dexter Regional High School wrestling standout who trains out of Young’s MMA, will make his first NEF amateur lightweight (155-pound) title defense at NEF XIX against Ryan Dibartolomeo.
Harvey, ranked seventh among New England amateur featherweights before moving up a weight class to win the NEF lightweight crown in June, is 4-1 overall.
Dibartolomeo, who represents represents Team Triumph/Boston BJJ of Nashua, New Hampshire, is on a four-fight winning streak after an 0-3 start in the cage. In April he captured the vacant Combat Zone amateur lightweight championship.
“Any time you can get two title-holding, top-ranked fighters, it’s bound to peak interests and get attention,” Harvey said. “Since that is exactly what this title defense is, I believe we have all the necessary ingredients for the ‘fight of the night.’ This will be yet another step in the right direction.”
Ex-Bapst standout on Sept. card
Fred Lear, a former wrestler at John Bapst of Bangor who also trains at Young’s MMA, will return to the cage in an amateur 140-pound catchweight clash against Henry Clark at NEF XIX.
Lear (3-1) is coming off a loss to David Brown on an April card in New Hampshire. Clark is 2-1 while representing the Choi Institute of Portland.
“As per usual, this will be a team effort and I recognize and respect the challenge ahead of us,” said Lear, eighth-ranked among New England amateur bantamweights. “Henry is dangerous and versatile.”
