Ray “All Business” Wood is back in business.
Wood, the former New England Fights mixed martial arts featherweight champion, will take on unbeaten Carlos Vivas on the main card of Fight Lab 49, a show to be held Aug. 20 at Coyote Joe’s in Charlotte, North Carolina. This will be just the third time he has returned to the cage since he won the NEF title in July 2013.
Much has changed for Wood since he scored a 61-second technical knockout of Canadian Lenny “The Show Stealer” Wheeler on the Bangor Waterfront a little more than two years ago, beginning with the year-long layoff he endured after suffering a knee injury in the immediate aftermath of that bout.
The former Bucksport High School athletic standout also has relocated to Gaffney, South Carolina, split two NEF title defenses, made a successful professional Muay Thai debut and got married last month to Tiana Riel, a former University of Maine assistant track and field coach now serving in a similar capacity at Limestone College in Gaffney.
Wood also remains affiliated with Young’s MMA in Bangor but now trains out of Revolution MMA in Inman, South Carolina.
His most recent MMA bout was a fifth-round loss to veteran Anthony “Cheesesteak” Morrison of Philadelphia, in a title defense last February at NEF 16 in Lewiston.
He followed that fight with a first-round stoppage of veteran Chris Kwiatkowski May 8 at Friday Night Fights, a Muay Thai show in New York City. That performance featured the striking skills of the former high school wrestler in a discipline that involves use of the fists, elbows, knees and shins.
Wood knocked down Kwiatkowski midway through the first round and then pressured him for the rest of the period, with Kwiatkowski (19-8) opting not to answer the bell for the second round.
Wood (5-1, with three KOs and two submissions in MMA) was scheduled to fight Vivas in June but that bout was rescheduled to its August date..
At 5-foot-7, Wood will be at a three-inch height disadvantage in his 145-pound bout against Vivas, a Charlotte-based fighter who is 3-0 professionally after a first-round stoppage of Noe Quintanilla on a Fight Lab promotion held April 24.
Morrison to defend NEF crown
Morrison, the only fighter to defeat Wood as a pro, will make the first defense of his NEF featherweight title as part of NEF XIX, scheduled for Sept. 12 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston.
Morrison (17-9) will be challenged by Vovka “KGB” Clay of Amherst, New Hampshire, who is 3-0.
Morrison, who trains out of Daddis MMA in Philadelphia, has more than a decade of experience in the sport, including stints in World Extreme Cagefighting and Bellator.
Also returning to the cage for the first time in more than two years at NEF XIX is rangy Ithaca, New York, welterweight Darrius Heyliger.
The popular Heyliger (5-2) has fought on three previous NEF cards, most recently dropping a three-round unanimous decision to Marcus “The Irish Hand Grenade” Davis in the main event of NEF VII in Lewiston May 18, 2013.
“I feel like the time away from the sport was needed, and I’m now ready to take over and dominate,” Heyliger said. “And to make my comeback fight in front of the Maine fans and for NEF, where the support is so strong, makes it that much better.”
Heyliger’s return will be against Brandon Chagnon from the highly regarded Sityodtong gym in Somerville, Massachusetts.
Chagnon (5-4) has been idle for more than a year, but won his two most recent fights by submission.
Wheeler gets TV fight
Anyone who forgot Wheeler’s 61-second loss to Wood at Darling’s Waterfront Pavilion in Bangor two summers ago will get the chance to see the Prince Edward Island product in a live, nationally televised bout this Friday night.
Wheeler (8-3-1) will face Bellator veteran Matt Bessette (15-6) as part of CES MMA’s show at the Twin River Casino in Lincoln, Rhode Island, which will be aired beginning at 10 p.m. on AXS-TV.
Wheeler has traveled the world since his loss to Wood with his last two fights both first-round victories, one in Tokyo and the other in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia.
The loss to Wood has been Wheeler’s only defeat since July 2012.
