BREWER, Maine — Bruce Boyington is not unlike most mixed martial arts practitioners in Maine, appreciative of the opportunities to perform and succeed in front of the significant crowds that have been drawn to the sport statewide in recent years.
But while the 36-year-old Marine veteran has achieved considerable regional success — winning both the New England Fights and Cage FX lightweight championships in 2014 — there’s remained a longing for the big stage that has motivated the Old Town High School graduate.
He’ll finally get that chance to test himself on the next level come Oct. 17 when he faces Rodrigo Almeida in a three-round featherweight bout that will be part of the undercard of the World Series of Fighting stop at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut.
The main card of WSOF 24 will be televised live on the NBC Sports Network, and while Boyington’s debut with the national promotion is not expected to draw air time, he hopes a victory over Almeida will lead to bigger fights and more exposure.
“For me it’s everything coming down to this very moment because I’ve been in this game for a little while, I’ve been kind of reaching every little goal you can reach on the regional scene, and I’m getting to an age where I have to have this opportunity happen now rather than later,” he said.
“I don’t feel like I’m too old at all to make this run and to win on the big stage, but I am too old to keep winning regional fights trying to get there, so for me it was a breath of fresh air to finally get that call.”
Boyington and WSOF officials had been in the talking stages for nearly a year before he received an initial fight offer about three weeks ago.
“I didn’t hear from them for a while after that, and then they said they were going in a different direction,” he said. “But finally they called back and said it was back on if I wanted it. We were all ecstatic, my family, my team, everyone’s really excited about this.”
Boyington, who trains at Young’s MMA of Bangor and his own gym, Boyington’s Taekwondo Academy of Bangor, will take a 10-8 record into the bout against Almeida, a 29-year-old Woburn, Massachusetts, product with a 12-2 record.
Boyington has won four of his last five fights and six of his last eight, satisfying a WSOF request to go out and earn some more victories in order to enhance his resume for a step up to the larger promotion.
He will be dropping down from lightweight (155-pound limit) to featherweight (145) for the WSOF bout but sees that as a modest concession against an opponent whose last fight was as a bantamweight (135 pounds) in May 2014.
Boyington already has a fight scheduled after his WSOF debut, a Nov. 21 defense of his NEF lightweight crown against Jimmy Davidson at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston.
But his immediate goal is to make the most of this best chance to rise beyond his regional success and help to set a tone for the future of MMA in Maine.
