Bruce Boyington may have been one of the more surprised persons in the Foxwoods Resort Casino arena in Mashantucket, Connecticut, when the decision was announced Saturday.
That’s because the veteran mixed martial arts practitioner from Brewer nicknamed “Pretty Boy” heard just the words he wanted to hear — that he had won his debut with the World Series of Fighting promotion by three-round split-decision victory over Rodrigo Almeida in their featherweight bout on the WSOF 24 preliminary card.
“I had tears in my eyes,” said the 36-year-old Boyington. “I cried because I was just so grateful that the judges saw the fight the way it was fought.”
The bout, streamed live on wsof.com, was Boyington’s fifth win in his last six fights and ended Almeida’s seven-fight winning streak.
This 15-minute clash featured a contrast in styles, with Boyington (11-8) seeking to capitalize on his stand-up game of explosive strikes and kicks while Almeida (12-3) sought to get the fight to the ground.
While Boyington remained active whether the fighters were standing, leaning against the decagon fence or battling on the mat, Almeida — who on Friday weighed in for the fight three pounds over the 145-pound featherweight limit — scored enough takedowns during the first two rounds to prompt announcers Chael Sonnen and Renzo Gracie to suggest that the Woburn, Massachusetts, fighter had won both rounds and Boyington needed a third-round stoppage to win.
Boyington didn’t have that same impression.
“No, I felt good because I knew I had hit him a few times where I could see in his eyes that he was fading,” said Boyington, who trains at Young’s MMA in Bangor. “I could tell that I was breaking him. I knew the opportunity was there because my shots were connecting and they were affecting him.”
Boyington kept the final five-minute round largely upright and landed telling blows with both his left jab and uppercut.
Still, as the fighters waited for the decision to be announced Boyington seemed to acknowledge some uncertainty when he said to the camera, “I shouldn’t have been hanging out on the ground.”
Sonnen scored the fight 30-27 for Almeida while Gracie had Almeida winning 29-28 — though an Internet fan vote went 29-28 for Boyington.
“It’s a subjective thing when it goes to the judges,” said Boyington.
The official announcement had two of the three cageside judges favoring Boyington 29-28 while the third judge had Almeida winning 29-28.
Boyington immediately sank to his knees on the mat in modest celebration, while Almeida looked stunned just moments after performing a series of moves in the middle of the decagon that suggested that he thought he had won.
“I was just surprised because the judges don’t normally go with the guys trying to finish the fight, they usually go with the guys trying to hold them down,” said Boyington, who has fought professionally since 2009. “But there was a lot of action in those three rounds.”
The chance to fight for WSOF, one of the major national MMA promotions whose main cards are televised by the NBC Sports Network, was seen by Boyington as perhaps the last best chance to advance his career beyond the regional mixed martial arts scene.
The Milford native and Old Town High School graduate is the current professional lightweight champion of the Lewiston-based New England Fights promotion and is scheduled to defend that belt Nov. 21 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston against Jimmy Davidson.
