Four fighters with roots at Young’s MMA in Bangor — Ray Wood, Bruce Boyington, Billy Leahy and Josh Harvey — already have won New England Fights mixed martial arts championship belts.
Aaron “Relentless” Lacey of Bangor hopes to become the fifth.
Lacey (5-1) will fight Caleb Horner (6-2) of Gainesville, Florida, for the promotion’s inaugural amateur featherweight title as part of the NEF XX boxing-MMA card scheduled for Nov. 21 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston.
“I’m super excited to be fighting for that belt,” said Lacey, who owns victories over the likes of fellow Maine natives Dom Cofone and Caleb Hall. “It means the world to me that my hard work and dedication are paying off. There is no possible way I’m leaving that cage without that strap around my waist.”
Lacey, whose lone loss was in a New Hampshire bout against undefeated Matt Tullos, was scheduled to fight before for the NEF title but had to pull out because of a training injury.
“Getting injured is never fun and is almost always an inconvenience,” Lacey said. “It has been very frustrating having to take time off because of injuries, but it has also shown me that this is exactly what I want to do with my life.”
NEF champ to get Bellator bout
A third New England Fights champion will get the chance to compete for a national mixed martial arts promotion within seven days this weekend.
NEF middleweight champion Mike Zichelle will face Kevin Haley on the undercard of Bellator 144 on Friday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
The bout will be contested at the light-heavyweight limit of 205 pounds and will be streamed live as part of the show’s preliminary card that begins at 7 p.m. on MMAmania.com.
Zichelle has held the NEF middleweight crown since February 2014, and the member of Boston BJJ in Nashua, Hampshire, will bring a 7-3 record into the Bellator bout. Haley, known as “The North Woods Nightmare,” is from Rollinsford, New Hampshire and holds a 3-3 record.
Zichelle follows lightweight champion Bruce Boyington and heavyweight champion Tyler King as NEF fighters to get recent call-ups to a national promotion.
Both Boyington and King fought last Saturday on the World Series of Fighting’s WSOF 24 preliminary card at Foxwood Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut. Boyington (11-8) won a split decision in his featherweight bout against Rodrigo Almeida while King (9-4) dropped a unanimous decision to Pat Walsh.
“NEF has certainly become a launching pad to the national promotions,” Nick DiSalvo, co-owner of the Lewiston-based New England Fights, said. “It really says something about the caliber of athlete gracing the NEF cage. These fighters are earning their stripes with NEF and then getting the call up to the UFC, Bellator, Titan and WSOF. Nothing gives us more satisfaction than to see these guys succeed in the sport they love.”
