Veteran Brewer mixed martial arts fighter Bruce “Pretty Boy” Boyington will get his second opportunity to compete on the national stage come June 17.
Boyington (13-8) will face Saul “The Spider” Almeida (18-6) of Framingham, Massachusetts, in a three-round featherweight bout on the World Series of Fighting 31 card at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut.
Boyington announced the fight via Facebook post Saturday.
Boyington, 36, made his World Series of Fighting debut Oct. 17, scoring a split-decision victory over Rodrigo Almeida on the 24 undercard held at Foxwoods. That led to speculation that he would get a second chance with the Nevada-based World Series of Fighting, which is considered a step below the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Bellator MMA, among the nation’s top mixed martial arts promotions.
“That’s a fight I’ve literally been asking for for a long, long time now,” Boyington said. “We were supposed to fight back when I fought for the CFX title and Saul pulled out so it’s a fight I’ve really wanted. I also really wanted to be on the Foxwoods card again because I really like fighting down there.”
The previous meeting between Boyington and Almeida was scheduled for April 12, 2014, in Boston. Boyington instead defeated Ruslan Khubejashvili by unanimous decision to win the vacant CFX lightweight championship.
Boyington followed up by defeating Jesse Erickson of Auburn to win the New England Fights MMA pro lightweight title in September 2014. He recently vacated the New England Fights belt after making three title defenses, in great part to pursue national-level competition.
Saul Almeida is coming off a first-round loss to Alexandre Almeida on the same card Boyington scored his first World Series of Fighting victory. Alexandre Almeida went on to dethrone Lance Palmer with a five-round unanimous decision on Dec. 18 to win the World Series of Fighting featherweight championship.
Saul Almeida is 1-1 in World Series of Fighting bouts and is 2-1 in Bellator MMA competition.
Boyington resumed training last weekend after resting since his most recent fight — a controversial split-decision victory over Bangor-area rival Jon Lemke in Lewiston Feb. 6.
That was Boyington’s third bout in less than four months after the World Series of Fighting victory over Rodrigo Almeida last October and a New England Fights clash with Jimmy Davidson Nov. 21.
Boyington was left battling numerous injuries, including a bulging disc in his back, which required surgery March 24, a broken hand and a concussion.
“I had to take some time off to really let things heal,” Boyington said. “It’s hard to see sometimes but having that break and having that time off sometimes just does you so much good. You come back real fresh and real hungry and your body’s not so beat up.”
Boyington believes the two months he has to train before his next fight will provide him sufficient time to prepare to his World Series of Fighting return.
“Obviously, you’d want to have a full camp,” Boyington said. “I’d like to have not missed a beat and be straight in-shape perfect, but I absolutely feel like I’ll be ready by June 17.”
