LEWISTON, Maine — Ryan Sanders scored a third-round unanimous technical decision over fellow Bangor-area fighter Jon Lemke in the main event of the NEF 26 mixed martial arts show held Saturday night at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
The lightweight bout was stopped when Lemke suffered a deep cut in his head on the cage, and with the fight being in the third round the judges’ scorecards were called upon for a verdict, according to the Unified Rules of MMA.
Sanders, who trains at Young’s MMA in Bangor, was ahead 20-18 on all three judges’ scorecards through two rounds, and he was awarded the decision.
The win was the fifth in the last six fights for Sanders, now 12-8. Team Irish’s Lemke falls to 5-7.
Josh Parker of Benton improved his record to 5-8 by submitting Dover-Foxcroft’s Derek Shorey (4-8) with a guillotine choke hold in the first round of their featherweight battle, while unbeaten Aaron Lacey improved his record to 4-0 with a first-round verbal submission victory over Taylor Trahan.
The co-main event saw Josh Parker (5-8) submit Derek Shorey (4-8) in the first round of a highly anticipated “coach vs. coach” battle.
Rounding out the professional portion of the card, Aaron Lacey (4-0) remained undefeated with a verbal submission win over veteran Taylor Trahan (6-7).
Heading up the amateur portion of the 14-fight card, Nick Gulliver of Farmington scored a third-round technical knockout over Yorgan DeCastro to win the NEF amateur heavyweight championship. Gulliver improved to 4-0 while DeCastro fell to 2-3.
Other amateur results were the following: Chris Smith def. Nash Roy via guillotine, round 1; Angelo Rizzitello def. Ken Dunn via TKO, round 1; Fred Lear def. Robby Fraser via standing guillotine, round 2; Mike Williams def. Mike Swan via TKO, round 2; Ras Hylton def. Kevin Smith via TKO, round 2; Tom Burgess def. Darren Ducharme via TKO, round 1; Fernanda Araujo def. Hannah Sparrell via armbar, round 2; Shawn Lunghi def. Alex Clark via rear-naked choke, round 2; Jessica Borga def. Brianne Genschel via unanimous decision; and Chad Pierce def. Lyman Curtis via unanimous decision.
Joyce remains unbeaten
Rachael Joyce of Veazie and Team Irish remained unbeaten in her amateur MMA career with a three-round unanimous decision over Rachel Reinheimer on Saturday night’s Combat Zone 60 show in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Joyce won the fight 30-27 on the three judges’ scorecards to improve her record to 3-0. Reinheimer fell to 2-2.