While most of the mixed martial arts world was fixated on Ronda Rousey’s return to the Octagon at UFC 207 in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Friday night, Bruce Boyington was in the Big Apple awaiting the biggest fight of his career.
Boyington, a Milford native now living in Brewer, is set to take on undefeated Andre Harrison on the preliminary card of the World Series of Fighting 36 show Saturday at the Theater at Madison Square Garden.
The three-round featherweight bout will be held between 1 and 2:30 p.m. and live-streamed at WSOF.com.
Boyington (14-9) is 2-0 in WSOF fights while Harrison (14-0) will be making his debut with the promotion after winning the Titan FC featherweight title.
Harrison has scored 10 victories by decision, while Boyington has eight knockouts and five wins by decision — including split-decision victories over Saul Almeida and Rodrigo Almeida (no relation) under the WSOF banner.
Mainer added to fight card
Boyington won’t be the only Mainer fighting at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
Matt “Ken Doll” Denning of Auburn was a late addition to the WSOF 36 preliminary card, taking on Tommy Marcellino in a three-round welterweight bout.
Denning (3-4) has fought all seven of his pro fights and five of his seven amateur fights for the Lewiston-based New England Fights promotion. He is coming off a first-round submission loss to Taylor Trahan at NEF 25 in Lewiston last September.
Marcellino (7-5) is an Amsterdam, New York, product who will be making his fourth WSOF appearance. He’s coming off a first-round loss to Devin Powell of Wells at WSOF 31 on June 17.
Powell gets new UFC opponent
Powell, a former New England Fights lightweight champion, has a new opponent for his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut on Jan. 15 in Phoenix.
Powell’s original opponent, Jordan Rinaldi, dropped out of their scheduled UFC Fight Night 103 bout because of injury. Now he’ll face Drakkar Klose (6-0-1) of South Haven, Michigan, who trains at the MMA Lab in Glendale, Arizona.
Powell (8-1) earned a multi-fight UFC contract last August with a first-round stoppage of Jon Lemke in front of UFC president Dana White at the “Dana White: Lookin’ for a Fight” card staged by New England Fights at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor.
The Powell-Klose fight, a three-round lightweight contest, will either be televised on FS1 or live-streamed on UFC Fight Pass.
