Fred Lear put the spoils of his first mixed martial arts championship around his trainer’s waist as they celebrated victory in the cage at the Cross Insurance Center last month.
When he pursues a second title on Sept. 29, the goal is to put that championship belt around his own waist as a final celebration before he leaves the amateur ranks to turn professional.
The 25-year-old Lear, a 2010 John Bapst Memorial High School graduate who trains at Young’s MMA in Bangor, will battle Jake “The Gorilla” Pilla for the Combat Zone amateur bantamweight crown on that promotion’s CZ 63 card at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Lear (6-2) is riding a three-fight winning streak, including a second-round TKO of Walt Shea on Aug. 5 in Bangor to capture the New England Fights MMA amateur bantamweight title.
Rather than have that championship belt placed around his own waist, he opted to share the celebration with Chris Young, co-owner and head trainer at Young’s MMA.
“I put that belt around his waist because I’ve been competing in sports for a long time and I was never much of an athlete, I’ve never been anything special but he didn’t care,” said Lear, a former wrestler and football player at John Bapst. “He never once turned me away because of my faults, and over the years he’s fostered a dedication and a work ethic in me that’s yielded the results I’ve always wanted to yield.
“He’s stuck with me the whole time. It’s been a tough process between training and garnering support from my friends and family. It’s a different sport, and a lot of family is not into it but he’s been a rock for me all along the way.”
Lear, who made his MMA debut with a first-round TKO of Joshua Tucker at NEF 9 in August 2013, will face his toughest test to date in his final amateur bout.
Pilla, a product of Billerica, Massachusetts, is a former Combat Zone featherweight champion who is moving down from 145 pounds to face Lear for the promotion’s 135-pound crown.
Pilla is 5-2 with his first-round submission of Jack Greene at CZ 62 on June 30 ending a two-fight losing streak.
“He’s a very talented jiu-jitsu practitioner and striker,” said Lear. “He’s trained with several UFC fighters at his gym. He’s a tough kid, a little bigger than I am, and he grinds out wins.”
Pilla also will have a home-cage advantage, having fought all of his previous bouts on Combat Zone cards.
“I’m a little nervous about it because our team has not exactly gone down there and performed to our capabilities in years past,” Lear said. “But we’ll see what happens.”
Lear said Pilla’s fighting history is to start fast, meaning he may have to weather an early storm before taking the offensive.
“For this fight we’re looking to do the same thing we’ve been doing and that’s to utilize the wrestling background we have to keep the fight standing if we want it standing or to take him down if I have to take him down,” said Lear.
“The way I look at it I assume he’s going to come out there and try to put me through the wall in the first five to 10 seconds, and the longer the fight continues I feel I have a great advantage.”
Lear plans to turn professional regardless of the outcome of the Pilla fight.
“Where this is going to be my last amateur fight, we were looking for the toughest fight we could get on paper,” Lear said. “I’ve had a hard time getting booked in the past, and that’s why we’re traveling. It’s next to impossible to get these guys to come up to Maine, especially when they’re not getting paid (as amateurs) because it’s a very expensive and a very trying sport.
“So we going down to New Hampshire, we’re going to fight Jake Pilla, we’re going to give it everything we have and hopefully we’ll get the outcome we’ve worked for.”
Fighting frustrations
Aaron Lacey’s professional MMA career got off to a blazing start, with four consecutive victories between April and November 2016.
But the promising featherweight from Brewer and Young’s MMA hasn’t fought since then, with four different bouts cancelled.
First, Lacey’s scheduled opponent for a February 2017 fight on Lewiston pulled out due to injury, then Lacey was injured and couldn’t make an April fight against Walter Smith-Cotito.
Lacey also was scheduled to fight on NEF’s Aug. 5 card in Bangor but his opponent for that bout, Bryan Goldsby, was knocked out during a boxing match in Raleigh, North Carolina, the previous weekend and issued a 90-day medical suspension.
Goldsby still came to Bangor and made weight to fight Lacey, only to have NEF officials learn about his suspension the night before the bout and call it off.
Lacey most recently was set to join Young’s MMA teammate Lear on the Sept. 29 CZ 63 card in Manchester, New Hampshire, but his opponent has pulled out due to a training-camp injury.
“Aaron’s had the worst luck ever in terms of getting an opponent and getting booked,” said Lear.
