Most regional mixed martial arts promotions have one specific home base, and New England Fights is no exception.
NEF, owned by Rumford’s Matt Peterson and Massachusetts native Nick DiSalvo, has staged 24 of its first 30 MMA shows at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston. It also has made stops in Bangor, two in Biddeford and one trip to Hyannis, Massachusetts, since making its debut in February 2012.
Friday night’s NEF show, featuring three amateur title bouts and the debut of Levant teenager Jayda Bailey, marked a new step in NEF’s continued quest for growth — the promotion’s first card in Portland.
The Aura nightclub in the city’s Old Port served as host for NEF 31. And while it doesn’t hold as big a crowd of the Colisee, it is on par capacity-wise with the grand ballroom of the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, which has hosted the Queen City’s last two MMA events in August 2016 and this past summer.
Both of those Bangor shows drew a sellout crowd of approximately 1,200, and NEF 31 sold out in advance.
NEF 31 also renews a relationship between NEF and Waterfront Concerts, as NEF’s first Bangor show was at Darling’s Waterfront Pavilion in July 2013.
“It’s always exciting to launch into a new market, and Portland is a part of the state that we’ve had our eyes on for a long, long time,” said Peterson. “After years of looking at the area, we finally found the perfect partners in Aura and Waterfront Concerts to bring an NEF show back to southern Maine.
“And based on the response — selling out days in advance of the event — the fans were ready for us. We’re proud to be in Portland and can’t wait to rock Aura (Friday night).”
NEF returns to Lewiston for its next show in February 2018, with NEF 32 scheduled to feature the professional debut of Bangor’s Fred Lear, the promotion’s amateur bantamweight champion.
Around the region
Brewer’s Jon Lemke scored a unanimous-decision victory over Fall River, Massachusetts, native Josh LaBerge in their three-round lightweight (155-pound) battle last Friday night on the nationally televised main card of CES 46 at the Twin River Casino in Lincoln, Rhode Island.
All three judges scored the fight 29-28 in Lemke’s favor as he avenged a June 2016 loss to LaBerge at CES 36. Lemke is now 7-8 as a professional.
Ashland native Buck Pineau, now based in southern Maine, lost by first-round TKO to Pat McCrohan at CES 46.
Undefeated featherweight Aaron Lacey of Brewer, who has fought just two rounds in the cage since August 2016 and has had his last three scheduled bouts fall through, finally is on track to return to action. The Young’s MMA product, 4-0 as a professional, is set to face Vovka Clay in the main event of Combat Zone 64 on Nov. 18 at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Clay (7-2) is a native of Russia who now is based in Nashua, New Hampshire.
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