Lou Neglia’s RING OF COMBAT XXIII live round by round results & summary

Lou Neglia’s RING OF COMBAT XXIII takes place tonight, Friday, Feb. 20 in Atlantic City, NJ. PRO MMA (promma.info) will be bringing you live round by round results as they happen as well as a  summary of the event. Fighters from teams such as Team Link, Serra / Longo, Tiger Shoman, Rhino, and other well known successful east coast gyms are represented in this event.

RING OF COMBAT is one of the oldest sanctioned MMA organizations in the country and has served as a springboard for many fighters who went on to larger promotions including the UFC.

RING OF COMBAT XXIII quick results:

Jim Tomczak def. Howard Longus by submission (rear naked choke) rd 1
Chris Weidman def. Reubem Lopes by submission (keylock) rd. 1
Gian Villante def. Randy Durant by TKO (cut due to strikes) rd. 1
Anthony Abatelli def. Garrett Carmody by unanimous decision
Jeff Lentz def. Jerome Isip by TKO (strikes) rd. 2
Roger Mamedov def. Jeff Pender by TKO (ground n’ pound) rd. 1
Al Iaquinta def. Mervin Rodriguez by submission (gator choke) rd. 1
Jimmie Rivera def. Tyler Venice by TKO (RNC puts Venice to sleep) rd. 2
Greg Soto def. Shawn Foreman by submission (D’arce choke) rd. 2
Costa Phillipou def. Aaron Meisner by submission (rear naked choke) rd. 1
Matt Makowski def. Sergio Vinagre by unanimous decision
Ricardo Romero def. Brendan Barrett by submission (rear naked choke) rd. 2
Rafael “Sapo” Natal def. Alexadre Moreno by KO (punch) rd. 1
Bret Kohan def. Joe Abouata by TKO (kicks) rd. 1

Preliminary Bouts:

(MW) Jim Tomczak vs Howard Longus
rd. 1 – Tomczak got dropped by a punch right away. Longus went to the ground to try and take advantage but Tomczak was able to reverse position, ended up taking Longus’ back and choked him out.
Jim Tomczak def. Howard Longus by submission (rear naked choke) rd. 1

(LHW) Reubem Lopes vs. Chris Weidman
rd. 1 – Weidman slams Lopes to the mat with a hip toss and maintains good control. Weidman gets a keylock and forces the tap. Weidman is from Team Serra/Longo.
Chris Weidman def. Reubem Lopes by submission (keylock) rd. 1

(HW) Randy Durant vs. Gian Villante
rd. 1 – Villante comes out slams Durant and pounds him opening a cut. Blood is excessive and ref stops the match.
Gian Villante def. Randy Durant by TKO (cut due to strikes) rd. 1 

Main Card:

(WW) Anthony Abatelli vs. Garrett Carmody
rd. 1 – Abatelli spent most of the round on top of Carmody. Carmody went for an armbar but Abatelli slammed his way out of it. Fairly even round.
rd. 2 – Carmody spent the whole round on his back with Abatelli in his guard. Abatelli landed some decent ground and pound and maintained control for the whole round.
rd. 3 – The Serra/Longo fighter stayed on top of Carmody for pretty much the entire round once again. Once again Abatelli with the ground and pound and Carmody defending and looking for submissions.
Anthony Abatelli def. Garrett Carmody by unanimous decision

(LW) Jeff Lentz vs. Jerome “Jay” Isip
rd. 1 – Lentz throws a high side kick right out the gate, misses and falls to the mat. Isip takes advantage, gets on top of Lentz and remains in his guard the whole round with ground and pound.
rd. 2 – The round starts out almost identical to round one until the ref stands them up. At this point Lentz lands a huge knee to Isip’s face that hurt’s him badly. Isip goes down and Lentz pounds him out cold. 2:23
Jeff Lentz def. Jerome Isip by TKO (strikes) rd. 2

(LW) Roger Mamedov vs. Jeff Pender
rd. 1 – Mamedov lands a front kick that puts Pender to the ground right away. Mamedov takes control on the ground, mounts and pounds out his opponent with vicious strikes just 55 seconds into the round.
Roger Mamedov def. Jeff Pender by TKO (ground n’ pound) rd. 1

(LW) Al Iaquinta vs. Mervin Rodriguez
rd. 1 – Iaquinta gets the fight to the ground and dominates the entire bout, controlling position and sinks in a head and arm choke (gator choke) at 1:15 into the round forcing Rodriguez to tap.
Al Iaquinta def. Mervin Rodriguez by submission (gator choke) rd. 1

(BW) Jimmie Rivera vs. Tyler Venice
rd. 1 – Rivera comes out strong with some stiff jabs, knees, and kept control throughout the round. Venice took some hard shots and is still standing strong.
rd. 2 – Tyler Venice shoots in, Rivera sprawls and sinks in a rear naked choke. Tyler Venice takes a nap and bout is ruled a TKO cause he raised his hand like he was going to tap but went to sleep instead at 1:13 into the round.
Jimmie Rivera def. Tyler Venice by TKO (rear naked choke puts Venice to sleep) rd. 2

(WW) Greg Soto vs. Shawn Foreman
rd. 1 – Soto goes for a takedown early but Foreman stuffed it. Foreman ends up on his back thwrowing up kicks. Round ends with Foreman on his back. Very close round.
rd. 2 – Soto starts breaking down Foreman slowly but surely with top control, ground and pound, and constant pressure. Soto kept Foreman on his back for much of the round, finally sinking in a D’arce choke to win by tapout.
Greg Soto def. Shawn Foreman by submission (D’arce choke) rd. 2

(MW) Aaron Meisner vs. Costa Phillipou
rd. 1 – Costa Phillipou throws a big right hand right away that drops Aaron Meisner face first to the mat. Phillipou, thinking that Meisner was out, does not follow up and allows Meisner to recover and stand up. But Phillipou grabs him from behind, pulls him to the ground with hooks in and finally after almost two minutes of trying he gets a tapout by Meisner from a rear naked choke.
Costa Phillipou def. Aaron Meisner by submission (rear naked choke) rd. 1

(WW) Matt Makowski vs. Sergio Vinagre
rd. 1 – Makowski looking good with his stand up landing a barrage of low kicks mixed with high kicks and strikes. Makowski also had a takedown but Vinagre bounced up.
rd. 2 – Makowski tore Vinagre’s legs apart with low kicks. He is limping.
rd. 3 – Vinagre showed great heart by staying in this fight and fighting back until the last seconds. Makowski continued with his low kick assault and also landed a brutal liver kick and a big knee to the body, both of which hurt Vinagre.
Matt Makowski def. Sergio Vinagre by unanimous decision

no. 1 contender fight

(LHW) Brendan Barrett vs. Ricardo Romero
rd. 1 – Close round with Romero getting the takedown at the end of the round and was looking for a rear naked choke.
rd. 2 – Barret throws a body kick that is caught by Romero. Romero puts him down, takes his back and chokes him out via rear naked choke.
Ricardo Romero def. Brendan Barrett by submission (rear naked choke) rd. 2 

RING OF COMBAT MW Title Fight

(MW) Rafael “Sapo” Natal (Team Renzo Gracie) vs. Alexandre Moreno (Team Link)
rd. 1 – Two incredible jiu-jitsu players go at it. Very even competitive fight. “Sapo” locks in a triangle on Moreno that was very tight buy Moreno escapes. They get back to their feet where Moreno throws some leg kicks and drops his hands a bit where on cue “Sapo” throws a big right hand that drops Moreno limp to the mat. That’s all she wrote.
Rafael “Sapo” Natal def. Alexadre Moreno by KO (punch) rd. 1 Rafael “Sapo” Natal is the new RING OF COMBAT Middleweight Champion.

Main Event – RING OF COMBAT HW Title Fight

Bret Kohan vs. Joe “Apocalypse” Abouata
rd. 1 – Bret Kohan lands a front kick to Abouta’s mid section that knocks him back and stuns him. He follows this up with a spinning back kick right to the ribs. Abouta tries to grab onto Kohan but can do nothing but curl up in a ball in the center of the ring.
Bret Kohan def. Joe Abouata by TKO (kicks) rd. 1 Bret Kohan is the new RING OF COMBAT Heavyweight Champion.