LEWISTON — Ryan Glover of Rumford and Berserkers MMA is a slugger, not a talker who’s into the political side of the sport.
So when his scheduled fight with Jason Field kept hovering in perpetual on-again, off-again status, it made the super heavyweight, well, berserk.
“The smack talk in between fights and then not showing up really gets to you after a while,” Glover said. “It kind of takes the sportsmanship out of it. It’s time to play the game.”
Field arrived at Androscoggin Bank Colisee as scheduled Saturday night, and it was game on, ever so briefly.
The fight was over in 35 seconds, beginning and ending with a Glover barrage to highlight the amateur portion of the New England Fights XIX card.
“We made it short,” Glover said. “That’s what we like. Short and sweet.”
Jesse “The Viking” Erickson of Auburn brought down in the house in the first of seven professional bouts, getting the tap from Ricky Sylvester of Lowell, Mass., to an armbar at 2:17 of the first round.
It was the third consecutive victory for Erlckson (6-4), whose face and lip were battered and bloodied despite the win and the short night.
“I knew he hit hard, as you can see,” Erickson said. “The key to him was to not fall into a brawl, which I did a little bit. My trainers were talking me out of that, getting me to stay on the outside, get the takedown and let my jiu-jitsu work.”
Erickson has been cross-training between Central Maine Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Lewiston and Young’s MMA in Bangor, sparring with prior opponents Bruce Boyington and Tollison Lewis.
“Everything has been going well. I’ve been surrounding myself with good fighters and putting in the work I need to,” Erickson said.
CMBJJ stablemate Matt Denning of Lewiston was equally impressive, subduing Zenon Herrera of Skowhegan via rear naked choke at 2:33 of the first round.
Denning ended a 10-month layoff, which included some medical issues as result of trying to make weight for his last scheduled fight.
“I met with a specialty trainer,” Denning said. “I didn’t want to be around my team because I didn’t want them to see me in terrible shape. I was fat. But I worked on my elbows a little bit, worked on my top game, and it worked well tonight.”
Sidney Outlaw of Philadelphia won the 170-pound main event with a rear naked choke over Darrius Heyliger at 3:42 of the first round.
Glover’s showing was a marathon compared to the standard he set here in February. He needed only 12 seconds to dispatch Michael Freeman in his MMA debut.
He had been in a two-fight losing streak, of sorts, since that night. In the spring, Glover was defeated in an amateur boxing exhibition at Lewiston High School. Three weeks later, he dropped a decision to Billy Leahy in a donnybrook for the NEF amateur super heavyweight title.
“I actually was kind of slack this camp,” Glover said. “I’m not in the shape I was three months ago. Keeping it short was definitely key. I don’t know if I had three rounds in me tonight.”
What Glover might have lacked in conditioning, he compensated with motivation.
“I’ve been waiting on that one a long time,” he said. “He’s pulled out on me a few times, and I was finally able to make him pay for it. I went in there with a lot more aggression that I did any other fight that I’ve had.”
It was a perfect night for Berserkers, which went 3-0, including a pro victory by Mike Hansen and the triumph of Scott Godbois in his amateur debut.
Godbois dominated the action against Phil Pearson, who had a six-inch height advantage, in the opening round. The rangy Pearson rallied and inflicted serious punishment late in the bout, but Godbois held on by margins of 30-27 and 29-28 on two the scorecards.
In the pro ranks, Hansen dominated 2014 NEF fighter of the year Crowsneck Boutin and won by submission at 2:57 of the first round. Boutin complained of rib pain and was advised by the ringside physician to go to the hospital for further observation.
Chaz Gray matched Glover for the quickest amateur win, requiring only 35 seconds to lock in a rear naked choke and get the tap from Dominique Bailey of Lewiston. Bailey, 25, a former Lewiston and Edward Little athlete, was making his cage debut.
In perhaps the two most eagerly anticipated amateur scraps, Josh Harvey of Bangor defended the NEF amateur lightweight strap with a vicious one-punch, second-round of Ryan Dibartolomeo after dominating throughout, and C.J. Ewer of Hampden earned a hard-fought unanimous decision over Ricky Dexter of Bangor.
Dibartolomeo, although conscious, was immobilized and removed from the ring on a backboard.
Other amateur winners were Rachel Reinheimer and Hannah Sparrell by decision in a pair of women’s bouts, Jason Lachance, Rafael Velado, Will Carrero, Henry Clark, Nick Shea and Mike Peitersen.
Pro highlights included Derek Shorey of Dover-Foxcroft knocking out Tollison Lewis in 12 seconds, and the retirement of Sanford’s Artie Mullen, who took up the sport eight years ago at age 40. Mullen lost to Nevada’s Matt Andrikut in round one.
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