ROC sends fighter #100 to UFC
Lou Neglia’s Ring of Combat reaches an historic mark as its 100th fighter joins the UFC, when former ROC champ Oluwale Bamgbose fights former ROC champ Uriah Hall.
There was a learning curve for MMA fans learning how to pronounce Joanna Jedrzejczyk. They still don’t have Fedor Emelianenko down. And now there is a new name to get right – Nigerian-American Oluwale Bamgbose.
Lou Neglia’s Ring of Combat reaches an historic mark as its 100th fighter joins the UFC rankings. Current Ring of Combat undefeated middleweight champion Oluwale Bamgbose becomes the latest ROC alumni to grace the Octagon when he takes on former ROC middleweight champion, Uriah Hall for UFC Fight Night: Teixeira vs. Saint Preux on Saturday, August, 8th in Nashville, Tennessee.
No other promotion can boast of such an accomplishment, said Lou Neglia, President at Ring of Combat. I’m very proud of the new generation of ROC Fighters who take on all comers. I’m confident that fighters like Julio Arce, Gregor Gillespie, Randy Brown and several others will get the call very soon and join Oluwale in the UFC.”
What makes this fight so special is it will be a battle of two former Ring of Combat middleweight champions.
Why has Ring of Combat enjoyed so much success in sending off its fighters to face the elite of the elite? Matchmaking.
I believe that tough fights makes tough fighters and I take pride in that, said Lou. Guys that are 9-6 from ROC will get picked over guys that are 10-0 in other promotions. It’s who you fought and how you fought that matters. If you fall short in a competitive fight and lose, you learn and improve your game where you improve nothing by competing in mismatches and easy fights.”
Oluwale received the UFC call he was under contract to compete at Ring of Combat 52 this September, but because of his passion for the sport, Lou quickly ripped up the contract, as he has done many times before, and encouraged Oluwale to live his dream
I can understand that as fighter, if I was fighting, I’d want to go to the UFC, said Lou. My goal is to get many fighters into the UFC, the best promotion in the world. They are headed by an All-Star Team; Dana, Lorenzo, Joe Silva, Sean Shelby, Marc Ratner and have done such a great job by giving fighters a world class stage where they can perform in front of a international audience.”