Ring of Combat: 100th Fighter sent to UFC

Oluwale Bamgbose pre fight at ROC 51

A common goal amongst MMA fighters, is to one day fight for the UFC.  This is where the best in the world fight, and where most Mixed Martial Arts fighters believe they can find fame, fortune and a better life for their families.  Luckily, there’s a local fight promoter who knows how to get his fighters that call from the UFC that they work so hard for.

New York‘s own Lou Neglia, and his premier MMA organization, Ring of Combat, reached an historic mark, as its 100th fighter joins the UFC rankings. Current Ring of Combat middleweight champion, Oluwale Bamgbose (5-0), becomes the latest ROC alumni to grace the Octagon when he takes on former ROC middleweight champion, Uriah Hall (11-5) for UFC Fight Night: Teixeira vs. Saint Preux 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,” he continued.

This fight carries extra significance to the ROC family, being that it pits two former Ring of Combat middleweight champions against on another, and the current UFC middleweight Champ, Chris Weidman, is also a former ROC middleweight Champion

When asked why Ring of Combat has had such success sending fighters to the UFC, Neglia has one word, 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,” Lou continued.

Oluwale, aka ” The Holy War Angel“, received the UFC call while 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 a 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,” said Lou.

Check out our video recap of ROC 51 and Oluwale Bamgbose‘s devestating KO victory!

Check out Ring of Combat 52 on Sept 25 in Atlantic City at the Tropicana Resorts & Casino

NewYorkFighting.com