Ring of Combat’s ROC 85 went off as scheduled last night in Atlantic City and I was cageside on commentary with Professor Jay Regalbuto. There was a long list of impressive performances. None more so than Jimmy “the Lost Boro Bully” Drago, who defended his welterweight crown and gave the 5-0 Alonzo Turner his first career loss with a convincing decision. Turner came in with a strong wrestling background out of Ohio and Drago beat him at his own game throughout the fight with numerous takedowns and control all the while winning the stand-up clearly with a beautiful array of strikes.
Jay made note that at the beginning of the fight, Drago, who had a noticeable height and reach advantage, came out in a crouched position bringing his height down to the level of his opponent. It seemed to make Turner somewhat uncomfortable as Drago picked away with his combinations and defended every takedown attempt. As the 2nd round arrived, Jimmy seemed even more comfortable that he could defend the takedown and used his reach to punish Turner with kicks, including a couple to the head that scored. When Turner did secure a takedown, Drago scrambled to his feet quickly and didn’t take much damage at all. It was another masterful performance from Drago, who doesn’t have anything left to prove on the regional scene. Sign him already Dana. He is exciting and has a huge following and is ready for the UFC.
In the main event, Sebastian Ruiz defended his bantamweight title with a back-and-forth three-round battle with Ricky Bandejas. Ruiz stand-up and damage given may have been thew difference. Bandejas did have some really good moments with his grappling and ground control, but Ruiz escaped everything and got the victory.
Another performance that stood out to me was Torance “Hercules” LaCour. He is special. Torance just needs to get some more fights in as he moved to 2-0 against the 3-1 Griffin Parriott. Both of these elite athletes have strong wrestling backgrounds, but LaCour was just too quick, and strong as he reversed Parriott and poured down a barrage of unanswered strikes that forced the stoppage in round 2 at 145 lbs. Nobody will say yes to Lacour as he has struggled to get opponents to accept fights with him. Watch this fight and you will see why.
Full ROC 85 results below:
170 lbs Josh Bonneau wis by UD 30-27 on all over Eli Guzman
135 lbs Shamar Williams wins by TKO 5:00 R1 over Marcus Reid
170 lbs Alex Brown wins by submission (armbar) over Nick Caracappa 3:53 R2
145 lbs Vincent Constantini wins by UD 29-28 on all over Cole Cameron
145 lbs Torance LaCour wins by TKO (strikes) 1:47 R1 over Griffin Parriott
155 lbs Andrew Stock wins via submission (RNC) over Gunner Spain 1:28 R1
140 lbs Billy Markle wins by UD 29-28 on all over Chris Disonell
145 lbs Cole Alaxanian wins by UD 30-27 29-28 29-28 over John O’Dea
135 lbs Nodir Alidodov wins by UD 30-27 29-28 29-28 over Turpal Khamzaez
170 lb ROC Championship Jimmy Drago (defending) wins by UD 30-27 on all over Alonzo Turner
135 lb Roc Championship Sebastian Ruiz wins by SD 30-27 28-29 29-28 over Ricky Bandejas
