Ohio Valley MMA Rumor Roundup: NAAFS, Pinnacle FC, UFC in Cleveland, and more

October 9, 2014 David McKinney Colosseum Combat, Featured, Indiana, Kentucky, NAAFS, News, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Pinnacle FC, Tennessee, Valor 0

Rumor Mill

Rumors are part of what makes combat sports and sports in general so interesting. From speculating on them to seeing which ones actually come true, it’s a favorite pasttime of insiders and fans alike to read rumors articles.

What we’re going to attempt to do here at BluegrassMMA is put all of the rumors circulating about MMA in the Ohio Valley region in one place. Once a month we’ll post this Rumor Roundup. Be sure to remember that rumors are just that: rumors. We are in no way reporting any of these rumors as fact, unless otherwise stated in the specific rumor. Please remember to take these with a grain of salt. Some may come true, so may not. If you have any interesting rumors to add, please feel free to leave a comment below.

With that part done, check out the rumors for the month of October below.

    • This was actually confirmed by the organization, but it still hasn’t been officially announced, so I guess that we can call it a rumor for now. Following a massively successful Rock N Rumble 8 event in Canton over the weekend, the NAAFS will be back on December 6 with its annual Night of Champions event. This event will be a pro/am and is expected to feature multiple title fights, capping off the 2014 amateur series.
    • A pro featherweight bout between Indiana’s Bobby Emmons (4-4) and Fight Club Pittsburgh’s Justin Steave (6-4) is expected to go down at Pinnacle FC 9 on November 26 in Pittsburgh. Emmons and Steave have both been Tweeting about the matchup recently.
  • Undefeated pro fighter Mark Cherico (7-0) may not have a fight for Pinnacle FC 9 yet (although the organization is still actively looking), but it appears as though his teammate Khama Worthy (6-2) does. Cherico Tweeted during the NAAFS show on Saturday night that Canadian fighter Matt DiMarcantonio (6-4) will be up next for Khama, also on that Pinnacle FC 9 card. DiMarcantonio would be looking for his second upset win in a row, as he controlled Wes Hanson (3-1) throughout their fight on Saturday to earn the decision.
  • Speaking of Cherico, it doesn’t look like a proposed bout against Antonio Castillo Jr. (8-4) is going to happen. Even though both fighters were screwed out of a fight against Bryan Goldsby recently, Castillo’s camp cited his contract with NAAFS as a reason why he couldn’t compete in Pinnacle FC.
  • This is definitely still just a rumor at this point, but the UFC is very interested in doing a Fight Night card in Cleveland sometime early next year. It would be their first trip to Cleveland, as they have visited Columbus and Cincinnati multiple times each in the past. But with Northeast Ohio natives like Stipe Miocic and Jessica Eye on the roster, a trip to Cleveland would certainly make sense.
  • Cody Garbrandt (5-0) could be in the UFC by early next year. Whether or not he still needs one more fight after 5 knockouts in 5 fights is still in question though.
  • I’m pretty sure there will be a big-time MMA event at Nationwide Arena during Arnold Sports Festival weekend next year. There was a long streak with UFC 68, UFC 82, UFC 96, WEC 47, and a pair of Strikeforce cards happening during that weekend, but there has been nothing major since the last Strikeforce card in 2012. That was the last Strikeforce card before the UFC bought the organization. The guy who ran Strikeforce before that, Scott Coker, is now at the healm of Bellator. With the organization running fewer events in 2015, it wouldn’t be difficult for them to get a good card together for that date (March 7), especially since the two Columbus events were some of the most successful during Strikeforce’s run. World Series of Fighting is also a possibility.
  • Mark Slater mentioned on BluegrassMMA Live earlier this week that the next Colosseum Combat event after this weekend will likely be in late January.
  • There has still been ongoing talk about an MMA event in Cincinnati’s Horseshoe Casino sometime soon. There has been at least one person who has promoted in Ohio in the past in contact with officials from the casino. It would be the first MMA event in one of Ohio’s four major casinos. There’s a Golden Boy boxing event scheduled for there next month, so both sides may see how that goes before scheduling an MMA show.
  • In women’s MMA news, Molly Dupertuis (2-2) will be fighting at V3 Fights in November. This is expected to be her last fight. Unbeaten Evolve MMA pro Jessica Zomcik (1-0) also posted this on her Facebook fan page: “Getting in fight mode !!! I’ll be in the cage here shortly, more details to come”
  • RISE Fighting, which is the same group that also promoted under the name Purgatory and Ground and Pound, is planning to host their first MMA event in the Toledo area next April. They have a boxing event scheduled before then though.