LINCOLN, R.I. (May 30th, 2013) — By now, John “Doomsday” Howard has heard every rumbling, every question and every inquiry since the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) released him from its promotion two years ago.
“Everyone always asks if and when I’m going back to the UFC,” said the Boston middleweight, who’s won his last five fights, including four by knockout. “If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I’m just taking it one fight at a time.”
The UFC is returning to Boston in August in what would be perfect timing for a “Doomsday” revival, but Howard (19-7, 8 KOs) can’t afford to look that far ahead, not with another difficult fight looming on the horizon. On Friday, June 7th, 2013, Howard will face the dangerous Chris Woodall (12-3, 5 KOS) of Cummings, Ga., in the main event of Jimmy Burchfield’s Classic Entertainment & Sports’ “New Blood” mixed martial arts event at Twin River Casino.
“I definitely want to be on that card,” Howard said of UFC’s return to Boston later this summer, “and I hope I get the chance, but we’ll see what happens.
“I can’t look past this guy.”
Woodall, who’ll turn 40 on June 1st and refers to himself as “Cappi,” a nickname given to him by his grandmother, hasn’t fought on U.S. soil since 2006, but he’s made a decent living over the past seven years fighting overseas, including bouts in the Ukraine and Latvia, where the rulebook is a little smaller, similar to the Pankration-style fighting where UFC legends such as Ken Shamrock and Bas Rutten got their start. Pankration is a form of martial arts from the ancient Greek Olympics characterized as a cross between boxing and wrestling with limited rules.
“The competition is very technical,” said Woodall, a natural welterweight who’s gaining an additional 15 pounds to fight Howard next week. “The Russian athletes are some of the best in the world. They’re more prepared than any other athlete I’ve competed against, even Americans and Brazilians.
“Their mindset is destruction. If they get a hold of an arm bar, they’re not waiting for you to tap; they’re waiting to hear that snap.”
Woodall’s versatility and experience will be a challenge for Howard, who has finally settled back into his normal training routine following the Boston Marathon bombings, which struck his hometown in early April. One of the bombing suspects, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was unexpectedly linked to Howard’s gym, Wai Kru, in Allston, Mass.; when it was discovered Tsarnaev was a former standout amateur boxer who had trained with a handful of local fighters in the Boston area, including Howard. Wai Kru soon became a focal point of the ensuing investigation, causing an unwanted distraction for Howard, who recalled sparring with Tsarnaev and breaking the suspect’s nose.
“I felt terrible about [the bombings]. That’s my home,” Howard said. “It’s too bad he trained at our gym and people associated us with that because that’s not who we are. People tried to link us to that, but that’s not what Wai Kru is about.
“It just feels good to be back on track,” he continued. “Now I’m just concentrating on making weight. I’m ready for this fight.”
While Howard is hoping to punch his ticket back to the UFC with a win next Friday, Woodall is making his return to U.S. mixed martial arts in an attempt to revive the sport in his home state of Georgia, where he opened his own training facility two years ago.
“I’m trying to build,” he said. “I want the fans in this area to remember who I am so my academy can regrow. And I like to fight. I was born to fight. I don’t do this for the paycheck. I have enough in the bank. I just do this for fun.”
Plus, with the foreign organizations in Russia and other countries adapting to the unified rules of mixed martial arts, there are now fewer outlets for the self-proclaimed “old-school” fighters such as Woodall. Spanning the globe has become less attractive, even with those promotions willing to pay top dollar to American fighters.
“The unified rules are safer,” Woodall acknowledged, “but I don’t like rounds and I don’t like time limits.
“I’m old-school, and I don’t mind saying that. When I started fighting, it was no-holds barred, long before the rise of the UFC in 2005. I came up when there were no rules except no eye-gouging and no fish-hooking. When I fought overseas, they still had rules – no 12-to-6 elbows, for example – but you could throw kicks to a downed opponent. It had a lot of the same techniques as original, extreme fighting; you fought until someone won.”
The trip from Georgia to Rhode Island next week will be Woodall’s shortest commute in quite some time, plus he won’t have to adapt to a different time zone or the bitter cold of a Ukrainian winter.
“I used to have to fly out a week ahead of time to avoid jetlag,” he recalled.
And with everything he’s been through in his career, including a two-day, 16-man Pankration tournament 13 years ago in which he won six fights in 48 hours to earn the title in his weight class, Woodall won’t get caught up in the moment next Friday, even if he’s fighting the reigning CES MMA middleweight champion.
“John is an awesome athlete,” Woodall said. “I’m really looking forward to fighting him. It’s a great challenge. I don’t want to fight tomato cans. If I lose, I know I’ve gone against someone at the top of his weight class. He’s the 185-pound champion.
“I like testing my abilities and testing myself to see if I can be the best fighter that night.”
Tickets for “New Blood” are $36.00, $56.00, $101.00 and $126.00 and can be purchased by calling CES at 401.724.2253/2254, online at www.shop.cesboxing.com or www.twinriver.com, at the Players Club booth at Twin River, or through any TicketMaster location. Doors open 6 p.m. with the first bout scheduled for 7.
The undercard includes several regional matchups and intra-state showdowns, including the return of Providence light heavyweight Greg “Ribz” Rebello (15-4, 8 KOs) and Bridgewater, Mass., welterweight and former The Ultimate Fighter reality television series standout Chuck “Cold Steel” O’Neil (10-5, 2 KOs). After knocking out hometown favorite Jesse Peterson in Maine in February, Rebello will face Williamsport, Pa., veteran Lewis Rumsey (8-8, 4 KOs) next Friday while O’Neil will look to build off his win over Rhode Island’s Keith Jeffrey in December.
One of the best intra-state showdowns will take place between East Providence, R.I., lightweight Nate “The Snake” Andrews (4-0, 2 KOs) and Lincoln veteran Jeff “Candyman” Anderson (11-7, 2 KOs). Andrews has risen considerably in the past year with wins in each of his first four fights, but has yet to face anyone as experienced and as tough as Anderson; known for fighting the best opposition in the northeast, Anderson has wins over Damien Trites, John Ortolani and Pete Jeffrey on his resume, but has lost three consecutive bouts, albeit against Mike Campbell, Matt Bessette and Saul Almeida, who have combined for 36 wins.
“New Blood” also features four exciting bantamweight bouts, highlighted by the showdown between Andre Soukhamthath (4-1, 3 KOs) of Woonsocket, R.I., and Blair Tugman (5-4) of Branford, Conn. Soukhamthath has won four consecutive fights since losing his debut while Tugman is returning to the cage for the first time since April of 2011, when he lost to John McLaughlin at the Bellator Fighting Championships.
Also in the bantamweight division, highly-touted amateur Sophanarith Am will make his professional debut Carlos Hernandez of Lynn, Mass., and Providence veteran Joe Reverdes (1-2) – fighting for the first time since August – will fight Williamsport’s Joshua Aarons (1-6). In what could be one of the best fights on the undercard, veterans Pedro Gonzalez (7-5) of Rockport, Mass., and Sidemar Honario (8-3, 2 KOs) will square off in a three-round bantamweight bout.
After beating Thomas Evans in April, Coventry, R.I., featherweight Shaun Marmas (5-4) will step up to face undefeated Boston native Sergio Cabrera (2-0-1) in what will be Marmas’ toughest test to date. Providence welterweight Ruben Ortiz will make his highly-anticipated debut against fellow newcomer Brian Sparrow of Sandwich, Mass., and Eric Spicely (1-0) of Providence will take on newcomer Tundee Oduyingho of Johnston, R.I., in a welterweight bout. All fights and fighters are subject to change.
(Twin River has waived its 18+ rule for “New Blood.” Anybody under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult and must enter through the West entrance).
