PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and where there’s bad blood between two fighters, there’s usually a different account of past events.
The anticipated showdown between featherweights Joe Pingitore and Bill Jones, who face off Friday, Aug. 12th, 2016 on the main card of “CES MMA 37” live on AXS TV from Twin River Casino, features the classic story of one fighter allegedly ducking the other; Jones (12-10, 3 KOs) says he’s clamored for this fight for quite some time, but Pingitore (6-2-1, 2 KOs) never agreed to come to the table until now.
In a rare twist, Pingitore, the Johnston, R.I., vet who makes his sixth appearance with CES MMA Friday, backed up his opponent’s claim — sort of.
“I ducked him and his terrible record because I didn’t want to fight a dude who’s 1-4 since 2012,” Pingitore said. “But enough is enough. He’ll be 1-5 now.”
There’s no doubt Jones has struggled in recent years, both in and out of the sport. The 38-year-old Somersworth, N.H., native, a full-time roofer during the day, hasn’t fought since last July and hasn’t won since December of 2014, but he enters the cage Friday with a clear conscious and a new outlook following a major lifestyle change.
Eleven months ago, after watching his father pass away due to what he called “poor decisions and poor habits,” Jones decided to quit smoking cold turkey. His ultimate goal, aside from improving his quality of life for the sake of his four children, is to fulfill his father’s last request to get back in the cage and “go win another” fight.
“I smoked for as long as Joe’s been alive,” Jones said. “Not smoking, this is the best camp I’ve ever had. This is the best I’ve felt, the best I’ve ever looked, the best I’ve ever trained. I feel like an animal.
“I’m going to kill this kid. He thinks he’s got an easy fight because I went in a slump. He’s got no idea.”
The outspoken Jones didn’t take his first pro fight until 2007 when he was 30 years old. He won nine of his first 13, including a split decision win over Matt Bessettein just his second pro fight, and was ranked high as No. 3 in the northeast in 2014 despite “smoking butts every day,” a lifestyle that eventually caught up to him in the cage.
“I didn’t do anything right,” Jones said. “I worked six days a week, I trained when I could, but when I trained, I worked hard training. At my job, I worked hard. We’d strip for three or four hours in the morning. We worked hard to get the job done.
“That atmosphere followed me to the gym. I’d get there and everybody would ask, ‘How do you feel?’ ‘Horrible, but let’s get to it!'”
With “family problems” affecting his training and work habits, Jones admittedly took some ill-advised fights in recent years and wound up losing four out of five during a three-year stretch between 2012 and 2015. He hit rock bottom last July when he ran out of gas in a fight against John Santos and got knocked out in the second round.
“I should’ve murdered that kid. Hands down,” Jones said. “I was so mad at myself because I had lost that fight by not training and smoking. I destroyed him for the first round and a half and as soon as I hit my wall, I was puffing for air. I couldn’t do anything. I was like, ‘That’s it. I’m done. I’m going to give it up.'”
At his father’s request, which came three days before he died, Jones has decided to give it one last shot. He’ll face a tough test in the 25-year-old Pingitore, who has won back-to-back fights and is looking to carve his path toward a potential headliner fight on a future CES MMA card. Pingitore says he never considered fighting Jones until Jones began tracking him down on social media.
“After I beat [James] Murrin [in June of 2015], he just commented on my Facebook statuses and stuff, talking shit, saying, ‘Let’s fight!’ and I ignored it at first because the guy isn’t in Top 10,” Pingitore said. “He said I’m the weakest one in the Top 10. We’ll see on the 12th. He’s going to find out different.
“This is the type of shit I live for. The last guy who called me out [William Chan] was back in my amateur days. I put him away in 40 seconds. I’m going to try to top that.”
Smoke-free for the first time since he was a teenager, Jones promises fatigue won’t be an issue Friday. The back-and-forth between he and Pingitore has escalated in recent weeks with Pingitore taking shots at Jones’ record in addition to his age, the latter of which admittedly “got under” Jones’ skin.
“My main goal is to go in there and put a hurting on Joe because he’s a cocky, mouthy little fuck,” Jones said. “Thirty eight years old is old? I’m 38 and I’m in better shape than 80 percent of the guys in the cage — smoking cigarettes!
“It’s one thing to say, ‘I’m going to tear this guy up … he’s nothing compared to me!’ but to say I’m old? I roof six days a week. This guy couldn’t carry three bundles up the ladder in a row. No way am I old. He’s 25 and fat and I’m 38 and shredded and he’s saying I’m old. I work crazy hard in everything I do. This kid doesn’t know what hard work is.
“I’m super excited. I haven’t been this excited since my first fight.”
While Pingitore isn’t looking past Friday’s fight, he’s still hopeful of one day being the main event on a CES MMA card and perhaps even dropping down to challenge contenders in a new weight class while maintaining his power and cardio. A win over Jones, who has more experience than any of his previous opponents, would be a step in the right direction.
“To fight a main event for CES, you’ve got to not only have the reputation, you have to be way up there,” Pingitore said. “This is going to be my ninth professional fight, No. 5 under the CES banner. I think it’s coming to the point now where it’s getting there. The hype is kind of setting in. It’s becoming real.
“If everything goes my way on the 12th, I’ll be [7-2-1]. That’s a legit record and that’s a legitimate contender. I’m interested in seeing what happens with the Bessette fight. I don’t know. I’m walking light these days, so, I might be going to 135. I’m kind of taking it one fight at a time, but at the same time I’m looking out for my future.”
In addition to Pingitore-Jones, the main card features three, five-round title fights. Woonsocket, R.I., native Andre Soukhamthath (10-3, 6 KOs), now fighting out of Boca Raton, Fla., defends his CES MMA Bantamweight Title for the first time against Cambridge, Mass., vet Kin Moy (8-2, 2 KOs) in the main event, a rematch of their back-and-forth war in January of 2014 in which Moy won by unanimous decision. Providence’s Greg Rebello (20-6, 12 KOs) faces Oklahoma’s Ashley Gooch (9-4, 6 KOs) for the vacant CES MMA Heavyweight Title while Bessette (19-7, 5 KOs), a Stafford Springs, Conn., native, fights for the CES MMA Featherweight Title vacated by current Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) contender Rob Font in 2014.
Also on the AXS TV main card, middleweight Chuck O’Neil (16-8, 5 KOs) of Bourne, Mass., faces Roy Jones (7-4, 3 KOs) of Waterloo, Iowa.
The preliminary card features four exciting bouts, highlighted by a middleweight showdown between Berkeley, Mass., vet Pat McCrohan (2-0, 1 KO) and RussianRuslan Melikov (3-1), fighting out of Fairfield, N.J. Providence bantamweightMarquis Brewster (1-0) faces Turtle Creek, Pa., native Roosevelt Archie (0-1); and Dylan Lockard of Derry, N.H., makes his professional debut against Seldon, N.Y., featherweight Mak Kelleher (1-2). Quincy, Mass., middleweight Mike Rodriguez (3-1, 1 KO) will be featured in a separate three-round bout against an opponent to be determined.
