Friday,  December 9 Erie Pennsylvania, Professional MMA fighter Matt DiMarcantonio of Welland quickly silenced a hostel capacity crowd at Erie’s Avalon Hotel by defeating Paul Waite four minutes and 19 seconds into the first round by rear-naked choke. With the win DiMarcantonio improves his professional record to 2-2 and his overall record to 9-3 while the loss for Waite dropped his record to 1-1 as a professional and 6-1 overall.

The fight started with Waite attempting to take Dimarcantonio down; however, DiMarcantonio defended the takedown and landed several elbows to the left side of Waite’s head before DiMarcantonio took Waite to the ground, progressed to his back and finished Waite. “Matt is the type of fighter who will capitalize on any mistake you make on the ground and won’t give you position back,” said DiMarcantonio’s Coach Chris Bonfoco. “I felt more prepared than I ever have and I knew Waite was a good grappler. I am a good grappler too and knew if he tried to make it a ground fight that I would beat him,” said a happy DiMarcantonio.

DiMarcantonio was also recently crowned Ontario’s Lightweight Blue Belt Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Champion. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a submission grappling Martial Art. He trains and is a full-time instructor at Modern Vision Mixed Martial Arts which has 2 locations in Welland and one in St. Catharines. Modern Vision is also partnered with Muay Thai Niagara in St. Catharines.   

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