The Score Fighting Series is back in Ontario this weekend for its fifth show and it can boast that it has booked the best main and co-main event in the promotion’s young history. The 12-fight card will be headlined by an elite bantamweight fight with major implications as John “Haggis Basher” Fraser (10-3) will put his status and experience to the test against undefeated young phenom Josh “Gentleman” Hill (8-0).
The 34-year-old Fraser has been at the top of the bantamweight food chain in both Ontario and Canada for many years now with victories over Thierry Quenneville, Eric Wilson, Chuck Mady and most recently Travis Reddinger. He brings an extremely well-rounded game to the cage with relentless submissions being his forte. Hill has burst on the scene and gone undefeated in eight fights since 2009. The 25-year-old out of Iron Muay Thai is a superior athlete with explosive speed and has taken out Randy Turner, Diego Wilson and Eric Wilson on his streak. Fraser is a step up from anyone that Hill, to date, has faced, and this fight will determine exactly where the young phenom fits in the pecking order at this stage of his career.
Before the main event gets started, fans will be in for a wild ride in the co-main as two of Canada’s hottest and best strikers will come face-to-face in the lightweight division. London’s Jesse “The Body Snatcher” Ronson (10-3) will put his skills to the test against Woodbridge native and elite kickboxer turned MMA fighter Alex Ricci (5-0). Ronson is looking better than he ever has and has six knockouts in his 10 wins and only one win going to a decision. His performance last December against veteran Tony Hervey at SFS 3 is one of the best displays of technical striking I have ever seen.
It is very early in Ricci’s MMA career, but he has an incredible amount of hype behind him right now, based on his dominant performances to date. I thought that he would be very tough in his last fight against Adrenaline Training Center tough guy Iraj Hadin, but Ricci knocked him out in just over three minutes. His speed and length are proving to be tough puzzles to solve, but Ronson is better than any fighter that Ricci has seen.
The rest of the card is packed and stacked with some of the best climbing fighters in Ontario such as Tristan Johnson, Will Romero, Jason Saggo, Ryan Dickson, Elias Theodorou, Kyle Prepolec, Lyndon Whitlock and Jason Miesel.
The Score will once again deliver a top notch show for fight fans in Ontario with many exciting and relevant fights. Hamilton Place Theatre should be raucous and rocking on Saturday night.
Dwight Wakabayashi is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report MMA, and guest blogger for Sportsnet.ca.
Catch him on Facebook and Twitter @wakafightermma
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