CES MMA issues statement on CES 56 press conference
On Thursday afternoon, CES MMA held a press conference to promote their upcoming event CES 56. The event will take place May 31 at the Hartford Convention Center in Hartford, Conn. and will stream live on UFC Fight Pass.
CES 56 will be headlined by a featherweight title fight between Bruce Boyington and Dan Dubuque. Boyington, the champion who hails from Maine, was not able to make the press conference since it would be roughly a five hour drive each way. CES founder and CEO Jimmy Burchfield Sr. did not react kindly to the champion not being able to attend, despite getting a lengthy quote from Boyington which was read during the press conference. In addition, Burchfield seemed to have put his full support behind the challenger, Dubuque — even saying he is “going to be so damn happy to put that belt” around the waist of the challenger. Those comments created an uproar around New England, especially on the champion’s side of the equation.
MyMMANews.com received a statement from CES MMA on the comments made by Burchfield during the press conference.
“CES MMA has the greatest respect for Bruce as our defending champion,” the statement reads. “We are extremely excited for him to defend his hard-earned title against Dan Dubuque in the main event of CES 56. We are proud of every single fighter who steps into our cage. We apologize to Bruce Boyington and his family and we wish him and his opponent nothing but the best at CES 56.”
CES 56 will also feature the return to action of Nick Newell in the co-main event. “Notorious” was originally scheduled to face Kelvin Hackney, but will now face Antonio Castillo Jr. in a lightweight matchup. John Gotti III returns to action in the CES cage and look to remain undefeated when he meets David Espino. Unbeaten New England welterweight prospect Jesse James Kosakowski will make his organizational debut against nine fight veteran Ryan Jett at the event.
