Devon Estes makes long awaited professional debut at Ring of Combat 75
Video interview with Devon Estes above
Louis Neglia and Frankie Perez‘s Dead Serious Promotions kickoff their 2022 Ring of Combat schedule on Friday, February 18th inside the Ballroom at Tropicana Casino and Hotel Resort in Atlantic City, NJ. ROC 75 is headlined by returning 145-lb champion, Dennis “the Great” Buzukja (6-2) defending his title against Josh Rohler (6-4).
Buzukja appeared on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2020 and put on an amazing show. Despite losing on the scorecards, he was very impressive and showed how much heart is inside of his chest. The now 24-year-old has vowed to himself that he will get back and climb even higher the next time he has that opportunity. Training with a host of UFC vets and high level mixed martial artists at Serra-Longo, they never let him forget that it is one fight at a time in this unforgiving sport.
Dennis is joined on the card by fellow Albanian, Armando Gjetja. Armando looks up to Dennis and is always excited to share the locker-room with someone who he respects and feels comfortable talking to about anything. Gjetja is matched-up against Christian Lopez in a classic striker vs striker battle. In the night’s co-main event, the title is on the line as Phil “the Hitman” Caracappa (8-2) takes on James “the Alley Cat” Gonzalez (8-4). Caracappa returns to his roots at ROC where he is the former bantamweight champ. Gonzalez is looking to become a champ-champ as he drops down a weight class. Both of these guys believe they belong at the next level and only one will have their hand raised on this night.
In a featured bout, Devon Estes out of 302 BJJ in Delaware, makes her professional debut vs Lauren Braccia. I was cage-side for XFE in 2013 when this tiny, fiery redhead came to the cage for her amateur debut. That little fireplug turned out to be Devon Estes. Since 2013, she has grown her family, never stopped training and teaching, and fought to a 5-2 amateur record. Estes has been chomping at the bit for her pro debut. She was actually matched up against her opponent back in 2020 but a medical issue forced Braccia to pull out two weeks prior to the event. Fast forward to 2022 and we will see that match-up. Braccia fought hard but lost in her pro debut at ROC 74.
MtMMANews caught up with Devon to see how she felt heading into the bout. She says…
“This has been 2 or 3 years in the making. I’m so excited for this. I was ready 2 years ago, I’m even more ready now. I work every day, then have our kids, and train 5 nights a week. Steven (McCabe) is my main coach, and we work everything, but Larry Edwards and Earl ‘Trouble’ small are my jiu-jitsu coaches. Larry has been taking extra time with me on many things. Trouble is always pushing me at practice and whispering encouragement and helping my mental part of the game with confidence. Brandon Davis has also been there for me, especially wrestling.”
Please check out our full interview on the link above. Devon and her head coach Steve McCabe are life partners and have been contributing to the mixed martial arts community in the tri-state area of NJ/PA/DE for many years. Steve has 28 professional fights on his resume and has been teaching and working corners for most of his adult life. They are both good people and ambassadors for MMA.
ROC 75 looks like another stacked with talent event and we will be cage-side bringing you live results. The card will also be streamed live on FITE.TV
