Eric Roncoroni: “D**ked around by CFFC, want my ROC belt back”
Eric Roncoroni: I want my Ring of Combat title back
Former Ring of Combat middleweight champion Eric ‘The Viking’ Roncoroni (5-3) was scheduled to fight former Ultimate Fighter contestant and Cage Fury Fighting Championships middleweight champion Tim ‘The South Jersey Strangler’ Williams (15-3), in February of this year.
Twice now the scheduled bout has fallen through and Roncoroni says that he is moving on from CFFC and wants to go back to ROC to claim back his strap. Roncoroni lost his belt to Russian MMA fighter Ruslan Melikov via unanimous decision in September 2016.
We caught up with ‘The Viking’ to discuss the recent past and not to distant future.
“First time I was scheduled to fight Tim Williams, I ended up injuring my back, so I had to withdraw from the fight,” Roncoroni said.
“Then just recently I was given a contract to fight again, he gave a verbal agreement, so I signed the same contract again. He came back later on, had some personal family issues, wasn’t able to compete on May 20th, so I decided to back away from CFFC contract to pursue the Ultimate Fighter, and Arias (Garcia) (CFFC matchmaker) allowed me to get rid of my contract.”
MyMMANews has since reached out to CFFC who states Roncoroni is still currently under contract. Despite the difference in opinion, Roncoroni will now head out west to train at Greg Jackson and Mike Winklejohn’s gym in Albuquerque, New Mexico before trying out for season 26 of the Ultimate Fighter in May.
“So, I’m going out to Albuquerque to train at Jackson-Wink’s. Claudia Gadelha, the number one strawweight in the world, she invited me out to cross-train with her a little. She thought it would be a good idea for me to come out and experience a wide variety of MMA fighters throughout the world, high level guys, which I haven’t been able to practice or train with. So I’m taking the opportunity to go out. I’m going out for four weeks and I’ll be preparing for the Ultimate Fighter 26. Hopefully do big things, knock some people out.”
Back to the regional circuit if TUF falls through?
“Coming back, afterwards, if it doesn’t go well it will still be a great experience. I plan on fighting Ruslan Melikov again. I was trying to get him for June 2nd. Apparently he went back to his home country, I don’t know why. Maybe he’s scared, working on his stand up. But I would like to fight hopefully September I was told for Ring of Combat. I’m hoping that will line up or I just want something quick and fast. I just want to get back in there. I’ve been dicked around by CFFC a little bit, some injuries. I can’t really do anything about it. I want Ruslan Melikov, I want my title back at 185 in Ring of Combat. I just want to keep rising up the ranks, knocking people out.”
