Nick Stephenson

Nick Stephenson (left) - Art of War Cage Fighting 18 - Photo by William McKee

Nick Stephenson feeling amazing heading into clash at AOW 35

Interview with Nick Stephenson below:


Art of War Cage Fighting will host AOW 35 Friday night, April 5th at Live Casino in South Philadelphia. This is just two weeks after a packed house at Valley Forge Casion for AOW 34.  The Bickings train keeps rolling as South Philly born and bred John Garbarino headlines the fight card against Long Island MMA’s Kareem “the Dreem” Kline.  Garb will need to be at his best as Kline tries to spoil the party.

In the co-main event, Jimmy Heinel (2-0) faces “Wild” Mike Kennedy (1-0). Heinel has been impressive early in his career with a first round TKO and a third-round submission thus far. Wild Mike has fought seven times as an amateur and once as a pro.  I’ve been cage-side calling six of those seven for AOW and have seen the growth and maturity in Mike’s game.  Through no fault of his own, many of his fights have been at heavyweight for the fact of having no opponents or opportunities in his ideal weight class at light heavyweight.  Even his pro debut was at heavyweight, where he won viciously with an elbow.

In a featured light heavyweight bout, Terell Brittingham throws down with Nick Stephenson.  Nick has an amazing story as his journey into MMA began years ago and more than 100 lbs ago.  Stephenson was coaxed by his good friend Jennifer Beck to join Martinez BJJ and Nick has never looked back.  He has lost over 100 lbs of weight, gotten healthy, and become a fighter.

Nick Stephenson

AOW 35 will host his third career fight and I stopped into Martinez to see how Nick was doing as fight week had arrived.  He tells MyMMANews

“Camp has been amazing.  I’ve learned to juggle everything at home and work, and I make training a priority.  My fiance’, her parents, my parents, they’ve all helped me so much.  I feel really good and I’m ready to go.  I was originally going to be on the March card, but that fell through, so I had a head start on this one.”

You can see our interview on the link above as we chat about life and fighting.

MyMMANews will be in attendance and have full coverage.

You can order the PPV on the Starfund App as tickets are very limited and a full sellout is expected.

AOW 35

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'Beautiful' Bob Meloni
Commentator for Art of War Cagefighting. More than 15 years experience in the PA/NJ regional MMA circuit. Commentator/post fight interviews. Television/media/event production.  USKA Fight Sports media and production. The story of the fighter is what Bob loves about the sport. From the lowest level, to the highest, he only cares about the two warriors who do battle once the cage doors close. Everything else is secondary. Without their blood, sweat, and tears, he would not be here enjoying every minute.