Shawn Stefanelli - Art of War 7 - Photo by William McKee
Shawn Stefanelli ready to display hard work at Art or War Cage Fighting 22
Video interview with Shawn Stefanelli above
Art of War Cage Fighting is smashing their way into the spotlight of Pennsylvania MMA with stacked fight cards on back-to-back nights. AOW President, Mike Bickings deems this All-Star Weekend on April 1st and 2nd and is their 22nd and 23rd shows. This will be the second time they have hosted consecutive shows on consecutive days as back in February of 2019, AOW 10 and 11 took place.
The All-Star Weekend will be hosted at the hottest spot in Philly…Live Casino and Hotel, who just recently celebrated their first-year anniversary and will welcome their first mixed martial arts events to their patrons. Bickings, and matchmaker Jillian Peterson have worked feverishly and put together some amazing fights. On the first night, April 1st, heavyweight Patrick “the Brick” Brady will stroll to the cage and take on Cesar Guiterrez in the main event.
Tim Sylvester vs Shawn Steffanelli and Jim Fitzpatrick vs Will Dill also headline the professional portion of the card on the first night.
At AOW 23 on Saturday night, Matt Turnbull and his high energy style cap the night off in the main event vs Federico Vento IV and there will also be three championship belts on the line.
MyMMANews will be all over these two cards as I will be on commentary with “Korean Thunder” Ryan Kim Cafaro and Eugene “the Suitcase Kid” Aubry. The legend himself, Eric Kowal, will be in attendance bringing live results and mega-star photographer William McKee will be shooting tons of amazing photos.
I was cageside in Atlantic City for Shawn Stefanelli’s last fight where he earned his first career professional victory. Stefanelli was very impressive as he moved in and executed his game plan, took his opponents back and choked him out less than two minutes into the fight to even his record at 1-1. I have been right up front for several of Shawn’s fights, including his victory over Christian Carr to win the Art of War Cage Fighting amateur lightweight championship. His growth is obvious and quite simply, his work ethic and determination have been his biggest ally.
Grindhouse MMA and Fitness leader Jerry Bradley invited MyMMANews in to talk with his team as Shawn and four of his teammates will go to work on the weekend. I gladly took him up on his offer and when we got to speak with Stefanelli, he tells us about his improvements since he began training to fight…
“I’ve been getting beat up on every day. That’s the main reason why I have gotten better. I’m just going to keep training and training with my team and my coaches force me to improve and that’s how I’m going to become a better fighter.”
Please check out our interview on the link above.
One of his main training partners is undefeated UFC standout Sean Brady, who also teaches at Grindhouse. Matty Netterville is legendary for the workouts he has put Shawn through, and James Booth is an elite BJJ coach helping to tighten that ground game.
His opponent, Tim Sylvester is 2-2, has been training BJJ for a long time, and is a black belt who knows his way around the cage. Stefanelli has youth on his side, but believes that will play no factor as he says his grind and hard work will carry him to victory.
You can get round by round results right here at the best combat sports website known to man, or order the pay per view for the entire fight card on the Starfund app.
