If you’ve ever been to New Jersey, odds are you’ve either stopped by the Extreme Fight Club Gym or know someone who has. Not content with being the city’s premier MMA training facility, the two Palestinian brothers behind the gym have also developed one of the most exciting MMA promotions in the North East, Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC). The Darwish brothers have yet again cooked up a ridiculously awesome fight card for their next event which will take place at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City on the 24th of August featuring no less than 4 titles fights, a grudge rematch and a colourful and brash New Yorker throwing down the gauntlet against his Egyptian competitor, Mustafa “Mufasa” Khalil.
Four title fights in one night, plus so many other great matchups. I’m excited. This is definitely our biggest show yet,” said event co-promoter Hani Darwish to fightnetwork.com. “Chris Vallaro is a star in the making with his personality and toughness. His fights are always exciting and he brings a lot of flair to the cage that fans either love or love to hate. His opponent, Mustafa Khalil, is a beast. In the co-main, we’ve got the female bout, which, like their first fight, is going to be a fight of the year candidate in the New Jersey MMA scene. Both those girls will eventually be stars of the sport and they’re having the rematch everyone wants to see on our show. Every match-up is extremely competitive and solid. I’m very proud to be part of this.”
Darwish really has every reason to be excited. A potential “Fight of the Night” contender sees top New Jersey prospect Ricky Bandejas is set to take on unbeaten Robert Wallin.
Bandejas, 21, is 6-1 with three submissions and two TKOs. The Nick Catone MMA fighter most recently defended his Dead Serious 140-pound title with a rear-naked choke submission of Joshua Armstrong on June 8.
The former prep wrestling standout’s only MMA loss came against Shane Burgos, who went 7-0 as an amateur and is now 1-0 as a professional. This fight will mark Bandejas’ EFC debut.
Wallin, 20, has won both of his amateur fights, earning decisions against Martin LeConte and JJ Murray earlier this year. The New Yorker fights out of Carmine Zocchi MMA and also will be making his EFC debut.
The latest fight card (* denotes title fights):
*Christopher Vallaro vs Mustafa Khalil
*Barat Jan vs Andrew Salas
*Jennifer Lopez vs Roya Darvishian
*Gabriel Ruiz vs Jovany Alvarez
Ricky Bandejas vs Robert Wallin
Katlyn Chookagian vs Robyn Lewis
Andrew Smith vs Jorge Luna
Adam Sylvester vs Kevin Gocklin
William Dodd vs Damon Bonner
Rodrigo Correa vs Robert Jimenez
Justin Hinds vs Charles Argilan
Teddy Land vs Brandon Cromartie
Matt Firneno vs Raeph Koch
Tim Dooling vs Nathaniel Fultz
Victor Romero vs Steven Romanides
Tim Lutke vs Mike Forte
Nile Dillon vs Nicholas Manela
Nicholas Kracsun vs Andres Velasquez
Anthony Verdesco vs Brandon Brown
