Mixed Martial Arts Rising Star

A new section created to promote lesser known fighters who exhibit great talent in the ring has been created. Today's interview is on Ryan Ciotoli, a MMA fighter who has defeated some of New England's toughest competitors. 4/9/2004 9:02 AM http://www.massmma.com/ryan-ciotoli.htm

(PRWEB) April 11, 2004 --http://www.massmma.com/ryan-ciotoli.htm

This new section for MASS MMA has been created to publish information about lesser known fighters appearing in upcoming shows. It is all too often that we attend Mixed Martial Arts competitions and can only truly enjoy the main events. This is due to the difficulty in gathering information on all fighters on a single card. Promoters have enough to worry about in terms of working on a fight card, paperwork for the commission, booking a venue that they cannot get down to publishing information about every one of the new fighters.

Recently there has been a sweeping change in this state. All of the Massachusetts Promoters have agreed to share information (with the fighters permission) such as fight records, contact info and other public information with MASS MMA, allowing us to interview as many of the fighters on a future card. This gives the attendees the chance to attain a greater appreciation of the entire fight card. In this situation everybody wins -- the promoter fills seats, the fighter gets the well deserved notoriety and the crowd can appreciate all of the fights to their fullest.

Rising Star, Ryan Ciotoli (Ithaca College) is scheduled to fight Mike Daley of the Fight Zone on Saturday April 17, 2004 at the Club Lido in Revere, MA.

Ciotoli is better known than many of the fighters you will see as part of this section due mostly to his prowess in collegiate wrestling at Ithaca. Ciotoli is best known for winning an incredible second place in the Division 3 Collegiate Nationals in 2001. It was after he graduated, and came to the end of his wrestling career that he began to explore the opportunities of competition in the mixed martial arts forum.

In his two fights, Ciotoli has found success against formidable opponents by way of decision both times, initially by beating Renat Mirzebekova and most recently against Joao Amaral. Obviously due to his wrestling background Ciotoli feels even more comfortable in grappling tournaments than in the ring. At the North American World Championships in March 2004, Ciotoli beat MASS MMAs February Fighter of the Month, Joe Lauzon in the finals of the Men's Expert Light Weight Division (150 to 159.5 lbs.) in a match that had the energy of paint drying on a warm summers day (Final Score 0-0).

Ciotoli freely admits his match with Lauzon was not an exciting example of his MMA skills and looks forward to exchanging blows with Daley on the Seventeenth. Ciotoli is not taking Daley lightly and points out that his own shortfall is in the standup game. He has only been training striking for two months and feels confident enough to stand up with Daley, but would be much more at home on the ground. I will go in and feel it out, but I can always go to the ground if I have to."

Ryan Ciotoli is a Substitute Teacher as well as a Wrestling Coach at Ithaca College in New York. Please contact MASS MMA if you would like tickets to this event.