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Manassas, Woodbridge Fighters Head to Sterling for Premiere Mixed Martial Arts Event Saturday

Northern Virginia's largest and longest-running mixed martial arts (MMA) event returns to Dulles Sportsplex Saturday, for Operation Octagon's 15th card.

Northern Virginia’s largest and longest-running mixed martial arts (MMA) event returns to Dulles Sportsplex Saturday, for Operation Octagon’s 15th card.

In a night packed with title bouts, fighters from all over the DC area and beyond will face off in the cage in Sterling to prove they’re the next warriors who are ready to be stars.  

Operation Octagon promoter Art Sylmar said he has promoted mixed martial arts events in Northern Virginia since January 2008.    Many Operation Octagon competitors have gone on to compete professionally in the M-1 Challenge, Ultimate Warrior Challenge and the sport’s biggest promotion, the Ultimate Fighting Championship—all of which are national or international events. The M-1 event can be seen on Showtime. Other UFC events air on PPV, Spike or Versus.    

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 In Saturday’s main event, amateur fighter Duy Le, who is 5-0 in his career, will face Michael Ledman from the southern Maryland Jiu Jitsu Gym for the 145-pound featherweight title, which was vacated by former champion Casey Watson of Fredericksburg because he’s going pro. 

 Manassas Park and Manassas fans are surely familiar with Le, who won four times at Operation Octagon, and fights out of the Vanguard Gym in Manassas.  Le won his last fight with a triangle choke in the first round, but has gone to close decisions several times.

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 “I’d stick to low-risk stuff because I was fighting not to lose, but my coach (Doug Esposito) wants me to take chances to finish.  I don’t want to leave it to the judges,” Le said. 

  “Fighting for the (featherweight) title gives me the opportunity to prepare for five-minute rounds, like in a professional fight.  Until now, I’ve only fought the usual three-minute amateur rounds,” Le said. 

 He isn’t the only Vanguard Gym fighter with a title on the line Saturday night.  In the co-main event, 155-pound lightweight champ Mike Pope  will be defending his belt against Spencer Strube from Clinch Academy in Frederick, Md.

 Gold Medal Grappling Gym out of Woodbridge, will also have a busy night Saturday with multiple fighters on the card.   Super flyweight Samir Farid will face Brandon Wheeler of Maryland for the 130-pound belt. 

Gold Medal Grappling has a history with Operation Octagon, as it is the home of Ultimate Fighter finalist, Kris McCray, who was the Operation Octagon middleweight champ before he went pro in 2008.  McCray eventually made it all the way to finals on The Ultimate Fighter reality show—the number one show on Spike television—and several Ultimate Fighting Championship promotion cards.   

Willie "No Love" Floyd (4-1 amateur MMA record) from Gold Medal Grappling will face Perrin Carter of West Virginia  in a 170-pound match. Floyd is coming off an impressive technical knock out (TKO) victory in the second round at the last Operaton Octagon event in March. 

 With 18 fights on the card, fans are guaranteed a night of excitement.  Dulles Sportsplex is located at 21610 Atlantic Blvd. in Sterling. The fights will start at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are going fast at operationoctagon.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

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