Former ROC champ to make UFC debut
(Long Island, NY., September 24, 2016) – Today, Long Island will welcome another up-and-coming prospect to the UFC. Gregor “The Gift” Gillespie will make his UFC debut at UFC Fight Night 95 in Brazil.
A veteran of the ROC (Ring of Combat), Gillespie will bring his perfect professional MMA record (7-0) to the Nilson Nelson Gymnasium in Brasilia, Brazil, against Glaico Franca (13-4) in a clash of hot prospects in a lightweight bout.
The fight, scheduled for September 24, 2016, is a day Gillespie has been looking forward to for a long time. After winning his first fight at ROC 47 on January 24, 2014, the 29-year-old hasn’t missed a beat, stringing seven-consecutive wins to begin his career. More impressively, the All-American High School wrestler has defended his lightweight belt in the Ring of Combat not once, but twice, after winning the vacant title in June of 2015.
Gillespie, who trains out of Bellmore Kickboxing Academy, is a two-time New York state high school wrestling champion (Webster Schroeder) and a former NCAA Division I national champion and four-time All-American at Edinboro University.
After graduating college, the Wantagh resident volunteered as an assistant coach at Hofstra, where he started to make MMA connections. Soon after taking a grappling class at Long Island MMA, Gillespie fell in love with the sport of mixed martial arts and turned it into a successful career.
There were setbacks though, as Gillespie broke his arm in 2012 right before his first scheduled MMA fight, which turned into a staph infection and delayed his pro debut till 2014. It didn’t stop his will and desire to live out his dream to become a professional MMA fighter, though. On the cold night of January 24, 2014, Gillespie defeated Kenny Gaudreau via TKO at the 1:38 mark of round one in his debut and hasn’t looked back.
Now on September 24, Gillespie will make his UFC debut and try to further his already inspiring MMA career.
MMA Long Island Magazine is published by MMA New York Media Corporation. For more information please visit www.mmalongislandmagazine.com or call (516) 318-2418.
Photo credit: mmamania.com
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