CAGE TITANS PRESS RELEASE

Cage Titans Fighting Championships

January 25th, 2014

Plymouth Memorial Hall

Cage Titans comes back to Plymouth Memorial Hall for the first event of 2014 on Saturday, January 25th. The fight card will be headlined with local #2 ranked heavyweight Juliano ’Banana’ Coutinho out of CCFA Wareham/Daniel Gracie Academy taking on John Orr fighting out of Kansas City, Missouri. Banana, a Daniel Gracie BJJ Blackbelt and head BJJ instructor/owner of Daniel Gracie Academy in Hyannis as well as BJJ instructor at Sityodtong Boston and CCFA Wareham, had a tremendous 2013 campaign going 3-0 on the year with 2 of those victories coming via TKO/KO. He pretty much cleaned out the division of heavyweights in New England and is looking to follow-up with an equally as impressive 2014, kicking things off in the new year with another victory. With no other New England heavyweights available, Bellator veteran John Orr stepped up to square off with Banana but surely is not traveling over 3,000 miles round trip to lay down for the local. The heavy-handed kickboxer, Orr, definitely comes to bang and it shows as all 6 of his professional victories have come via TKO/KO, four of which happened in the first round. This match-up is sure to produce fireworks and alone will be worth the price of admission that night. As for the Co-Main Event, two of the top 10 flyweights will battle it out in hopes of moving up the rankings ladder in New England. #5 ranked Billy Giovanella out of Connors MMA will take Tom Balzano fighting out of Team Irish. Billy is a former state champion wrestler who has certainly taken that base and built off of that showing huge progression in all areas of his game. Coming out of his amateur career in 2011 as one of the area’s top prospects, he started his pro career in 2012 rattling off 4 wins in a row before suffering his first loss. Tom Balazano is listed as 1-2 as a professional mma fighter and comes in looking to spoil the top ranked fighters plans of moving up in rank. The flyweight division is known for fast-paced action and these two guys will certainly deliver and be leaving it all in the cage on the 25th.

Also in action, Erin ‘Fun Size’ Cooney and Shannon ‘Lil Ninja’ Harney will both be making their pro debuts against one another. Both these ladies squared off last event in October with Cooney coming away victories via ref stoppage in the first round. Before Harney had even made it out of the cage, she was asking for an immediate rematch stating that she was poked in the eye, causing her to cover up prior to the ref jumping in. Cooney vehemently denies that claim and says that it was her fist causing the damage resulting in the finish. So with the recent addition of the 115lb division in the UFC and upcoming season of TUF at that weight, both girls wanted to start their pro careers off right away and thought there would be no better way than to do it against one another and settle it once and for all! In addition, Ryan White from South Shore Sportfighting will face off with Jesse Merrit out of Team Anubis in a pro catchweight bout at 175. Two Cage Titans veterans, Jesse was last scene in July putting on a striking clinic en route to an unanimous decision victory and Ryan was last seen last January picking up a first round armbar win. This fight should be an interesting battle as Jesse will pair his athleticism and boxing background against Ryan and his kickboxing and BJJ.

Be sure to follow along on the Cage Titans FC Fan Page for breaking fight announcements, specific match-up highlights and interviews that will be released every day leading up the event.