Spicely, Disciullo impress on preliminary card of “CES MMA XXVII” at Twin River Casino

LINCOLN, R.I. (Jan. 30th, 2015) – Peabody, Mass., featherweight Rico Disciullo and Providence, R.I., middleweight Eric Spicely both remained unbeaten Friday with victories on the preliminary card of “CES MMA XXVII” at Twin River Casino.

In the most entertaining bout of the preliminaries, Disciullo (4-0) earned a 30-27, 29-28, 29-28 unanimous decision win over newcomer Mak Kelleher (0-1) of Selden, N.Y., who made his professional debut. Disciullo came out swinging in the opening round, landing a series of overhand rights, but Kelleher scored a takedown late in the round and closed out the final minute with a flurry of hammerfists.

Saved by the bell in round one, Disciullo opened the second round with back-to-back roundhouse head kicks to catch Kelleher off guard and fought effectively in the third to stave off the hard-charging Kelleher in a bout much closer than the scores indicated.

Spicely improved to 6-0 with his third career submissions, forcing Dover, N.H., native Kevin Haley (3-3) to tap out via heel hook at the 2-minute, 26-second mark of the opening round.

Also on the undercard, Dorchester, Mass., lightweight Andres Jeudi (7-4, 3 KOs) – fighting on just 24 hours notice – stopped veteran Jeff Anderson (11-10) of Pawtucket, R.I., at 2:03 of the opening round with a flurries of lefts and rights, the last one sending Anderson tumbling to the canvas and forcing referee Dan Miragliotta to stop the bout.

Fan-favorite James Murrin (2-2) of South Boston, Mass., had his hands full with scrappy featherweight vet Robert Sullivan (5-3) of Baltimore as Sullivan used his sheer strength to grind out a 29-28, 30-27, 30-27 unanimous decision win. Murrin tried to trade hands with Sullivan, but Sullivan consistently scored takedowns and wore out Murrin with effective ground-and-pound over the first two rounds. Murrin finally had his opportunity late in the third and unleashed a series of overhand rights that stunned Sullivan, but didn’t have enough time to score a knockout and salvage the win.

Flyweight Chris Cole (4-2) of North Attleboro, Mass., also dominated in his bout against East Providence, R.I., native Dan Cormier (4-5), earning a 30-27 unanimous decision win.

The televised portion of “CES MMA XXVII” began at 9 p.m. ET and aired live on AXS TV.