Last Friday (March 16), Ground Control Baltimore fighter Binky Jones went to the Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City to take on Jay Estrada in a Ring of Combat lightweight tournament semi-final match.  Jones won the three-round match by unanimous decision over Estrada.  Two judges gave Jones the victory 30-27 and one judge gave Jones the victory 29-28.  According to Jones, in an email after the fight, "It was a pretty good fight [but] my jiu-jitsu was too much for [Estrada]. I hit three beautiful sweeps on him."

Jones goes back to the Tropicana on April 27 to fight in the finals of the Ring of Combat tournament.  His opponent in the finals will be Ian Loveland, a Team Quest fighter, who defeated his semi-final opponent Rich Boine via tapout due to guillotine choke at 1:22 of round one.  Many of you probably know that Team Quest is also home to MMA superstars Randy Couture, Matt Lindland, and Dan Henderson.  Still, Jones promises, "I will be bringing the title back to Baltimore."

In other Ring of Combat news, fellow Ground Control fighter Tenyeh Dixon did not fight in his middleweight bout on Friday.  Dixon was injured during training and withdrew from the fight.