Lamotte to fight in Boston Thursday

Well known around the world for hosting the Boston Ballet’s production of “The Nutcracker,” the Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theatre has been part of the fine arts scene in the Hub since 1925.
On Thursday, the historical theatre will host a completely different type of arts -- mixed martial arts -- when Bellator Fighting Championships and Manchester’s Nate Lamotte come to town for Bellator XVII.
It will be the first nationally-televised mixed martial arts event in the Bay State since the Massachusetts State Athletic Commission sanctioned the sport in March. Four fights from the event will be aired live on Comcast SportsNet.
“We’re thrilled to be the first major group bringing MMA to Boston,” said Bjorn Rebney, chief executive officer of Bellator. “I’m thrilled. I think it will be a magical event.”
The Wang Theatre was chosen because of an alliance Bellator has with Madison Square Garden Entertainment, which handles the booking for the venue. The alliance is for four events, two at the Wang and two at the Chicago Theatre. The second show at the Wang will take place in late summer.
Rebney said he was amazed at the beauty of the Wang and feels it will be a great venue for MMA. Bellator has used what Rebney described as “cool, electrifying, unique settings” for its events including an outdoor show last Thursday from the Kansas City Power and Light District.
Lamotte, a Manchester Memorial High School graduate whose MMA resume features a four-second knockout win, will take on Chuck O’Neil of Bridgewater, Mass., in one of the fights that won’t be shown live.
A Bellator spokesman said the doors open at 7 p.m. and the live broadcast begins at 8 p.m. Lamotte should fight at about 7:20 p.m. Bellator also has a contract with NBC, which airs a highlight show late night on Saturdays.
“It’s going to be awesome,” Lamotte said. “It’s about time Massachusetts fully realized (the sport’s potential) and is bringing in the bigger shows.”
Rebney said there is a recruiting process that takes place for the local fighters. A Bellator representative searches for “great names” and “ticket sellers who can perform at a high level,” and Lamotte fit that description.
Lamotte, 26, is 11-5 and has won three of his last four matches including a first-round submission of Davin Wesinger on March 27.
He has been working out about six hours a day, seven days a week to get ready for the fight.
“I’ve been working hard,” Lamotte said. “It’s been good though.”
One thing Lamotte has been working on is making his game more rounded. He has a background in wrestling and karate. Now he is also being trained by a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu coach, a staple for most MMA fighters.
“I feel more complete,” Lamotte said.
The capacity of the Wang is 3,600 people, which Lamotte said would be the second largest crowd he has fought in front of. In 2006 he fought in front of about 8,000 people at the IZOD Center in New Jersey.
The amount of people doesn’t matter to Lamotte, however. He said once he gets into the cage he is able to block everything else out.
“To tell you the truth, once you get into the ring you don’t see anything else,” Lamotte said. “You train that long to focus on one person.”
And that one person just happens to be somebody Lamotte knows pretty well. He said O’Neil has come up to the MMA school Lamotte owns in Manchester and the two have sparred for his students. Lamotte said the MMA community in New England is small, and every fighter knows each other.
Still, Lamotte is positive the bond the two have won’t hinder his ability to land a blow to O’Neil’s chin if need be.
“It’s a job and he’s in the way of another paycheck,” Lamotte said.
It could be more than just another paycheck for Lamotte. The fight in Boston is more of an audition. Rebney said local fighters who perform well could get “high on the list” for a Bellator contract. He said if Lamotte fights well, he will likely be invited back for the second show in the late summer, and if he does well there it could mean a spot on the Bellator roster.
“It’s a vital part of taking people out of the local market and bringing them to the national one,” Rebney said.
Two of the four fights that will be shown live are the semifinals of an eight-man tournament in the lightweight division. The other two televised matches feature Bellator fighters. They will be book ended by the four local fights, two before and two after.
The televised fight card includes Eddie Alvarez vs. Josh Neer, Roger Huerta vs. Pat Curran, Carey Vanier vs. Toby Imada and Cole Konrad vs. Pat Bennett.
The local fight card includes Lamotte vs. O’Neil, Dan Bonnell vs. Josh Laberge, Greg Rebello vs. John Clarke and Nate Kittredge vs. Justin Torrey.