By Darryl G. Smart
Aaron Jeffery went to Florida and conquered.
The local mixed martial artist knocked out Brazil’s Bruno Assis in the third round to record the victory during the Standout Fight Tournament 23 card on Thursday in Wynwood, Fla.
Jeffery used a big right hand to knock Assis down and then followed up with a flurry of punches before the official stopped the fight. The decision, which was his sixth technical knockout, improves Jeffery’s record to 8-2 as a professional, and second in a row after his loss to Brendan Allen during Dana White’s Contender Series Season 3 Episode 4 last July.
Thursday’s fight was his first since defeating Dennis Olsen last August.
Leading up to the fight, Jeffery, who trains out of Niagara Top Team and Oakville’s Para Bellum MMA, told the Cageside Press that training has certainly been different during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s minimized groups right now for sureJeffery said. “None of the gyms are officially open. So it’s kind of like a bunch of the pros kind of figuring out their own times. Minimizing the risk of coming in contact with way too many people you know.
“When all this COVID stuff like initially went down, I was trying to be as safe as I could. And I actually did take about four weeks off training,” he said. “I was just at home and pretty much all I had was like a 50 lb kettlebell, an airdyne bike, a punching bag that I had to hang up on my tractor at home. So yeah that was a sketchy four weeks of training.”