Undefeated LIers Villante, LaFlare get title shots

Before downloading mp3s exploded on the scene, people bought cassettes. Before texting, people actually made phone calls.

And before reaching the UFC or Strikeforce or even "The Ultimate Fighter" reality show, mixed martial artists must first make (and break) their bones in smaller, regional promotions.

Which brings us to the story of Gian Villante and Ryan LaFlare, a pair of undefeated fighters from Long Island with title shots at Ring of Combat 28 in Atlantic City on Friday.

"It's a stepping stone," said LaFlare, 26, of Lindenhurst. "It's not going to change the way I approach the sport. This is not where I want to be. I don't want to stop here just being the champion of Ring of Combat. I want to take it to Strikeforce or the UFC."

LaFlare (4-0) faces Justin Haskins for the welterweight title, and Villante (5-0) fights Bret Kohan for the heavyweight belt at the Tropicana.

This is just the beginning for Villante, a former wrestler and football player at MacArthur High School and Hofstra University. Heck, he's still getting used to the basic nuances of his new sport. Two years ago, he was chasing the NFL dream with the Jets. Now, it's wrestling and striking at Bellmore Kickboxing MMA and Brazilian jiu-jitsu at D'Arce Jiu-Jitsu in Bay Shore.

"My first fight, I went at it like a kickoff," said Villante, the 2002 Thorp Award winner as Nassau's best football player. "Thank God it was over in 35 seconds."

For a state champion wrestler, adjusting to being on your back isn't easy. "The ultimate sin," Villante calls it. Force of habit compels him to work to get to his feet. At 6-2, 225 pounds, he's very good at maneuvering around similarly large men. That's the discipline learned from years of wrestling.

In five pro fights, Villante has four knockouts, including three in the first round. He's big, he's agile and he's not afraid.

"My goal, to speak frankly, is to create as much pain as possible," Villante, 24, said. "That's why I'm going to try to punch people and knock people out."

That aggression is more controlled now inside the cage. More manageable. More in step with his the fists and mind.

"With each fight, they're getting more composed," said trainer Keith Trimble, who also trained fellow Long Island pros Phil Baroni and Jay Hieron. "You can see as they fight, they see things. They're picking shots now, not just swinging wild. They're not just kicking to kick. Each fight, they're growing. Ryan and Gian, I firmly believe one day, they can make it somewhere."

LaFlare, an all-county wrestler for Lindenhurst High School in 2000, got started with mixed martial arts after - get this - injuring himself snowboarding. Cracked ribs, ruptured spleen, punctured lung. He was wrestling for Nassau CC at the time.

"Pretty much changed my whole life around," LaFlare said. "I really had to start thinking about what I was going to do. I'm not invincible."

In the cage so far, however, LaFlare has been unbeatable. He has two wins by submission and two by knockout, with three of his fights ending in the first round.

One advantage LaFlare has is his training partner - Villante. LaFlare gives up roughly 40 pounds to Villante. That only makes LaFlare work harder to be successful in practice. And if you're tussling with 225 pounds of meat on a daily basis, that's going to make a 170-pounder on fight night feel like a slider.

"I feel like if I roll with him, the guys I go against, there's no way they're going to put it on me like he did," LaFlare said. "It's like swinging with a weighted baseball bat. When you go out there, you're going to hit some home runs."