By Jeff D'Andrea

Eccentric American replacement to fight in Hard Knocks main event

Jul 19, 2012 | 6:04 AM

Elias Cepeda is quite the character.

Quirky and goofy mannerisms to go along with his long unkempt hair gives him a look more suited for a head-banging rock star rather than a mixed martial artist.

But, he didn’t travel more than 2,200 kilometres from Chicago, Ill. to get beat at the School of Hard Knocks 26 MMA event Thursday at the Art Hauser Centre.

Upon La Ronge fighter Barrett Thompson’s recent rib injury, Cepeda accepted the fight with less than two weeks to prepare and finds himself in the main event against La Ronge’s Devon Smith, who’s the Hard Knocks heavyweight champion.

Wednesday afternoon shortly after the weigh-ins were complete at the Stellar Gear MMA shop in the Gateway Mall, Cepeda wandered back from the food court into the store with a tray of Taco Time tacos and Mexican fries.

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He needed to nourish himself after cutting some weight to get under the light heavyweight 205 pound maximum, where he and Smith will fight at Thursday.

“That’s why I’m eating some really healthy tater tots right now, to replenish the vitamins with fat and fried stuff,” said Cepeda with a smile. “Yeah, I cut a little bit (of weight), but I feel good.”

Cepeda knows his way around the octagon as he’s also a writer and blogger on MMA website CagePotato.com. Days before his first amateur fight May 23 in Merrionette Park, Ill., his readers gave him the nickname “The Filet-of-Fish Assassin” after CagePotato.com uploaded a picture of him holding a McDonald’s double Filet-O-Fish sandwich.

Fuelled by his fast food diet, Cepeda beat his opponent Glenn Evans that night in a first round TKO, an impressive performance for his first and only amateur fight. Despite his knowledge and early successes in the sport, Cepeda knows it will be a tough fight against Smith.

Smith is the Hard Knocks heavyweight champion, has a 4-1 amateur record and can finish fights by strikes or submissions. He knocked out Wade Baldwin in just eight seconds with a vicious left hook in Estevan Oct. 22, 2011, then won the heavyweight belt over Derek Daku by a guillotine submission on June 1, also in Estevan.

“I know he hits hard; I know he’s the heavyweight champ. He won last month by guillotine so he’s really well rounded, he’s won by knockout and submission,” said Cepeda. “I know he’s bigger than me, he fought last month at 222 so I know he had to cut for this.

“He’s a big strong kid, he has more ring experience than me. I’ve see a few of his fights, he looks tough, man.”

When asked about his strategy heading into the fight, Cepeda gave a very eccentric answer that not only allowed him to keep his tactics to himself, but a chance to have some fun as well.

“I’m going to try to come to a truce before the fight and avoid it altogether,” said Cepeda, succeeding in his attempt to keep a straight face. “I’ll send some envoys from my corner to his corner and see what we can work out in advance.

“It seems like the safest strategy.”

If Smith has his way, he’ll reject the requests of Cepeda’s envoys and stand toe-to-toe, keeping the fight standing up.

Smith sees Cepeda as more of a kickboxer, but the American did show off his sprawling and ground skills in his ground-and-pound TKO win.

“That’s the game plan,” said Smith. “It looks like he has a similar reach to me so there’s some risk involved, but stand up is where I want to be.”

Going toe-to-toe has made Smith very successful in this sport. His only loss was his first amateur fight against Barrett Thompson, who dominated the fight on the ground. Smith won’t have the chance to avenge his lone loss against the 3-2 Thompson due to his rib injury, something Smith was looking forward to.

“I was really excited when that fight got announced, I was training hard for it and it sucked when I found out he got injured,” said Smith. “There will be other opportunities, we’ll wait it out.

“People get injured, hopefully our time will come.”

Smith also admitted he was feeling some tension heading into the fight. Knowing he’s the heavyweight champion, Smith feels he has to win the non-title light heavyweight bout as well.

“With this being my light heavyweight debut with Hard Knocks, there’s a lot on the line,” said Smith. “Especially with being the heavyweight champ, if I lose a light heavyweight fight, my opponent will know oh, two more pounds and he can beat the heavyweight champ in that division.”

“There’s a lot of pressure to succeed in this one.”

Prince Albert’s LDP Martial Arts gym will be sending four of its fighters out to the event with Brad Campbell, Brendan Mooney, Adam Basaraba and Luke Benoit all making their amateur debuts.

Campbell will take on La Ronge’s Tyrone Halkett at 145 pounds, Mooney will fight Winnipeg’s Brad Lammy, Basaraba will take on Mitch Pearson from Kenora, ON at 170 pounds and Benoit will fight Stanley Mission’s Chad Halkett at 135 pounds.

Former UFC Fighter Jesse Bongfeldt will not be fighting, but will send four athletes from his gym, United Fighter MMA in Kenora. Along with Pearson, Nic Grandbois, Jordan O’Connor, Hayden Bye and Dave Sternberg will be fighting.

See the full card here.

The fight starts at 7 p.m. at the Art Hauser Centre, with doors opening at 6 p.m.

jdandrea@panow.com

Twitter: @jeff_dandrea