Cage Championships 50 - Event Preview

Cage Championships turns 50 in November. To celebrate, Patrick Smith and company have put together a card that honors the hay days of the promotion when Lance Benoist, Eric Irvin, Matt Ricehouse, and others ran roughshod over the competition.

Headlining the Nov. 8 event is the new Cage Champs golden boy Denver Sells.

Sells will have arguably his toughest challenge to date when Ty Flores, from nearby Berger's MMA accepts the challenge. Sells - from the Smith Pit - has been molded from the same cauldron of blood and sweat that has saw teammate Jake Collier dominate the regional MMA circuit before getting national attention with a RFA championships and immediate call-up from the UFC.

Cage Champs matchmakers searched far and wide for a suitable opponent for Sells, who seemingly had no one willing to fight him. Flores, who gained experience in Florida, is fresh off a quick stoppage over Jesse Farmer at the October Fight Hard event, and now sits at 8-1.

Flores brings a host of challenges to the cage with him for Sells. Flores is as tall if not taller than Sells, and would appear to have a more evolved ground game. Sells thus far has relied on raw athleticism to dominate opponents and lure them into brawling where he ultimately finishes via TKO.

Bantamweight Matthew Nall is having quite a year, knocking off the highly touted Cristian Santana and taking Spire No. 1 ranked Charles Johnson to a decision. A win over Derek Clardy will cap off a notable 2014 for Nall, who is out of Salem. Clardy who is soft spoken outside of the cage, but underneath his silence lies a strong punch.

Clardy's teammate, Fred Freeman, looks to stay active when he takes on Billy Kreup. Freeman has had flashes of brilliance in 2014 and has shown steady improvement. He is coming off loosing a split decision recently to Scott Ettling. Freeman was in the cage at Cage Champs 49 when he faced Dakota Bush and looked great up until the rear naked choke submission from Bush.

One fight that will surely have fans on their feet a flyweight match-up between the youngest of the Newman brothers, Erik, taking on Aaron Harvey from the Academy of Courage.

Both fighters like to get after it, and you would be hard pressed to find someone scrappier than Newman. Harvey has won two straight and will be a good test.

On the under card, keep an eye out for Kwade Nash vs Dan Uhlenbrock. Nash is coming off of a pretty severe injury in April. He'll take on the AoC's Uhlenbrock who has a 3-2 record against some tough guys.

Full fight card:
Denver Sells vs Ty Flores - Spire 185 Sectional Title
Derek Clardy vs Matthew Nall - Spire 135 Regional Title
Fred Freeman vs Billy Kreup - CC 145 Title
Erik Newman vs Aaron Harvey - CC 125 Title

Josh Boyer vs Donte Butler
Jerome Young vs Brandon Carter
Colten Carmack vs TBA
Johnathan Graves vs Glenn Zogg
Cortavoius Romious vs Alejandro Socorro
Kwade Nash vs Dan Uhlenbrock
Mimi Kutzin vs TBA - K1
Lucas Ballinger vs Kevin Green - K1
Matthew Evans vs Arlandis Henderson - K1

Cage Championships 50
Big Eagles Hall, Sulilvan, MO
Saturday, November 8th