Cage Championships 54 - Preview

It's been a while since Sullivan has hosted pro fights. Thirty seven months to be exact.

On Friday, Cage Championships is bringing them back.

Patrick Smith has carved out a niche for himself and has consistently put on shows southwest of St. Louis. Since Chris Heatherly defeated Sal Woods at Cage Champs 40, its last pro show, Smith and Co. have put on 13 amateur events. Smith recently partnered up with Rumble Time and brought national MMA promotion RFA to the Chase Park Plaza for a live event on AXSTV.

While the main and co-main events for Friday have yet to be decided in bout order, all four of the pro main card fights are featuring fighters returning from their RFA debut last August.

Adam Osmoe impressed many with his performance against Jimmy Donahue at RFA 28 and garnered comparisons to Matt Hughes by the commentators, including Hughes' former coach Pat Militech. Osmoe looked to be in a bit of trouble early but slammed his way out of a deep triangle, even raising his opponent above the cage to free himself from the submission. Osmoe now sits at 3-0 and a few more wins could find the young lightweight out of Hillsboro, IL landing a full time gig with RFA. As of press time, Cage Champs is still looking to land an opponent for Osmoe.

Osmoe will face Tyrone Paige out of Batesville, Arkansas. Paige defeated Christian Camp in November and has KO power with two to his credit in five fights.

Joining Osmoe on the card is Travis Draper out of St. Charles MMA. Draper last competed at RFA 28 in August and took home a split decision victory over Joey Valadez. The win over Valadez helped Draper bounce back after the first loss of his career. Like Osmoe, Draper (3-1) is needing to add a few more wins to his resume to launch himself into a big contract with a national promotion.

Colby Tierney, a popular local patrolman, is back in action. Tierney lost to middleweight prospect Ty Flores at RFA 28, but a win over opponent Chris Beal Friday would improve Tierney to an impressive 4-2. Tierney has been seen around Cage Champs often as the promotions' referee for the amateur fights.

The reigning Spire Lightweight State title holder, Dakota, Bush will make his professional debut.

Bush defeated Derek Clardy at RFA 28 to win the title. With a new addition to his family, Bush took five months off. Bush will face Matto Callazo, who is also making his professional MMA debut. Callazo mixed it up with Kirk Huff in a pro Muay Thai match in 2014 but has yet to step into the MMA cage as a pro.

On the undercard, look for what should be an exciting match between Ross Campbell and Josh Mitchell. Campbell is an exciting young fighter and has dominated the southern half of the state. He lost to Andrew Wiltse in August what was selected as the 2015 Amateur Fight of the Year. Look for this to be a rebound fight for Campbell who will most likely turn pro before the end of the year.

Josh Augustine returns to action and is moving up a weight class. Augustine is a BJJ blue belt out of St. Charles MMA and will face Nick Wilyard. Ben Roy, another out of St. Charles MMA, is taking his first MMA fight against Colby Gammon.

Fight card:

Adam Osmoe vs Tyrone Paige
Travis Draper vs Joe Roye
Colby Tierney (3-2) vs Chris Beal (0-3)
Matteo Callazo vs Dakota Bush (0-0)

Montel Washington vs TBA
Alex Macius vs TBA
Josh Mitchell vs Ross Campbell
Nick Wilyard vs Josh Augustine
Matt Mattheson vs TBA
Jeff Heflin vs LC Hamid
Kolten Siebert vs Mike Hulsey
Derick Scott vs Tim Est
Colby Gammon vs Ben Roy

Cage Championships 54
Friday, January 15th
Big Eagles Hall, Sullivan, MO