Fight Night Preview: March 7th

In just a matter of hours, the bell will ring and punches will be thrown.

St. Louis fans will have their eyes set on two shows separated by roughly 450 miles.

Local fight promotion, Shamrock FC will be returning to their marquee venue at the River City Casino with a high-profile main event, and several excellent undercard matches.

In the marquee bout, Lucas Gwaltney from Streeter, IL will travel into town to take on former Ultimate Fighter cast member and local kickboxing prodigy Adam Cella.

Gwaltney made no secret of what he plans to do in this excellent interview by KJ Editor Brett Auten.

"I cant say I am an amazing technician," Gwaltney said. "I'm kinda old school. I'm there to brawl and sometimes I get away with it."

Stylistically this match-up will make for an exciting stand-up affair when the more technical and acclaimed striker Cella taking on a tough as nails, brawler in Gwatleny.

We spoke to Cella late last week and he is looking well prepared for the encounter, mixing it up with some of the area's best strikers including UFC welterweight Tyron Woodley, and local boxing superstar Ryan Coyne.

Here is what he had to say:



One match sure to try and steal the show will be a battle between gritty striker Jake Buehler taking on "The General" Scott Futrell. Buehler has faced some seriously tough competition in his last few fights including amateur stud Jake Roberts, hard hitting wolverine Kyle Walker, and most recently a returning Joel Blair. Buehler has been painfully close to winning his bouts, but come up short each time, he's much better than his record would suggest. Futrell is on a 6-fight winning streak going back to his amateur career, and made a successful pro-debut last January for Shamrock against Blair. Local stand-out Aaron Highfill is the last person to hang a loss on Futrell.

Check out Bob Barton's weigh-in photos for Shamrock FC: Victory.

Here is the full card:

Adam Cella vs Lucas Gwaltney
Jake Constant vs Malcolm Smith
Tyler Claussen vs Cory Hauter
Scott Futrell vs Jake Buehler
Bo Smith vs Sean Woodson

Brandon Nehls vs TJ Casey
Marissa Smith vs Melissa Smith
Ryan Dennis vs Mark Kirkland
Suzie Wyatt vs Krystal Hertel
Jason Huncovsky vs Zack Gerullis
Ryan Jones vs Dan Uhlenbrock
Tyler Madding vs Montrell James
Armin Dubinovic vs Mike Pulley

Shamrock FC: Victory
River City Casino & Hotel - St. Louis, MO
Doors @ 6:30 | Fights @ 7:30

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If your'e not attending shamrock, then you'll want to tune in to AXS TV at 9PM as three St. Louisans are going to battle in Lincoln, NE highlighted by the co-main event battle featuring Andrew Sanchez and Miles Marshall.

Many believe Sanchez to be one of the next local athletes to be signed by the UFC, and if he has a strong showing tonight in Lincoln, it will be hard to argue. Ask anyone that has trained with Sanchez and you will find he is considered to have the best ground game in the area. His striking has continued to improve and his coaches feel all of the pieces have finally fallen into place.

We followed Sanchez to a couple of his training sessions and got this great interview with "El Dirte"



Also on the card is another local favorite, Chris Heatherly.

The RFA is Heathery's biggest fight to date, an opportunity he doesn't want to miss. He had this to say in an article we ran earlier this week.

"The RFA has become a hotbed. I think they have had six of their main event winner's sign with the UFC. It gives you a good outlook for the future. It's a great opportunity to put on a show."

In the weigh-in photos for RFA 13, there is an obvious height advantage to Heatherly's opponent, but lets not forget Heatherly's fight with Josh Tulley last August, a fight where Tulley towered over the smaller, victorious Heatherly.

Heatherly was originally to be joined by fellow Cahokia native EJ Brooks, but an unfortunate injury late last week to Brooks' opponent has forced the bout to be scratched.

A late addition of Tony Souders to the card adds even more local flair to the RFA card.

KJ Editor Brett Auten will be in attendance, expect a full recap, and more on Saturday.

Televised main card:

Dakota Cochrane vs. Efrain Escudero
Miles Marshall vs. Andrew Sanchez
Chris Heatherly vs. Chidi Njokuani
Dan Moret vs. Luke Sanders
T.J. Hepburn vs. Ryan Shell
Austin Lyons vs. Darrick Minner

Resurrection Fighting Alliance 13
Live on AXS TV
Show starts at 9PM

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Also, don't forget, Glory returns to Spike TV on Saturday. The headling bout is the return of Mirko Crocop taking on Dutch striking legend Remy Bonjasky. Springfield's Dustin Jacoby will also be on this action packed card. Consequently, Jacoby is the only man to hand Andrew Sanchez a defeat in MMA.

Glory 14: Crocop vs Bonjasky
Live on SpikeTV
Show starts at 8PM