KJ Newswire - February 17th

With no nearby events this weekend, we take a minute to recap the news of the week.

Jim Jenkins has announced his professional MMA Schedule for 2012. In addition to his its already packed amateur dates at the Heart of St. Charles, the Sport Fighting League will also have five dates at the Ameristar Casino in St. Charles. Through a partnership with Rumble Time Promotions, the SFL will be running three MMA-only dates and two Boxing/MMA shows. Dates include: March 16th & December 20th (MMA & Boxing), May 18th, July 27th, and September 28th (MMA).

The card for the March 16th date has been set with six fights:
Dan "Johnny Irish" O'Connor vs Josh "the Loose Cannon" Epps
Colby Tierney vs Bryan "The Beast" Roberts
Brandon McCrary vs "The Hawaiian Stallion" Tex Trismegistus
Sal "The One And Only" Woods vs Garrett Gross

Also on the card is the finals of the Gateway to the Top Tournament. Two Welterweights and two featherweights will be competing for a pro contract.

Hugh "The Wolverine" Pulley vs Kyle Walker
Scott Ettling vs Travis Draper

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Cage Championships announced the main event for their April 7th Pro-Am show in Washington, MO. Jake Collier will be taking on Booker DeRousse in an match-up of two physically imposing individuals. The Spire Light Heavyweight State Title will be decided when undefeated and unstoppable Tony Souders steps into the cage against St. Charles MMA's Brandon Cronin. The winner of this fight gets a 2-fight pro contract with Fight Me MMA. Danny Branson will be facing off against Buddy McGinnis, who brings to the cage an imposing 20-2-2 record, with the Spire State Title on the line. Cage Championships is currently looking for fights for Steve Berger and Barb Honchak. This is shaping up to be a must-see card!

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Next weekend, the Gateway Fight League presents MMA Hostile Takeover. We spoke with matchmaker Adam Merseal and he revealed to us the Main and Co-Main events:

"Our main event will be Mike Green vs James Mottershead for our lightweight title. This is basically the biggest grudge match the St. Louis areas will ever see. They were supposed to fight 3 times in the past, and it never happened. Needless to say, the anger has only
increased.

Our co-main event will be Ronny Harper vs Josh Crouch for our featherweight title. This is a great match because Ronny has something to prove after his tough loss on Saturday. Josh beat him on Faction's first show, now let's see how bad he wants to avenge that loss. Josh is a great fighter and an even more respectable person. I can't think of a better guy to be fighting for one of GFL's titles."

This will be the 8th event for the Gateway Fighting League which features some of the best amateur fighters from Jefferson County and surrounding areas.

Check out the GFL's Facebook page for more information on the card:
http://www.gatewayfight.com

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Spire has moved their 2011 Awards Show to online and will be revealing two winners each day.

Winners announced thus far:
*Scott Combs - Judge of the Year
*Tim Francis - Referee of the Year
*Rob Francis - Representative of the Year
*Dave Davis - Announcer of the Year

Categories yet to be announced include: Team of the Year, Coach of the Year, Fighter of the Year, among others. See the full list of nominees and winners at the Spire website:
http://spiremma.com/?page_id=669