NFA: Fight Before Christmas

With St. Louis' final event of the calendar year, Brad Cary and Co. venture into the professional ranks on December 15.

Since bringing back the Nemesis Fighting Alliance in April, Brad and partner Marlene Kelly have jumped feet first into the St. Louis MMA scene with successful events in April and August. The pair will don the Professional Fight Promoter hat with "T'Was the Fight Before Christmas" being their debut pro event.

Headlining the Casa Loma Ballroom event is a light heavyweight main event featuring Julius Anglickas taking on "The Black Spartan" Rashid Abdullah. Abdullah made a bit of a name for himself in local circles in the early days of the Fight Hard promotion with memorable fights with Sal Woods and Benny Alloway. Now fighting out of Texas, Abdullah hasn't competed in the Gateway City since 2012. St. Charles MMA's Anglickas should have a noticeable height and reach advantage over Abdullah, and at 4-1 as a pro, has to be considered the favorite. This will be Anglickas' third fight of the year after unable to get a fight in 2017.

BJJ black belt Andrew "Mop" Ebers will be back in the cage and is matched against the always-dangerous KJ Jones. This will be only the second pro fight for Ebers, the head coach of the Wolves' Den in Wentzville, who will join several of his students on the card. Jones was submitted in his professional debut in September against Colin Parr, which should be a concern as Ebers is primarily known for his grappling prowess. While Ebers may have the edge on the ground, Jones has been in the game for a long time, and will get stronger the longer the fight goes.

One of the area's best, young kickboxers will be on display when Drew Gigax out of Jermain Andre's Academy takes on Kevin Brown in a pro kickboxing match. Gigax is tall with brutal kicks and will be more than a challenge for the 32-year old Kevin Brown. Brown has primarily competed in MMA, and will look to out maneuver Gigax in a striking only affair.

The re-do of a highly anticipated amateur bout will be featured the main card. Kevin Roper and Orlando Sanders will tangle, this time hoping for better results. An inadvertent eye poke and subsequent doctor's stoppage in the August Nemesis event robbed the fans of a potential barn burner of a main event. Sanders had been dominant for the Cage Champs promotion winning over grapplers Khris Gonzales and Nathan Stearns with Roper being his biggest challenge to date.

Rounding out the main card is an amateur lightweight match-up featuring Alex Macius taking on Zach Burcham.

On the preliminary card, keep an eye out on a kickboxing match-up between Brandon Beatty and Willie Henderson. Beatty, out of the Wolves' Den, has potential and is fun to watch. Beatty and Henderson are on of three amateur kickboxing match-ups on the under card.

Full card: (Subject to change)

Rashid Abdullah vs Julius Anglickas
Andrew Ebers vs KJ Jones
Drew Gigax vs Kevin Brown - Kickboxing
Kevin Roper vs Orlando Sanders
Alex Macius v Zach Burcham

Brandon Beatty vs Willie Henderson - Kickboxing
Matt Tull vs Oscar Ahuatzi
Daniel "Patrick" Keao vs Tyler Horton - Kickboxing
Randy Hawkins vs Bryan Barkau
Lillie Helton vs Stormi Kilgore - Grappling

William Monroe vs TBA
Aaron Fahr vs Trevor Barnes
Tiffany Moriarty vs Karen Simincelli - Kickboxing
Daniel Liberson vs Nick Beck
Samuel Fragoza vs John Brennan
Thad Roush vs TBA
Tim Stockman vs Terry Copling
Keegan Irish vs John Meyer

NFA: T'Was the Fight Before Christmas
Saturday, December 15th
Casa Loma Ballroom, St. Louis, MO