NFA: Night of Fire - Card Announced

With the Black Cat Bash clearly in the rearview, the Nemesis Fighting Alliance are returning to the Farmington Convention Center for "Night of Fire".

Never afraid to be different, BeeJay Smith and company mixing things up with their next show. In addition to 10-12 amateur K1 and MMA fights, St. Louis-based, alternative band Greek Fire will be performing immediately following the fisticuffs.

The band Greek Fire is made up of former members of the band Story of the Year, and had their first break through single "Doesn't Matter Anyway" in late 2010. This spring they released their second full-length album entitled Lost/Found.

The main event for Night of Fire will feature a battle of two of the area's best light heavyweights with the winner being crowned NFA champion.

"Tony Souders had a very impressive victory against Chris Heatherly last year," NFA's Smith said. "The NFA didn't have a 205 title available. With the debut of the 205 title we see it fit for Tony to be the first one in there."

Souders, no stranger to the title matches, started his career with a blistering 7-0 before dropping his first loss to Brandon Cronin in last year's 205-pound state title. Souders dominated most of the first round with superior striking almost completely closing Cronin's right eye. The second round saw Cronin return to his forte' and he took the fight the ground and eventually ended it with an armbar.

"Most 205ers have went down to '85 or up to cruiser-weight " Smith said. "The man who wanted fight title or not was Bil Dwyer. So fighting for the NFA lightweight title will be Tony Souders and Bil Dwyer."

Facing Souders will be Bil Dwyer from Defiance MMA. Dwyer has fought the majority of his fights for NFA, including last April's main event against Tom Baker. Dwyer hits hard, but Baker was able to neutralize Dwyer's strengths by taking the fight to the ground. He'll look to keep the fight standing and make use of his fight-ending power.

The co-main event will feature another pair of light heavyweights with the winner getting a shot at the NFA title at the next event. Tom "Taz" Baker (7-2) recently changed up his training by moving his camp to the Vaghi school in Fenton. Baker, an already exceptional grappler, now trains under the watchful eye of recently promoted 5th stripe black belt, Rodrigo Vaghi. He steps into the cage with opponent Jonathan Stotler.

Stotler (7-2) trains out of River City MMA in Soulard and has slowly improved becoming one of the area's best amateur lightheavy/cruiser-weight fighters.

Destruction's Daniel Schaab had his opponent pull out on him at the last minute at Black Cat Bash, but won't have that problem against a very tough Andrew Decker from Fearless Combat Academy. Decker was victorious recently against Tim Mantle at the February Rumble Time event at Ameristar Casino.

Here is the full card announced thus far:
Tony Souders vs Bil Dwyer - Main Event
Tom Baker vs Jonathan Stotler
Andrew Decker vs Daniel Schaab
Nathan Whited vs Kelly Burch - K1
Leo Lerner vs Travis kelly
John Bucholtz vs Dennis Moore
Lucas Clay vs Evan Elder - K1
BJ Warden vs Dustin Shannon
LaShaun Davis vs Eddie Martin

Tickets are available from CageTix.com