Weekend Preview: February 21st - 22nd

It's an incredibly busy weekend in St. Louis combat sports that features a pro kickboxing, pro boxing, and amateur MMA as well as St Louis' Josh Sampo competing in his second fight in the UFC.

Friday

Tonight at the Heart of St. Charles, Jim Jenkins and the MMA Sport Federation in partnership with WAKO are bringing professional kickboxing back to St. Louis. The card features the pro debuts of Elmir Kulosman and Quinton O'Brien, two local Muay Thai athletes with long decorated amateur careers. Kirk Huff will be taking on Mateo Collazo in the co-main event, and the main event will feature "Dirty" Doug Sauer taking on "Big Jeff Robinson.

Read our full preview here.


Full fight card:
Doug Sauer vs Jeff Robinson
Kirk Huff vs Mateo Collazo
Quinton O'Brien vs Frank Sloan
Elmir Kulosman vs Colton Creason

Cort Wahle vs Jake Duff
Garrett Armfield vs Erion Zekthi
Quentin Garrison vs Bryant Hurt
Nathan Dieckman vs Rodell Thomas
Corey King vs Brandon Jones
Jack Elston vs Anthony Hostetler
Bart Johnson vs Jeff Kankolenski
Matthew Evans vs Jarod Overby
Ethan Miller vs Jackson Jarboe

MMASF Presents: Sauer vs Robinson
Friday, February 21st
Heart of St. Charles - St. Charles, MO
Doors @ 6:30 Fights @ 7:30


Saturday

Sampo, a St. Charles MMA flyweight, will take part in the biggest fight of his career against his toughest opponent to date.

Sampo (11-2) will kick off the prelim card of UFC 170 when he faces 10th ranked Zach Makovsky. The winner of this bout will be thrust into the title contention in the wide-open 125-pound division. The fight will air live on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 7 p.m.

Sampo and Makovsky 17-4 are near mirror images of each other. Both are cerebral and dedicated with decorated college wrestling backgrounds. Both earned wins in their December UFC debuts and both came into the organization as flyweight champs from other organizations; Makovsky in the RFA and Sampo in the CFA.

"(Sampo's) a very talented guy, and, honestly, I think he's the most similar guy to myself that I've ever fought, skill-wise," Makovsky told UFC.com. "It's interesting because we're both going to have similar ideas about where we want the fight to go. It's going to be a clash in every area. I have to control the fight, and that can mean a variety of different things. I have to keep him off balance throughout the fight, and overall, I think I have more advantages than him, and hopefully my speed and movement will be a big factor in controlling the fight."

While they may be equals when it comes to grappling, Sampo could get the nod when it comes to submissions. Neither has been lights out on their feet with a combined one victory between them via knockout or TKO.

Here is our 4-part video feature on Sampo:

Episode 1: Fighting Fun Size
Episode 2: Wrestling is Life
Episode 3: Do the Evolution
Episode 4: Every Fight is Big

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Rumble Time Promotions returns on Saturday with a night of professional and amateur boxing featuring several familiar names to the MMA community. In the main event, Tex Trismegestus will be taking on Mike "Rooster" Wright of Berger's MMA. The two heavyweights have a serious beef, and it will be settled on Saturday.

Making their pro boxing debuts on the evening are Javon Wright from Modern Combat Systems, Alex White from Destruction MMA, and Joe Mueller from Vaghi Martial Arts. Should be a great night of action.

Rumble Time Promotions: Undefeated
Saturday, February 22nd
Ameristar Casino, St. Charles, MO
Doors @ 6 Fights at 7:30

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Last, but not least, Fight Hard MMA returns to the Family Arena on Saturday night. The team from Lake St. Louis have crafted a great looking card featuring some of the area's very best in amateur mixed martial artist. Joaquin Buckley (5-0) will take on Brandon Karcher (7-1) in the main event in a fight that will catapult the winner to the top of the welterweight division in St. Louis.


One of the very best amateurs in the area will also be on display when Aaron Highfill steps into the cage. Fight Hard favorite Ira Lukowsky will be returning from a serious hand injury to take on Levi Rose. Two fighters rebounding from losses will square off when Jesse Farmer and Wes Powers.enter the cage.

Read our full preview here.

Full fight card:
Joaquin Buckley vs. Brandon Karcher
Ira Lukowski vs. Levi Rose
Aaron Highfill vs. Kyle Kurtz
Jesse Farmer vs. Wes Powers
Derek Clardy vs. Montuelle Prater
Matt Murphy vs. Cristian Santana
Kendrick Latchman vs. Erik Newman
Fred Freeman vs. Dan Busch
Michelle Pearce vs. Ronni Lawrence
Dustin Snow vs. Josh Boyer
Jeremy Daniels vs. Korey Smith

Fight Hard MMA
Saturday, February 22nd
Family Arena, St. Charles, MO
Doors @ 5:30 Fights at 7