On Saturday, March 25th fighters from all across the region will converge on Grayson County high school in Independence for the Titans of the Cage #19 MMA event. Doors will open at 5:00 P.M. and the hard-hitting action inside the cage will begin promptly at 6:00 P.M.
The Titans of the Cage #19 card is slated for eighteen (18) mixed martial arts bouts, including five (5) title bouts where TOC championship belts are on the line, along with three (3) bouts that will determine the #1 contender in their respective weight divisions.  In the Main Event of the evening it will be Jeromy “pretty boy†Mitchell of Advantage martial arts in Princeton, WV taking on Dustin “the redneck romeo†Davis of team decimation for the featherweight title. Three fighters representing Southwest Martial Arts Academy of Wytheville will be attempting to claim titles, when Micah Sheffey fights for the lightweight belt, Tyler “ace†Cardwell fights for the light heavyweight belt and Ray Ray “say it twice†Holston goes for the TOC flyweight belt.
Sheffey will face Ray Kahler of Halifax Fight team, Cardwell takes on Chris Hamlett of Christiansburg, while Holston will do battle with Jake Barnett of Big Stone Gap.
Other local fighters will be testing their skills with Jeremy “backwoods†Caviness of the backyard brawlers team out of Hillsville defending his middleweight title against Cody Prior of Covington. Chase Long, Will Lilly, Aaron Kell, Stacy Dalton and Michael Shupe, all fighting out of Southwest Martial Arts in Wytheville will be in action on this card. Long will fight to become the #1 contender in the middleweight division, while Lilly and Kell will be making their MMA debuts. Evan Lineberry of Hillsville takes on Jeff Carico of Roanoke.
Several teams from around the region will be represented including Absolute Jiu-Jitsu of Bristol, TN, Round 30 of Roanoke, Advantage Martial arts of Princeton, WV, Southwest Martial Arts Academy (Team SWMA) of Wytheville, Team Rock Bottom of Danville, Backyard Brawlers of Hillsville, Team Enigma of Bristol, Halifax fight team of Halifax, Kanpichit super rhino muay thai out of Clarksville, Team Decimation of Wytheville, Battleground Martial arts and Asheboro school of martial arts.
Ring girls for the event will be Keyona Miller of Lynchburg and Maggie Borchrevink of Independence. Tickets are available at www.titansofthecage.com . Tickets will also be available at the early weigh-ins event which will be held on Friday, March 24th at the Italian Garden Restaurant on Spring St. in Wytheville from 6:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. The weigh-in event is free and open to the public beginning at 6:00 P.M. The event is being held in partnership with Grayson County Schools and will benefit the Grayson County athletic programs. Titans of the cage #19 will be sanctioned by United Combat Arts (UCA), which is an official approved sanctioning body, certified by the state of Virginia to oversee amateur MMA events. Search Titans of the Cage on facebook to keep up with all the event news.
Pictured left to right:Â Kristy Campbell, Evan Lineberry, Jeremy Caviness, Ray Kahler, Ray Ray Holston, Tyler Cardwell, Micah Sheffey, Chris Hamlett, Josh Cook, Dustin Davis and Brandon Perkins