(PRESS RELEASE) -- Tacoma, WA (July 2, 2013) – Professional mixed martial artists are once again traveling to the entertainment capital of the Northwest for Halquist Productions’ professional MMA series, CageSport. CageSport XXV, set for Saturday, July 6th at the Emerald Queen Casino will feature the Northwest’s premier featherweights as Tacoma’s Drew Brokenshire (6-1) will attempt to defend his title for the second time when he takes on Oregon’s Marlin Weikel (9-3) in the main event. In the Semi-Main Event, Yakima’s Julian Erosa (10-1) will battle it out against Okanogan’s Lee Morrison (8-3) in a title eliminator match.
Crowd favorite, Drew Brokenshire, has quickly caught the attention of Northwest fight fans after a lengthy amateur career where he accumulated a record of (17-5) and solidified his status as the most decorated amateur in the Northwest. Now as a professional, training primarily with West Coast Fight Team and Ludus FC, he has worked his record up to 6-1 along with capturing the CageSport featherweight title, making him one of the most intriguing prospects in the region. A second title defense against Weikel will give Brokenshire an even bigger push into national talks.
The semi-main event has turned out to be the most anticipated match of the night as fans have long awaited the day that Lee Morrison steps into the cage with Julian Erosa. Adding more intrigue to the bout is that it has been formed into a featherweight title eliminator fight, meaning that the winner of this fight will get the opportunity to take on the winner of the Brokenshire/Weikel fight in August for the CageSport Featherweight title.
“We’re very excited to have the four best featherweights in the Northwest finally stepping into the cage at the same time in a tournament format,” said promoter, Brian Halquist. “The winner of the two headliners will be back on August 24th, which was just added to the schedule to put to rest who the true featherweight champion really is.”
The undercard features a stacked lineup full of some of the Northwest’s best mixed martial artists including a premier middleweight bout between Josh Hewson and Alfonso Gonzales that could push the winner into talks for an opportunity to fight for CageSport’s middleweight title, currently held by AMC Pankration’s, Brent Knopp.
Josh Hewson (3-0) vs. Alfonso Gonzales (2-0)
Elisha Helsper (0-3) vs. Hadley Griffith (debut)
Jacob Solis (3-1) vs. Gary Winslow (0-1)
Arjay Murphy (1-3-1) vs. Josh Wright (2-0)
Trent Tyler (debut) vs. Zach Conn (debut)
Gustavo Lopez (1-0) vs. Dylan Atkinson (1-0)
Zach Skinner (7-8) vs. Josh Rettinghouse (7-2)
Doors for CageSport XXV are set to open at 6 PM, with the first fight scheduled for 7 PM.For more information about CageSport XXV and all other Halquist Production events, please visit www.halquistproductions.com and the official Facebook and Twitter pages of Halquist Productions, CageSport, and Battle at the Boat.
About Halquist Productions Brian Halquist Productions is the Northwest’s premier fight promotional company and has promoted events on Showtime, HBO and ESPN. Brian Halquist started Brian Halquist Productions, Inc. in 1989, when he promoted up and coming heavyweight boxing contender, Joe “The Boss” Hipp. In 1997, the Emerald Queen Casino and Brian Halquist Productions started the popular northwest boxing series, “The Battle at the Boat,” bringing boxing back to the Pacific Northwest. In 2008, Brian Halquist Productions promoted Strike Force at the Tacoma Dome and 7,500 fans attended the Bob Sapp MMA fight. With the success of the Tacoma Dome MMA show, Brian Halquist Productions once again teamed up with the Puyallup Tribe of Indians and the Emerald Queen Casino to present their own brand of MMA, “CageSport.”
About CageSport The first CageSport event was in June 2008 and resulted in a sold out, standing room only show at the Emerald Queen Showroom. Brian Halquist Productions and the Emerald Queen Casino immediately scheduled more CageSport shows, giving current UFC fighters such as: Miesha Tate, Bryan Caraway, Mike Chiesa, Sam Sicilia, and John Albert opportunities to showcase their abilities on the promotion and get nationally recognized. In 2012, the promotion took off when CageSport XXI became the first show in the series to be aired on television, appearing on regional sports network, ROOT SPORTS. A few shows later, the promotion joined Jay Adams’ United Fight Alliance (UFA) giving CageSport the capability to be televised in over 100 million homes in the United States.