RFA STARTS 2015 IN SOUTHERN COLORADO!

RFA 22 - SMITH vs. NJOKUANI  IN COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO MAIN EVENT: GILBERT SMITH vs. CHIDI NJOKUANI WELTERWEIGHT WORLD TITLE CO-MAIN EVENT: MARK DICKMAN vs. DONALD SANCHEZ FEATHERWEIGHT SHOWDOWN    FRIDAY, JANUARY 9th LIVE ON AXSTV Live at the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colorado Tickets on Sale through TicketsWest.com LAS VEGAS, Nevada - Resurrection Fighting Alliance (RFA) president Ed Soares announced today that the promotion will kick off 2015 in southern Colorado. RFA 22 - Smith vs. Njokuani will feature a main event between two of the world's top welterweight prospects. The headliner will see hometown hero Gilbert Jamal Smith battle RFA fan favorite Chidi "Chidi Bang Bang" Njokuani for the vacant RFA welterweight title. In the co-main event, Mark "Tricky" Dickman and Donald Sanchez will meet in a high-stakes featherweight showdown. The event takes place Friday, January 9th at the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The entire main card will be televised live and nationwide on AXS TV at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT. "I am excited to announce that RFA 22 is headed to southern Colorado to kick off 2015," stated Soares. "Gilbert Smith vs. Chidi Njokuani is a welterweight title fight that will start the new year off the right way!" Internet Only Pre Sale: Tickets are on sale NOW exclusively at CageTix.com, where you can pick your favorite fighter and show support.  Tickets will go on sale online at TICKETSWEST.com, or at any area KING SOOPERS Stores startingWednesday, December 17th, at 10:00 am.  Ticket prices start at only $26.00. Special 8-seat VIP cageside tables are available by calling303-521-0966. Smith (10-3) is a longtime Colorado Springs resident and U.S. Army vet that is best known for his time on the seventeenth season of the UFC's hit reality show The Ultimate Fighter. The UFC vet is now looking to have a triumphant homecoming in his second straight appearance for the RFA. In November, Smith defeated Serbian submission ace Bojan Velickovic in his RFA debut just up the road in Broomfield, Colorado. He now looks to continue his success in the RFA and the Centennial State by winning RFA gold in front of his home crowd. "Obviously, fighting for the RFA title is a huge opportunity. It's the proving grounds and best place to showcase your skills," stated Smith. "The venue is also a 10-minute run from my house, so it will be great to fight in front of all of my friends and family."   Smith is also friendly with his opponent and knows this will be a fight the fans will enjoy. "It's funny that Chidi and I are fighting," Smith explained. "Last summer, during the 4th of July  weekend, I was in Las Vegas for my teammate Chris Camozzi. I ended up watching UFC 175 with Chidi. He's a really cool guy and it never crossed my mind that we would be fighting each other. He's a taller kickboxer and I'm a shorter wrestler, but it could be decided by my striking versus his grappling." Njokuani (11-4) will be making his sixth appearance for the RFA. During his time with the promotion, Njokuani has never lost a fight at his natural weight class of 170-pounds. He also quickly won over the RFA faithful with his dynamic striking skills and crowd pleasing style of fighting. Possessing a similar skill set to his older brother, eight-time UFC vet Anthony Njokuani, the younger Njokuani will be looking to make a mark on his own career by capturing his first world title. To help prepare for this moment, Njokuani is taking full advantage of the knowledge and skills of his newest teammate and coach, former UFC welterweight title challenger Jon Fitch. "This is great. Fighting for a world title on national television is what I've always wanted," stated an excited Njokuani. "Training full-time with Jon Fitch has been cool. We are the exact opposite. He's that style of fighter that has always given me problems. It's perfect for me to be working with a Top 10 welterweight that has fought for the UFC title. It makes me realize I can reach my dreams." Njokuani also admits he is friendly with Smith, but that won't play a factor in the fight. "Gilbert is a cool dude outside of the cage," Njokuani added. "It will be great to fight someone like him, who has been to the UFC. I know it will be a tough fight, but Fitch is the perfect training partner for him and I will be ready. The fans are going to see a great title fight at RFA 22." The co-main event of RFA 22 will see the the return of Njokuani's teammate Mark "Tricky" Dickman (9-2), who like Njokuani, will also be making his sixth appearance for the RFA. Dickman made his debut for the RFA at RFA 1 three years ago and has since made a name for himself for his world-class grappling skills and take-no-prisoners approach to fighting. In August, Dickman came up empty-handed in a 5-round, 25-minute war with Justin Lawrence for the RFA featherweight title, but also sees the addition of Fitch to his fight camp as a huge benefit heading into RFA 22. "For me, it's a new year, a new day, a new dawn," stated Dickman. "I learned a lot about myself and what I needed to change in my camp after my last fight. You're going to see a trickier Mark Dickman at RFA 22. Jon Fitch has been a huge influence. His leadership skills, his conditioning tips, and the way he sets up his ground-and-pound are some of the main things. Jon, Chidi, and I all have big fights coming up around the same time too, which has helped us push each other." Sanchez (30-12) will be the man tasked with facing Dickman in the RFA 22 co-headliner. Sanchez represents the most experienced opponent Dickman has faced in his career and he will look to capitalize on that experience. Sanchez has fought for several of the world's top promotions such as Bellator, ONE FC, and Legacy FC in faraway destinations such as Japan, Singapore, and Canada. The former eight-time KOTC champion has won five of his last six bout and looks to build on that momentum against Dickman. "I'm excited to showcase my new skills in front of all of the RFA fans on AXS TV," stated Sanchez. "Mark Dickman is a great wrestler and his striking is improving with every fight. I expect our styles will clash perfectly in what should be the 'Fight of the Night' on January 9th." The main card of RFA 22 will also include a featherweight clash between UFC vet Alvin Robinson (14-8) and Bellator vet Ricky Musgrave (13-4). In the featherweight division, local favorite Prentice Ingram (9-4) faces undefeated Jackson-Wink MMA prospect Landon Vannata (6-0). Then in the flyweight division, hometown standout Joey Eisenbraun (3-1) battles RFA vet Kevin Gray (3-1). The entire main card of RFA 22 - Smith vs. Njokuani will be televised live on AXS TV starting at10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT on Friday, January 9th. RFA 22 will be the promotion's first event in southern Colorado and its fifth event to take place in Colorado. More fights on the RFA 22 main card and preliminary card will be announced soon. Please visit RFAfighting.com for bout updates and information. RFA is also on Facebook at Facebook.com/RFAfighting, Instagram at @RFAfighting, and Twitter at @RFAfighting. About RFA: RFA is a professional mixed martial arts promotion that gives rising stars and top contenders the opportunity to prove their talent to fans and leaders in the industry. The RFA presents up to 10 fights annually around the United States including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Denver and Milwaukee. RFA can be seen live in over 40 million homes nationally through its television deal with AXS TV. Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, RFA is one of the most active and respected MMA organizations in the fastest growing sport in the world. (The Octagon, Ultimate Fighting Championship®, UFC®, and the eight-sided competition mat and cage design are registered trademarks owned exclusively by Zuffa, LLC. All rights reserved).   About AXS TV Fights: AXS TV Fights is renowned for its universally recognized Friday Night Mixed Martial Arts and Kickboxing events. As Your Home For MMA, AXS TV utilizes an expansive network of promotions from the United States, Canada, and Europe. And Asia to broadcast more LIVE fights than any other television network. "The Voice" Michael Schiavello and five-time MMA world-champion Pat Miletich provide viewers expert play-by-play, in-depth fighter coverage, and extensive analysis to each fight card. AXS TV broadcasts world-class LIVE fight events from RFA, Lion Fight, Legacy FC, and MFC every Friday night at 7 p.m. PT / 10 p.m. ET.

RFA RETURNS TO MILE HIGH CITY WITH INTERNATIONAL FEATURE MATCH

	Bojan Velickovic and Gilbert Smith embrace the change heading into RFA 20 RFA 20 IN COLORADO FRIDAY NOVEMBER 7TH LIVE ON AXS TV by Ryan Bevins  rbevins@rfafighting.com @Bevois   According to Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle, there are three principles necessary for change to take place. There must be something new that comes to be, there must be something old that passes away, and there must be something that stays the same throughout. These three principles are referred to as form, privation, and matter. These are the principles that Bojan Velickovic (9-2) and Gilbert Smith (9-3) are currently applying to their MMA careers. Now on the surface, they appear to have nothing in common other than their chosen occupation. Velickovic grew up in war-torn Serbia nearly 4,500 miles away from Smith's native New York City. Smith is also seven years older than Velickovic and a veteran of the U.S. Army. However, if you dig a little bit deeper, the parallels these two share leading into their featured welterweight bout at RFA 20 is clear. They are both embracing change, they are both reinventing themselves as fighters, and they both know what is at stake. At universities around the world, the College of Arts and Sciences is usually the largest college on campus. Students from other schools are often required to take courses offered by the College of Arts and Sciences, because they require elective courses to be taken within certain areas to provide a well-rounded education for each student. Top MMA camps are very much the same, but sometimes when a star pupil excels quickly in the arts, the sciences need some time to catch up. This is only noticeable at the highest level of MMA in the form of effectively cutting weight to maximize your skills against your opponent's skills without size being the deciding factor. After finding MMA, both Velickovic and Smith competed successfully in the middleweight (185-pound) division. In fact, they competed so well, that they were both selected by the UFC to participate on different seasons of their hit reality television show The Ultimate Fighter. Velickovic was a middleweight on TUF 19, while Smith was a middleweight on TUF 17. However, their time on the show made them realize it was time to start competing against men their own size. This is a fact that even UFC champions have had to face in their careers. B.J. Penn, Lyoto Machida, and Frankie Edgar only began focusing on the science of weight-cutting after winning a UFC world title in a heavier weight class. However, in a day and age where everyone is training everything, top nutritionists are being enlisted, and proper weight-cutting is a must, it has become necessary to balance the arts and sciences of combat in order to succeed at the highest level. On Friday, November 7th, Velickovic and Smith will meet in true Aristotelian tradition at the 1STBANK Center in Broomfield, Colorado for their showdown at RFA 20. The form is their more physically imposing size as welterweights, the privation are the days of competing against larger men, and the matter is the fact they are still the same highly-skilled mixed martial artists that have brought them to this pivotal moment in their career. The entire main card of RFA 20 - Mercado vs. Sanders will be televised live on AXS TV starting at 10:00 p.m. ET / 7:00 p.m. PT on Friday, November 7th. RFA 20 will be the promotion's fourth event to take place in the state of Colorado and it will be the second time the RFA has visited the state in 2014. More fights on the stacked RFA 20 fight card will be announced soon. About RFA: RFA is a professional mixed martial arts promotion that gives rising stars and top contenders the opportunity to prove their talent to fans and leaders in the industry. The RFA presents up to 10 fights annually around the United States including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Denver and Milwaukee. RFA can be seen live in over 40 million homes nationally through its television deal with AXS TV. Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, RFA is one of the most active and respected MMA organizations in the fastest growing sport in the world. (The Octagon, Ultimate Fighting Championship®, UFC®, and the eight-sided competition mat and cage design are registered trademarks owned exclusively by Zuffa, LLC. All rights reserved).   About AXS TV Fights: AXS TV Fights is renowned for its universally recognized Friday Night Mixed Martial Arts and Kickboxing events. As Your Home For MMA, AXS TV utilizes an expansive network of promotions from the United States, Canada, and Europe. And Asia to broadcast more LIVE fights than any other television network. "The Voice" Michael Schiavello and five-time MMA world-champion Pat Miletich provide viewers expert play-by-play, in-depth fighter coverage, and extensive analysis to each fight card. AXS TV broadcasts world-class LIVE fight events from RFA, Lion Fight, Legacy FC, and MFC every Friday night at 7 p.m. PT / 10 p.m. ET. WATCH RFA MMA EXCLUSIVELY ON:

RFA RETURNS TO MILE HIGH CITY TO CROWN BANTAMWEIGHT CHAMPION

RFA 20 IN COLORADO FRIDAY NOVEMBER 7TH LIVE ON AXS TV MAIN EVENT: JARRED MERCADO vs. LUKE SANDERS BANTAMWEIGHT WORLD TITLE CO-MAIN EVENT: JOSH CAVAN vs. BENJAMIN SMITH WELTERWEIGHT SHOWDOWN FEATURE FIGHT: BOJAN VELICKOVIC vs. GILBERT SMITH LAS VEGAS, Nevada - Resurrection Fighting Alliance (RFA) president Ed Soares announced today that the promotion will be bringing a world class bantamweight world title fight to Colorado in November. RFA 20 - Mercado vs. Sanders will feature a main event between two of the world's top bantamweight prospects as local favorite Jarred "Shutout" Mercado and undefeated "Cool Hand" Luke Sanders battle for the vacant RFA bantamweight title. In the co-main event, a pair of exciting RFA vets face off as Josh Cavan and Benjamin Smith meet in an explosive welterweight contest. The event takes place Friday, November 7th at the 1STBANK Center in Broomfield, Colorado, which is located just outside of Denver, Colorado. The entire main card will be televised live and nationwide on AXS TV at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT. "Jarred Mercado and Luke Sanders are pound-for-pound two of the toughest fighters in the world," stated Soares. "On Friday, November 7th at RFA 20, Colorado fight fans will witness the crowning of our next great bantamweight champion." Tickets for RFA 20 - Mercado vs. Sanders are available for purchase starting Monday, October 13th at 10:00 am (MST) through AltitudeTickets.com. Tickets start at just $25.00. A limited number of catered 8-seat cageside VIP tables are available by calling 303-521-0966. Mercado (12-1) possesses one of the most brutally effective styles of fighting in all of MMA. This comes from his well documented wrestling pedigree. After compiling a 106-18 record in high school wrestling, Mercado attended Northwestern University and wrestled in the Big Ten Conference. Mercado faced some of the top NCAA Division I competition in the country as a Wildcat and continued displaying his athletic prowess inside the cage upon graduation. Now widely-regarded one of the top bantamweight MMA prospects in the country, Mercado will face Sanders for the RFA title in what is shaping up to be a collision course between two of the world's most daunting bantamweight forces. "I'm really excited about this fight since there is so much on the line," stated Mercado. "Winning the RFA bantamweight title will be huge for my career. Luke Sanders is obviously a very tough opponent, but it doesn't matter who steps across from me in the cage. I know I have what it takes to be the best in this sport." Sanders (8-0) has quickly endeared himself to the RFA faithful during his first year with the promotion. In March, Sanders faced Dan Moret in his RFA debut, who shared an identical flawless record at 6-0. Sanders showed an indomitable spirit in that fight by staging a ferocious comeback in the last two rounds to get his hand raised. After the fight, Sanders dropped down to his natural weight class of 135-pounds, even though his undefeated record was still intact. The division change paid immediate dividends as he defeated Darrick Minner via TKO in August to earn a shot at his first world title. Needless to say, Sanders is eager to cement his status as one of the world's premier bantamweights. "Everybody needs to make sure to watch this title fight on November 7th," said an excited Sanders. "I guarantee to be 100% and I'm coming for the gold at RFA 20!" The co-main event of RFA 20 will feature a pair of exciting RFA vets in what could be billed as a battle of super heroes. Local favorite Josh "Superman" Cavan (9-4) will look to entertain his hometown crowd once again as he squares off with the surging Minnesota native Benjamin Smith (10-2) whose fans are easily spotted at his fights sporting his signature "Batman" themed t-shirts. While the ageless debate of who wins a fight between Superman vs. Batman may never be answered, the winner of Cavan and Smith at RFA 20 will surely see their MMA career catapulted to new heights. "I'm just really excited about getting back in the cage to fight for such a great organization," Cavan explained. "I'm more focused than ever. This will be an exciting fight for the fans between two hungry RFA vets." Smith shares similar sentiments on returning to the RFA cage after winning four straight fights and two regional titles since his last appearance inside the RFA octagon. "It's great to be back on the RFA stage. The first time didn't go my way, but I'm looking forward to showing the RFA fans what I can do," stated Smith. "Josh Cavan looks like a very formidable opponent and we have similar styles, so it will be interesting to see who comes out on top at RFA 20." The featured fight at RFA 20 will also feature a pair of highly-touted welterweights in what is sure to be a crowd pleasing affair as Serbian sensation Bojan Velickovic (9-2) faces UFC vet and TUF 17 contestant Gilbert Smith (9-3). Velickovic returns to the state of Colorado to compete in the same venue he made a name for himself at Ring of Fire 41 three years ago. He won his fight that night with a scintillating TKO in just 99 seconds. He got his opportunity to fight that night by winning the Ring of Fire - Europe tournament 12 months earlier. Velickovic will return to Colorado to face Smith, who is a Colorado Springs native and U.S. Army veteran. Smith burst onto the MMA scene on to the MMA scene last year, as a member of Team Jones on the UFC's seventeenth season of The Ultimate Fighter. Smith competed for the UFC as a middleweight and will now look to show the world what he can do at welterweight, as he gets ready to make his RFA debut in front of his family and friends in his home state of Colorado. The entire main card of RFA 20 - Mercado vs. Sanders will be televised live on AXS TV starting at 10:00 p.m. ET / 7:00 p.m. PT on Friday, November 7th. RFA 20 will be the promotion's fourth event to take place in the state of Colorado and it will be the second time the RFA has visited the state in 2014. More fights on the stacked RFA 20 fight card will be announced soon. About RFA: RFA is a professional mixed martial arts promotion that gives rising stars and top contenders the opportunity to prove their talent to fans and leaders in the industry. The RFA presents up to 10 fights annually around the United States including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Denver and Milwaukee. RFA can be seen live in over 40 million homes nationally through its television deal with AXS TV. Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, RFA is one of the most active and respected MMA organizations in the fastest growing sport in the world. (The Octagon, Ultimate Fighting Championship®, UFC®, and the eight-sided competition mat and cage design are registered trademarks owned exclusively by Zuffa, LLC. All rights reserved). About AXS TV Fights: AXS TV Fights is renowned for its universally recognized Friday Night Mixed Martial Arts and Kickboxing events. As Your Home For MMA, AXS TV utilizes an expansive network of promotions from the United States, Canada, and Europe. And Asia to broadcast more LIVE fights than any other television network. "The Voice" Michael Schiavello and five-time MMA world-champion Pat Miletich provide viewers expert play-by-play, in-depth fighter coverage, and extensive analysis to each fight card. AXS TV broadcasts world-class LIVE fight events from RFA, Lion Fight, Legacy FC, and MFC every Friday night at 7 p.m. PT / 10 p.m. ET.