Yet for Mixed Martial Arts, the city has not been such a destination in recent years. Outside of sporadic King of Kombat shows put on by Ron Hernandez and crew (last: April 2011), the city hasn’t really had an influx of events for the numerous gyms around the area to showcase their skills. Despite this, MMA still thrives as far as places to train go. There’s established gyms run by guys like Rudy Vasquez and William Vandry. In recent years more and more gyms have opened up to join the fray – most recently Austin Kickboxing Academy run by longtime area residents Randy Vera and Tessa Simpson.
With the number of gyms around the area now approaching around twenty if not more, perhaps now is the time for promoters to come in and bring a steady dose of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) action to Texas’ capital city. One promotion hopes to build towards just that on January 18th when Texas Cage Fight (TCF) hosts their first event entitled ‘Cage War in Capital City’ at the Crown Center on FM 812 on the Southeast side of Austin.
“I feel very privileged to fight on this card,” said competitor Bobby Peek about the upcoming event. “This city has not had a regular outlet to showcase the talent here and it is an honor to be on the first of what we hope to be many shows here in Austin. It sucks when you are always the out-of-towners coming in to fight hometown guys so it is nice to be able to switch that up. As far as the show itself, the venue is brand new and very big and the card is full of local talent from the gyms both north and south and it should make for a good competitive atmosphere.”
A striking coach at John’s Gym, Peek will be facing Paul Mead on the card alongside teammate and student Sebastian Shahvandi who is also fighting at the same event.
As for the rest of the card, it features some other names familiar to the area as well.
There’s Garrett “The Deaf Grappler” Scott who makes his MMA debut out of Rubicon Fightsport. Another area coach also makes his debut with Nael Chavez of Enlightened Warriors taking on Fort Hood’s Craig Campbell.
The list goes on but all in all this should be an exciting amateur card to kick off Austin MMA in 2013. Check out the full card below as it stands today to see who else you should expect come fight night.
Cage War in Capital City – Fight Card (subject to change)
145 lbs.: Paul Mead vs. Robert Peek
145 lbs.: Nael Chavez vs. Craig Campbell
135 lbs.: Robert Ricks vs. Dakota Coston
170 lbs.: Garrett Scott vs. Xazavier James
135 lbs.: Blake Wells vs. Kevin Morin
125 lbs.: Trevor Wells vs. Andres Luna
265 lbs.: Jesus Aguillon vs. Luis Delgado
155 lbs.: Bobby Hernandez vs. Benny Serrano
185 lbs.: Timothy Lukacz vs. Tyler Richlen
155 lbs.: Alistaire Arendse vs. Sebastian Shahvandi