Submit A Prospect
January 25, 2012
I was recently invited to ShoFIGHT, one of the top amateur organizations in Missouri and was extremely impressed with the promotion. JT Tilley is the promoter who runs the show and is one of the first promoters to bring shows to the Branson area. In 2006 he started coaching MMA professionally, this is before the area had anything to offer in terms of MMA. It all started when he got a group of local fighters and packed into a SUV and drove all over the Midwest to fight in “Cage Fights”, during this time he realized that a lot of promoters didn't care so much about the fighters and they didn't care about spending much time making proper match ups and it was unhealthy for some fighters because the fights were mismatched and there was shady insurance or no insurance for fighters at all. Branson Fight Club started having success as a team and began winning titles and started building a local fan base using YouTube.
“Uncle JT” as many of the fighters call him tried to get fights close to the Branson area and soon put his 20 years of experience in the entertainment business and his love for MMA together to build a fight league that fighters could fight and not have to worry about safety and insurance.
In April 2009 'ShoFIGHT 1' was held in Branson, Mo and over 20 teams from the Midwest were invited to compete and it was a major success and a sold out event in an area that had previously avoided combat sports. In 2010 they moved to bigger venues and sold out many outdoor shows in Springfield, West Plains, and Nixa. From those sold out shows the fan base grew and ShoFIGHT became the Top Amateur show in the Midwest in 2011, then they announced they would be moving from outdoor shows into Branson Theaters and did an entire season of MMA at The Mansion Theater in Branson. It put JT Tilley on a new level as a promoter. They could see that he was educated in show production and staging and became known as a fair and honest promoter. He soon got the backing of many UFC fighters like Tyson Griffin who said “This is the best amateur show I have ever seen. In fact, this is the best show I have seen outside of the UFC.”
ShoFIGHT was visited by many pro fighters that shared these opinions and started to receive pressure from MANY people to turn ShoFIGHT into a pro organization. ShoFIGHT decided instead of competing with UFC, Strikeforce, WEC (at the time,) Sharkfights, Titan, KOTC, Dream, etc etc etc, they would set their sights on building a place for top amateur fighters to test themselves before going pro. Lots of fighters are willing to travel to Branson cause it's 'The Live Entertainment capital of the World.' I just want to say that this promoter is not out for money and the only reason he promotes its for the love of the sport. JT said “We understand that some of our fighters will one day be stars as professionals while others are just there to put on a show. We don't exploit them. We just facilitate their dreams.....That's what they do for me too.”
JT brings in the best fighters from around the area to fight and from what I saw at ShoFIGHT XV he has some of the best up and coming male and female fighters possibly in the world. .
Ray Allard (14-3) is the ShoFIGHT flyweight champion and he showed why he is considered the best by running over his opponent this weekend and choking him out in the very first round. He is considered to be one of the best flyweights in the Midwest possibly the country.
Another top prospect from the show was Branson Fight Club's Kevin Cohan who fights at 135 lbs. I was told before the fight that he has won his last 3 fights by TKO and that is exactly how this fight ended in just 23 seconds.
Marco “Afro Samurai” Hutch was impressive and quickly came out got all over his opponent got the takedown and started punching from stacked moved into full mount and rained down punches on his opponent making the ref Chris McDaniel jump in and stop the fight.
The ShoFIGHT LHW Champion Brandese Powell (6-1) showed great grounds skills and worked from top position for two rounds then the 3rd round started and Brandese came out quick and KO'd his opponent.
ShoFIGHT MW Champion Rance “The Punisher” Foust was scheduled to fight but his opponent backed out of the fight and so did four other fighters that were lined up in case there was a problem with his first opponent. Now on March 3rd Rance is fighting LHW champ Brandese Powell and I can't wait until that fight cause I will be there to see two of the best fighters in the Midwest go at it in Branson, Missouri.
Courtney Stowe is ranked #2 in the world by WMMA and is the ShoFIGHT Women's Featherweight Champion and is someone that everyone in the MMA world should be looking at.
The ShoFIGHT Heavyweight and now Super Heavyweight Champ Jason 'Shrek' Ostroski was dominate in his fight at ShoFIGHT XV against Will Moore, who was a huge beast.
If you are thinking about going pro and are in the Midwest this is the place that you need to come fight.
Follow MMARanked and Chris Gregory on Twitter!
In April 2009 'ShoFIGHT 1' was held in Branson, Mo and over 20 teams from the Midwest were invited to compete and it was a major success and a sold out event in an area that had previously avoided combat sports. In 2010 they moved to bigger venues and sold out many outdoor shows in Springfield, West Plains, and Nixa. From those sold out shows the fan base grew and ShoFIGHT became the Top Amateur show in the Midwest in 2011, then they announced they would be moving from outdoor shows into Branson Theaters and did an entire season of MMA at The Mansion Theater in Branson. It put JT Tilley on a new level as a promoter. They could see that he was educated in show production and staging and became known as a fair and honest promoter. He soon got the backing of many UFC fighters like Tyson Griffin who said “This is the best amateur show I have ever seen. In fact, this is the best show I have seen outside of the UFC.”
ShoFIGHT was visited by many pro fighters that shared these opinions and started to receive pressure from MANY people to turn ShoFIGHT into a pro organization. ShoFIGHT decided instead of competing with UFC, Strikeforce, WEC (at the time,) Sharkfights, Titan, KOTC, Dream, etc etc etc, they would set their sights on building a place for top amateur fighters to test themselves before going pro. Lots of fighters are willing to travel to Branson cause it's 'The Live Entertainment capital of the World.' I just want to say that this promoter is not out for money and the only reason he promotes its for the love of the sport. JT said “We understand that some of our fighters will one day be stars as professionals while others are just there to put on a show. We don't exploit them. We just facilitate their dreams.....That's what they do for me too.”
Ray Allard (14-3) is the ShoFIGHT flyweight champion and he showed why he is considered the best by running over his opponent this weekend and choking him out in the very first round. He is considered to be one of the best flyweights in the Midwest possibly the country.
Another top prospect from the show was Branson Fight Club's Kevin Cohan who fights at 135 lbs. I was told before the fight that he has won his last 3 fights by TKO and that is exactly how this fight ended in just 23 seconds.
Marco “Afro Samurai” Hutch was impressive and quickly came out got all over his opponent got the takedown and started punching from stacked moved into full mount and rained down punches on his opponent making the ref Chris McDaniel jump in and stop the fight.
ShoFIGHT MW Champion Rance “The Punisher” Foust was scheduled to fight but his opponent backed out of the fight and so did four other fighters that were lined up in case there was a problem with his first opponent. Now on March 3rd Rance is fighting LHW champ Brandese Powell and I can't wait until that fight cause I will be there to see two of the best fighters in the Midwest go at it in Branson, Missouri.
Courtney Stowe is ranked #2 in the world by WMMA and is the ShoFIGHT Women's Featherweight Champion and is someone that everyone in the MMA world should be looking at.
The ShoFIGHT Heavyweight and now Super Heavyweight Champ Jason 'Shrek' Ostroski was dominate in his fight at ShoFIGHT XV against Will Moore, who was a huge beast.
If you are thinking about going pro and are in the Midwest this is the place that you need to come fight.
Follow MMARanked and Chris Gregory on Twitter!
SPONSORED CONTENT