Jamelle Jones and Mike Hayes battle in the KOTC "Battle Zone" main event

King of the Cage descended upon the the Coeur d'Alene Casino on Thursday May 19th 2016, holding 5 pro and 5 amateur MMA fights in a show dubbed “Battle Zone”. The main event featured a 225 lb catchweight bout between CDA’s Jamelle “The Beast” Jones - who most recently appeared as a light heavyweight on The Ultimate Fighter Season 23 - and Cle Elum’s MIke “300” Hayes - a 30+ fight veteran, including stints with the WSOF, Bellator, and Strikeforce. The first round belonged to the explosive Jones who utilized his strong wrestling base to take Hayes down and punish him with ground and pound. The 2nd round was close and as the fight progressed. Hayes starting to pick up steam as Jones faded. In the third round, the bigger Hayes imposed his will but was unable to finish Jones. The fight went to the scorecards with two judges seeing it 29-28 for Hayes, and the third 29-28 for Jones, giving Mike “300” Hayes the split decision victory.

The co-main event featured a 150 lb matchup between Yakima MMA’s Julian “Juicy J” Erosa - inexplicably cut in April by the UFC after just one loss inside the Octagon; and AKA’s Daniel “Agent Orange” Swain - 4-1 in his last five fights since August 2015. In his KOTC pre-fight interview, Erosa predicted that he would use his height and reach to outstrike Swain on the feet, and that he would handle any attempt by Swain to take it to the mat. As the fight played out, this prediction rang true as Erosa beat Swain to the punch time and time again in a varied standup attack, and then also shucked Swain’s takedown attempts or limited his time on the canvas when he was taken down. Swain competed hard for two solid rounds, but Erosa proved too much and Swain retired before the start of the third.

In a 145 lb contest, Marky Mark Coates finished late replacement Alex Eastman via first round guillotine choke to move to 5-2 as a pro.

An unfortunate No-contest occurred in a pro 165 lb catchweight fight between AKA’s Travis Smith and Base Fitmass MMA’s Ryan Schecterson. The pair had a good scrap going when midway through the first, Schecterson fired off a kick to Smith’s face when Smith was down. A timeout was called and after examination, the cageside doctor wouldn’t let the fight continue due to a potential injury to Smith's eye.

Jessee Gengler picked up his first pro win via a 2nd round rear naked choke of Tracy O’Brien in a 170 lb matchup.

In a featured amateur featherweight fight, Johnson “Black Lightning” Nasona fought off the submission attempts by Dakota Schnall, to turn the tables and get a KO finish on the ground at 2:35 of the first.

Two tough-as-nails amateur 125lbrs went to battle in Coeur d’Alene’s Gillian "Valkyrie" Noll versus Oregon’s Kristen Maaranen. The entertaining battle went into the 2nd round before the 17-year-old Noll finished with strikes for the TKO win.

Amateur lightweight Josh Bean stopped Daniel Smith via ground strikes for a 1st round TKO victory.

AKA's Kylan McKee beat Nolan Slette via 1st round TKO in an amateur 135 lb bout.

The evening’s first fight saw Nick Masonholder win via 1st round guillotine choke over Cary Ross in an amateur heavyweight bout.

King of the Cage is at the Chinook Winds Casino in Lincoln City OR on Sat June 4th.
The promotion returns to the Coeur d'Alene Casino on Thursday Aug 18th.

More info on all upcoming King of the Cage events at kingofthecage.com.