KOTC World Title up for grabs at the Q

King of the Cage has some heavy hitters lined up for its first visit to Yuma.

"Legends" is highlighted by a mixed martial arts bout for the KOTC Lightweight World Title between champion Victor "Joe Boxer" Valenzuela and Gabe Rivas of Eloy.

"I'm looking forward to the fight," KOTC founder Terry Trebilcock said. "I'm very excited. I don't get excited about a lot of fights. I'm a promoter so I do an awful lot of them but that fight I'm excited about."

The cage fighting begins promptly at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Pipa Event Center inside the Quechan Resort and Casino.

Tickets for the 10-card fight are $95, $65 and $40 and can be purchased at the casino or online at www.playqcr.com. Must be 18 or older to attend.

Weigh-in is Friday at the casino. On Thursday, KOTC fighters and ring girls will be at the casino's AQUA Party at the Pool at 7 p.m.

Also featured on the main card are King of the Cage veterans Charles "Krazy Horse" Bennett and Wes "Soldier" Combs. Fighters mainly from across the Southwest make up the undercard, including San Luis High wrestling coach Rob Jankowski.

Valenzuela (8-3-2, 3 KO) scored a second-round TKO win over Joe Camacho to win the World Title in 2008. He successfully defended the title Feb. 2 against Donald Sanchez thanks to a unanimous decision.

The title bout is scheduled for five 5-minute rounds.

"Anytime you have a skilled brawler, like a Gabe Rivas, and has the power to knock any body out at any time with a given punch and you put him against a real good technical boxer that has KO power you expect an explosive fight," Trebilcock said.

Boxer has been on Showtime twice - the last a first-round win over Bennett in 2007.

The main card and the best from the undercard will be televised nationally, excluding DIRECTV customers, in about three and a half weeks on Pay Per View for $9.95.

Combs (14-3-0, 10 KO) faces Joey "Mexicutioner" Beltran (7-2-0, 6 KO). Soldier, a former Marine who was stationed at MCAS-Yuma, is KOTC's top ranked heavyweight contender.

This will be Beltran's second King of the Cage fight after spending most of his professional career in Total Combat cages. His first KOTC bout was a first-round submission loss to current KOTC Heavyweight Champion Tony Lopez.

Bennett (21-14-2, 13 KO) is taking on Anthony McDavitt (4-5-0, 1 KO).

The boisterous Krazy Horse is making his return after being away from the cage for 18 months due some run-ins with the law. Noteworthy knockouts by Bennett include former EliteXC Lightweight Champion KJ Noons, Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Gerald Strebendt, and World Extreme Cagefighting Bantamweight contender Yoshiro Maeda.

Bennett is known for taunting opponents and referees while in and out of the ring. He was in line for a title fight against Valenzuela until his antics took him out of the picture.

"There's a great probability that if Krazy Horse and Boxer win you could see them together in Pay Per View later," Trebilcock said. "So there is some future in the making here but there is a lot of work ahead for both."

King of the Cage burst onto the MMA scene in 1999. In 2003, the entity was part of the Orleans Arena grand opening in Las Vegas.

"Now we are doing eight to 10 shows a year in Canada," Trebilcock said. "We do about 35 U.S. shows a year. And we usually do two or three shows a year in Australia, Singapore and England."

If UFC is the major league then KOTC would be Triple-A, but the gap may be closing as Trebilcock is close to sealing some big deals. One he could openly mention was a "Contender" type of reality MMA show.

King of the Cage has launched careers for countless stars such as: Forrest Griffin, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Rashad Evans, Keith Berry, Mac Danzig, Paul Buentello, Urijah Faber, Joe Stevenson, Diego Sanchez, Thiago Alves, as well as legends like Don Frye, Shonie Carter, Dan Severn, and Vernon “Tiger” White.

"When you start looking at the top guys all around world they are really all King of the Cage guys - with King of the Cage now or will be with King of the Cage in the future or were previously with King of the Cage," Trebilcock said. "We have developed 80 percent of the top talent out of the United States over the last 10 years."

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KING OF THE CAGE - LEGENDS

•Lightweight title fight - Champion Victor "Joe Boxer" Valenzuela vs. Gabe Rivas
•Main card - Wes "Soldier" Combs vs. Joey "Mexicutioner" Beltran - heavyweight
Charles "Krazy Horse" Bennett vs. Anthony McDavitt - lightweight
•Also - Seven other fights including San Luis High wrestling coach Rob Jankowski.
•When: 7 p.m. Saturday
•Where: Pipa Event Center inside Quechan Resort and Casino
•Tickets: $95, $65 and $40 and can be purchased at the casino or online at www.playqcr.com. Must be 18 or older to attend.