A lightweight amateur MMA champion and former collegiate football player, Brandon Demastes is set to make his professional debut on Feb. 10 at Xtreme Fighting Championships16: High Stakes in Knoxville, Tenn.
Owning a 5-2 record as a lightweight, Demastes’s only setbacks have come via hotly-contested decisions. His only other setback came in another close loss on the judges’ scorecards in a 170-pound bout.
Demastes will square off against top prospect Scott Holtzman, who holds the XFC’s amateur lightweight championship and will also be making his pro debut. Although Holtzman, who trains in Knoxville, will have the hometown advantage, Demastes isn’t intimidated.
“I’m pretty sure a lot of the local people in Tennessee consider me an underdog,” said Demastes, who wrestled throughout high school and played NCAA Division II football at Fairmont State University. “But I’m not really intimidated by any of his past fights. I think I’m more of a skilled athlete than he is. We’ll find out on February 16.”
There will be plenty on the line for both combatants, hoping to get their first professional victory and impress an XFC organization regularly televised on HDNet. But Demastes should be feeling good about his chances after putting in a full training camp at Team On Point — run by On Point Athletics founder Chad Marsh — with some help from Reaction MMA in Lexington, Ky and top wrestlers from Ohio Valley University.
Demastes’s job on an oil rig can make it tricky to put together a good training schedule, but he has had plenty of preparation for the biggest fight of his career.
“I’m always pretty confident going into every fight,” Demastes said. “It’s definitely the biggest organization I’ve fought for. I just have to get ready and train; I can’t do anything different and force the issue.
“I very easily could’ve won every fight I’ve had. I haven’t always been able to put enough time into training, conditioning not as good as should’ve been. But I’m putting in a great camp for this fight.”
Brandon would like to thank his generous sponsors for their support: On Point Athletics, Swole Sports Nutrition, and Hyre’s Country Haven.
To purchase tickets, visit CageTix.com.
For more information on Demastes, visit MWGmma.com and follow The Matthew Wellington Group on Twitter, @MWGroupLLC.
Brandon doesn’t work on an oil rig….He waits tables at a restaurant.