Edson Berto Returns To Tampa To Defend RFC Lightweight Title - MMAUniverse.com | MMA Shorts | MMA Gloves | MMA Clothing

One of the nation’s premier Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fight promoters, Real Fighting Championships (RFC) will present another sensational championship fight card on Saturday, September 15th, in Tampa’s Sun Dome.

The International Main Event will feature Edson Berto defending his Lightweight Title against Juan Barrantes, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter trained by Ryan Gracie in Costa Rica. Berto who has fought on several previous RFC cards, is coming off a spectacular debut win over John Shackleford in February 2007 on Showtime’s Inaugural EliteXC series.

He has since been featured on two more nationally televised bouts on Showtime - winning one and losing one.

Berto trains out of Tigers World of Martial Arts located in Winter Haven Florida and comes from a strong family of well rounded fighters.

His father and trainer Dieusel Berto is a former Pride and UFC fighter, his brother Andre is a 2004 Olympic boxer who has since turned professional with an undefeated record of 19-0, and brother Cleveland is a Florida state wrestling champion and also placed second in the National tournament.

Recently an unprecedented sporting event occurred which saw Edson fighting in a nationally televised Showtime event the same night that Andre was boxing on ESPN. The fact that the strong knit Berto family was split on opposite sides of the country may have contributed to Edson’s sole ProElite loss.

Also featured on the card will be Chris Holder, a St. Petersburg standout wrestler from The Grind who will be taking on Chino Duran and Jack Murphy, a local favorite who will be making his return back to RFC for a Featherweight contention.

Other undefeated RFC fighters include: Ralph Garcia, J Lee, James Austin, Miguel Gonzalez and Shamal McMillian.

RFC owner, Jason Freyre says “This is our ninth event in Tampa Bay and we will continue to give our thousands of fans the quality and entertainment value they have come to expect from RFC. Accordingly we are proud to announce that there will be a special Guest Appearance by UFC Lightweight Champion Sean "Muscle Shark" Sherk who will be signing autographs from 6:30 to 7:30 so be there early to meet the Muscle Shark!”

The event will be taped for a future broadcast.

Source: www.rfcmma.com