Sacramento IFC Card Coming Together

SACRAMENTO, Calif., March 24 — The Golden State continues to explode as a hotbed of mixed martial arts action when Maloof Sports & Entertainment (owners of the Palms Casino in Las Vegas and the NBA’s Sacramento Kings) in conjunction with West Coast Fighters Promotions presents IFC Caged Combat Saturday, April 1 at Arco Arena in Sacramento.

While the planned four-man heavyweight tournament is off because "the California State Athletic Commission has yet to approve the rules to facilitate a tourament format" the IFC's Paul Smith told Sherdog.com, the scheduled competitors will still see single-fight action.

Several additions and changes to the card have been made which may help to increase already spirited ticket sales. Coming off a tough loss at the hands of Lodune Sincaid (Pictures) just last week in the WEC, the Capital City Fighting Alliance's James Irvin (Pictures) looks score a victory over experienced brawler William Hill (Pictures).

UFC veteran Gil Castillo (Pictures) also faces Jacob Chagolla.

The event features 10 bouts with four championship match-ups, including the first CSAC-sanctioned female MMA bout between Jennifer Tate and Tonya Evinger.

In the main event, The Ultimate Fighter season one participant Bobby Southworth (Pictures) and a very game Shane Johnson battle for the IFC America's light heavyweight belt. Coming off a suprising loss to Sam Hogar almost one year ago, Southworth looks to return to his winning ways. Johnson hopes to make it three wins in a row in his California debut.

Another featured bout sees Shonie Carter (Pictures) defend the IFC United States welterweight title against up-and-comer Jake Ellenberger out of Omaha, Nebraska.

Del Hawkins (Pictures) of Arizona faces local boy Randy Spence (Pictures) in the "battle ground" championship (145lbs.) in what could be the fight of the night.

Other bouts:

IFC United States Middleweight Championship Fight
Ryan Jensen vs. Tim McKenzie (Pictures)
Kyle Keeney vs. Carlos Garcia (Pictures) (Carlos Garcia (Pictures)' class='LinkSilver'>Pictures)
Tommy Tuggle vs. Scott Lewis
Andy Montana (Pictures) vs. Christian Wellisch (Pictures)