Robbie Ring looking to stay undefeated as a professional MMA fighter

There’s only a few days left until “Razor” Robbie Ring will make his way to Knoxville, TN for his 4th professional MMA fight.  He will be fighting for Aries Fight Series, on Friday, March 4th, at the world famous Cotton Eyed Joe.   His opponent, Dusty Little is also undefeated as a pro and is coming off of a one-minute knockout in his last fight.  Little accepted the fight with Ring after his original opponent, Edward Massey pulled out in mid-January. 

Ring has had a difficult time with opponents pulling out of fights leading up to fights, which causes a fighter to  have to readjust their training and game plans accordingly to adapt to a different fighter.  Ring is totally confident in his training at Ring-Combat Sports in Wytheville.  He stated “Ring-Combat Sports is where I put in all of my training for all these fights.  I’ve learned and I’m still learning under my parents who have been teaching me since I was a little kid, along with all the others they have taught throughout the years.  I still learn new things nearly every week and my training has never failed me”.

Ring also has a stable of fighters and teammates at Ring-Combat sports that push him and challenge him to be his best leading up to fights.  Ring said “My fight camps are tough.  We have what we call pro-day on Wednesday and its super challenging.  I have some beasts for training partners.  Our gym has lots of talented fighters in it and my dad designs pro days that push me to my limits”. 

Robbie also works part-time at Anytime Fitness in Wytheville which is also where he gets in a lot of his cardio training for his fights.  Ring continued “Between my strength and cardio training, having a bunch of Killers for training partners and the fact that our gym has produced numerous champions, I feel more prepared than I have ever felt going into this fight.  People probably don’t realize that they have one of the most active MMA fighting gyms in the Southeastern Region right here in their own back yard.  We have had well over 300 cage fights over the years”.

When not training himself you will find Robbie teaching classes at the family gym that he hopes to take over in the coming years.  Robbie said “We start them young at Ring-Combat Sports.  At 4 years old our Tiny Titans start learning our Combat Jiu-Jitsu system, as well as start learning the basics of MMA.  Of course at these younger ages there is a huge focus on student safety, but that does not stop the youngest of kids from getting a leg up on the competition at a very young age. Many of our young students get the chance to compete inside the cage with modified rules that allow only mild contact and no contact at all to the face and head.  The kids love it and if they decide as they get older that they want to pursue MMA competition, they end up way ahead of the game, like I did”.

The last time Ring fought in Knoxville he remembers a lot of screaming fans many of them from Wythe County who made their way to Knoxville to support him.  Ring stated, “It means the world to me for people to come out to the shows and support me as I try to reach my goals in this sport that I love.  This has been my goal since I was a little boy coming up in the gym and it has never changed.  I know God has blessed me with a work ethic and the right people around me and by his grace I will keep giving it all I have to try to reach the top in this sport”.

Ring said, “I really couldn’t do this without all of my great sponsors and I have created a banner (see photo) that includes all of them on it”.

Robbie wanted everyone to know that they can still get tickets to his upcoming fight by going to www.robbiering.com or dropping by Ring-Combat Sports, 2190 W. Ridge Rd in Wytheville any evening during the week.

WYTHEVILLE MEETING CENTER TO HOST TITANS OF THE CAGE MMA NOV.6th

Titans of the Cage will hold its 30th MMA event on November 6th at the Wytheville Meeting Center.  Five (5) championship belts will be up for grabs at this event, with over 20 hard hitting MMA bouts lined up.  The event is overseen by the Virginia DPOR and sanctioned by United Combat Arts.

Many Wytheville based fighters will be competing on this card, including Ring-Combat Sports fighter, Micah “the original” Sheffey who will be taking on former Titans of the cage featherweight champion, Dylan Smith of Elite Grappling in Lebanon, VA.  Not only will this be the main event, but it will be for the Titans of the Cage lightweight championship.   Sheffey has had over 20 fights inside the cage and is the former TOC lightweight champ and makes his return to the cage to try to reclaim the title against a very tough Smith. In the co-main event of the evening the vacant TOC featherweight title will be up for grabs when Dallas Manspile of Roanoke, VA takes on Josh Lilley of Beaufort, SC.

One of the many Wytheville based fighters will be Ring-Combat Sports Austin Sayers who will face Angel Rigney for the TOC Youth 145 lb. championship title.  Rigney is the current champion and fights out of Roanoke, VA.  Other title fights include two Roanoke based fighters butting heads when Chris Hamlett faces Nick Fisher for the interim Cruiserweight title, with the winner having a chance to face current cruiserweight champion, C.J. Burleson.  Brandon Holloway of Greensboro, NC, will battle Jonathan Freeman, of Winston-Salem, NC, for the vacant bantamweight title.  In a big “super fight” battle it will be Wyatt Joyce of Asheboro, NC martial arts academy taking on Kyle Johnson of team Round 30 out of Roanoke.

Ring-Combat Sports gym of Wytheville is a gym that trains both professional and amateur MMA fighters and has become known as one of the most active MMA gyms in the state and has put fighters inside the cage for over 500 bouts.  They once again have several fighters represented with the following fighters on the card; Pedro Jimenez Vasquez (RCS) vs. Curtis Davis (Wytheville), Luke Kincer (RCS) vs. Josh Cook (Halifax), Chris Spencer (RCS) vs. Jon Dalton (Roanoke), Shalee Spencer (RCS) vs. Desiree Simpkins (Myrtle Beach, SC), Bobby “the bland county bad boy” Collins (RCS) vs. John Coalson (Wytheville), Trevor Carter (RCS) vs. Lance Tate (Bluefield, WV), Kyle Frankenfield (RCS) vs. Devan Hancock (Wytheville), Jordan Cizl (RCS) vs. Mike Salazar (Roanoke), Tyler Mills (RCS) vs. Hunter Anderson (RCS), Alijah Webb (RCS) vs. Justice Cizl (RCS) and Savanna Smith (RCS) vs. Brianna Hancock (Wytheville).

Still other great fighters will be in action in the following bouts;  Gavin Thomas (Denver, NC) vs. Demetri Mebane (Greensboro), Shane McGrew (Hurricane, WV) vs. Dakota Martin (Lacross), Eduardo Castillo (Beaufort, SC) vs. Ryker Powell (Greensboro), Daniel Wilkins (Denver, NC) vs. Matt Justice (Lebanon) and Darren Williams (Winston-Salem) vs. James Anderson (Clover).

The Wytheville meeting center will provide great comfort for all spectators as all seats will be padded banquet room chairs.  There will also be two large projection screens so fans will always have a clear view of the action inside the cage.  Undefeated professional MMA fighter “Razor” Robbie Ring will be in attendance to meet fans and take pictures, so if you have never attended Titans of the Cage, make this your first one.  Titans of the cage recently won “Best of Wythe County 2021” as the top Family Entertainment Venue.  Doors open at the Meeting Center, 333 Community Blvd, Wytheville, VA at 4:00 PM and fights start promptly at 5:00 PM.  Tickets are available online at www.titansofthecage.com , at Ring-Combat Sports (2190 W. Ridge Rd. in Wytheville) or at the door.  Please follow Titans of the Cage on Facebook or visit the website to keep up with all the latest MMA action.


Titans of the Cage holds 20th event at Grayson County H.S.

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Titans of the Cage holds 20th event at Grayson County H.S.

Fight teams came all the way from Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, along with fighters from throughout the region to compete on the Titans of the Cage #20 event at Grayson high school in Independence. An excited group of MMA fans filed into the gymnasium for several matches that were greatly anticipated. New champions were crowned as Kyle Johnson of Roanoke defeated Cody Prior of Covington to become the new middleweight champion. Jeromy “pretty boy” Mitchell of Advantage martial arts in Princeton, WV defeated Josh Cook of Halifax fight team to take home the featherweight belt. And in the fight of the night, it was Joey DeSanto of Indiana defeating Chris Pontier of Beckley, WV to become the new TOC welterweight champ. This was a great fight that seen Pontier come out and win the first two rounds and looked as if he was going to cruise on through to take the title home, when Joey DeSanto came out of nowhere in the 3rd round to win by submission when he applied a Kimura forcing Pontier to tap out.

In other notable bouts, Jacob Catron (17) of Team SWMA in Wytheville fought an expo bout with Elijah Caviness (16) of the Backyard Brawlers team from Hillsville. An “expo” bout cannot announce an official winner, but it was a very entertaining back and forth match between the two teenagers. Also, Logan Houston (16), also of Wytheville and a member of Team SWMA put on a kickboxing expo bout with Jordan Caviness (18) of the backyard brawlers team, in an entertaining bout.

Kristy Stafford of Big Stone Gap who trains at Team SWMA in Wytheville scored her first win in a TKO victory over Anne Okes of Princeton, WV. K.C. Cockran of Hybrid MMA in Roanoke defeated Ray Kahler of Halfax fight team to become the #1 contender in the lightweight division and will challenge Micah Sheffey of Team SWMA in Wytheville for Sheffey’s lightweight title. Tasha Hewitt of Marietta, OH defeated Joy Miller of McLeansville, NC to become the top contender in the women’s flyweight division and she will now get a shot to face TOC women’s flyweight champ, Megan Poe of Team Ironlock out of Pennington Gap.

The next event is set for September 16th at the Bland Elementary school where five (5) title fights are scheduled to be held. Visit www.titansofthecage.com or search Titans of the Cage on facebook to keep up with all the latest info from each event.