TACOMA, Wash. – Yakima’s Julian Erosa, a two-time CageSport Super Fight League America champion, will appear on the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)-produced reality television series The Ultimate Fighter 22 Finale tonight at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.
Erosa (14-2) will face Poland’s Marcin Wrzosek (10-2) in a featherweight bout on the undercard.
“It’s been an incredible experience,” the 25-year-old Erosa said about appearing on TUF 22. “Having fought primarily for CageSport and Super Fight League made it an easy transition. I think a lot of fighters coming in to a situation like this could feel overwhelmed by everything, but I really felt prepared for it all.”
The Ultimate Fighter 22 Finale — which will air on Fox Sports 1 at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT – will be headlined by a featherweight clash between Frankie Edgar and Chad Mendes. Artem Lobov and Ryan Hall will meet in the TUF 22 finals.
The official weigh-in for The Ultimate Fighter 22 Finale took place on Thursday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Both Erosa and Wrzosek tipped the scales at 155 pounds.
Erosa, who has fought 14 times on a CageSport/Super Fight League event during his professional career, was one of 32 lightweight fighters selected by the UFC to compete in qualifying fights to enter the show. After defeating Jason Soares in the preliminary round, Erosa joined Urijah Faber’s nine-member United States team, which battled current UFC Interim Featherweight champion Conor McGregor’s team of European fighters during the series.
Erosa advanced to the quarterfinals with a majority decision over France’s Mehdi Baghdad then defeated Spain’s Abner Lloveras by split decision to move on to the show’s final four competitors before losing to Lobov in the semifinals.
Starting his professional career with a perfect 9-0 record, Erosa’s first loss came at the hands of former two-division CageSport champion, Drew Brokenshire. Five fights later, Erosa captured the SFL America lightweight championship, defeating Harrison Bevens with a second-round KO on Dec. 13, 2014.
He received his highly-anticipated rematch with Brokenshire on Feb. 21 for the SFL America Featherweight title, this time ending up in the winner’s circle after submitting Brokenshire in the third round.
“The goal for every fighter is to make it to the UFC,” Erosa said. “There’s a lot of talent coming out of the Northwest. The UFC knows this. (Current UFC fighters) Sam Sicilia and Julianna Pena both fought for CageSport before moving on to the UFC. There’s actually been a lot of fighters take that path. I’m determined to be the next on that list.”
Super Fight League is brought to you by Brian Halquist Productions, which will begin its 20th year of combative sports at Tacoma’s Emerald Queen Casino in 2016, and CageSport MMA. For more information, please visit www.halquistproductions.com and the CageSport MMA Facebook page.
###
ABOUT BRIAN HALQUIST
Brian Halquist Productions is the Northwest premiere fight promotion company creator of the famed “Battle at the Boat” boxing series promoting more than 17 years and 100 fights at the Emerald Queen Casino. BHP has also built the largest professional MMA series on the USA’s west coast with “CageSport MMA” promoting over 30 fights. Brian Halquist Productions has promoted events for ESPN, ShowTime and HBO and featured on Showtime’s historic boxing event in St Lucia, West Indies. Brian Halquist Productions has been promoting fights and concerts for over 30 years in the Pacific Northwest.
