Branson, MO - Newly crowned Shofight/Brawl light heavyweight champion Frank Cortez of Dexter was excited Saturday night as he and the Dark Horse MMA team competed and won at the Shofight/Brawl Cage Matches in Branson, Missouri.

A Dexter resident, Cortez (7-2) is still riding the wave of success with his win over Dalton Knight for the Light Heavyweight title in Branson on Saturday.

The match went the scheduled three rounds and was won by decision in favor of Cortez over Knight.  In addition to the belt for the Light Heavyweight division, Cortez also was awarded the prize for “Fight of the Night” by the Shofight/Brawl judges.

Frank has been a member of the Dark Horse MMA fight team that trains at the Fitness Connection in Downtown Dexter.  The team’s sponsors include the Fitness Connection, El Tapatio #2 in Dexter, and BCT Screenprinting in Bernie.

This was an exceptional win for Frank Cortez, as he doubled up his training efforts for this match.  Dark Horse MMA held Fight Camp specifically for Cortez every week, which helped to improve his cardio in preparation for this match.  The extra work paid off for Frank as he displayed a great improvement in his stand-up and ground game during the match.

Training is always a key component to a fighter's success.  The weight training regiment, conditioning and fighting techniques all play a major role in preparation for each fight.

Franks has been blessed with his dedicated coaching staff of Joe Davis for both cardio and stand-up coaching and Waylon Owens as his ground coach.

Coach Davis, affectionately known as “Joe Fit” to his cross training students, has been a strong inspiration to many people throughout the community with his positive, upbeat encouragement toward fitness.  Each of his “Joe Fit” classes are greatly attended at the Fitness Connection twice each week on Monday at 5:15 pm and Thursday at 6:45 pm.

MMA isn’t just for the guys as Dark Horse Contender, Tina Brown, was also a headliner at the Shofight/Brawl this past weekend.  Brown, a Bernie Missouri resident, entered her third grapple match of her career against Katy “The Red Dragon” Collins.  Collins was able to gain the win in the third round over Brown with an arm-bar for a tap-out.

Tina will continue her training with the Dark Horse team and is hopeful to enter her next MMA match the first part of 2015.