MMA upstarts Ky Hollenbeck (left) and Jeri Sitzes will step into the ring next month to defend their respective WBC Muay Thai titles

By FCF Staff

MMA upstarts Ky Hollenbeck (4-1 MMA, 18-1 Muay Thai) and Jeri Sitzes (3-1 MMA, 1-0 Muay Thai) will defend their respective World Boxing Council (WBC) Muay Thai titles at the third installment of Lion Fight Promotion’s world championship Muay Thai series at Star of the Desert Arena in Primm, Nev. on Sat., Aug. 20.

The 24-year-old Hollenbeck of San Francisco, Calif. will put his WBC interim world middleweight (160 pounds) title up against 33-year-old Simon Chu of Leeds, England while the 32-year-old Sitzes will put her title on the line against Misty Sutherland of Calgary, Canada.

A total of four WBC titles will be on the line during the Aug. 20 card.  In the main event, two-time world Muay Thai champion Cosmo Alexandre (40-13) of Brazil will square off with five-time Muay Thai champion and multi-title Lumpinee Stadium champion Sakmongkol Sitchuchoke “Zingano“ (228-19) of Broomfield, Colo. via Thailand in a middleweight “Superfight.”

Sitchuchoke is coming off a third round (TKO victory over James Martinez, a K-1 USA veteran and contestant on the 2008 first season of The Contender Asia, the Mark Burnett-created reality television series that documented 16 Muay Thai fighters from 12 different countries as they competed for a prize of $150,000.