Press Release — On July 16^th 2011, the elegant Vancouver Convention Centre plays host to a much greater event than usual when “Battlefield Fight League 9: Quest for Gold” barrels through the downtown, seaside doors.

Don’t worry; it’s not all about the venue! For only the second time in BFL history, this event also features two five-round title fights on an all-amateur card.  One of which is a co-main event middleweight bout between Team Carlson Gracie submissions specialist Justin Lansing and West Coast BJJ’s wrestling stand-out Micah Brakefield. Between them these fighters have appeared at five of BFL’s eight events and each will look to leave the promotion’s ninth outing as their first-ever amateur champion at 185lbs.

During his promotional debut at BFL2, Justin Lansing made an immediate impact with BFL fans completing one of the most beautiful back-mount-to-arm-bar transitions anyone in attendance had ever seen. The submission was lightning-quick and contained the type of poetic kinetic fluidity that the vast majority of grapplers will never achieve. It left his opponent struggling to tap-out after just over one minute of combat.

When Lansing returned in October, 2010 at BFL3 he had been promoted to co-main event status, but the outcome was very much the same. Once again, Lansing won via a devastatingly swift submission, this time a rear-naked-choke to take a second consecutive “Submission of the Night” award. Justin Lansing has not appeared within Battlefield since that night, but few who witnessed either of his monster submissions would dare argue with his right to fight for the belt!

On the other end of the activity spectrum, Micah Brakefield’s BFL debut came a week after Lansing’s last fight. He faced the physically imposing Andre Da Silva. It was a fight many thought Brakefield might not emerge from with a firm grip on consciousness. However, Micah not only survived, he used powerful takedowns and high-level wrestling to win via first-round submission.

Needless to say, BFL fans took notice.

Brakefield returned at BFL6 in a drop to welterweight that, while not quite disastrous, was certainly ill-advised in hindsight. That said, Battlefield fans saw the move as admirably motivated by Brakefield’s desire to remain busy and had no complaints when he was subsequently penciled-in for a middleweight title-eliminator at BFL8 in Nanaimo.

Micah’s split-decision win on that night, just weeks ago over Jer Kernelson, came via a highly-unusual 29-28, 29-28, 27-30 score, but the crowd seemed firmly in agreement that Brakefield richly deserved the win — especially after witnessing the highlight-reel suplex he landed in the first round!

This upcoming amateur title fight at BFL9 represents a rare showdown between the middleweight division’s best BJJ stylist in Lansing and its most dominant wrestler in Brakefield. That could mean a de facto kick-boxing match, with neither eager to play the other’s game, but each will more likely seek to impose his own strengths on the other.

Regardless, the main and co-main event winners at BFL9 on July, 16^th will have the honour of joining Gary Mangat (1-0 Pro) and Jacen Brooks (1-0 Pro) as the only amateur champions in Battlefield Fight League history.

Don’t miss it!

Tickets for this event are on Sale now at www.yayatickets.com

See the entire fight card at http://battlefieldfight.com/bfl9/.