BJ Ferguson will face Cornelius Godfrey at SFC 17 ‘The Homecoming’

A huge fight announcement was made this past weekend at Spartan 16: Night of Champions. During the intermission Spartan owner Terry Callihan and our very own Gary Thomas brought BJ Ferguson (8-3) and Cornelius Godfrey(6-1) inside the cage were they went on to announce that the two professional bantamweight fighters would meet in the main event at Spartan 17: The Homecoming.

They will meet at the tentatively scheduled event on January 26th at the National Guard Armory in Ashland, Kentucky. The two fighters are no strangers to big events as each one has been featured on national television before; BJ had a short stint on the SpikeTV/UFC reality show The Ultimate Fighter Season 14 and Cornelius went to decision this past September on AXSTv when he fought for regional powerhouse XFC.

Not only are they heading the event it will also be the second time that current Spartan bantamweight champion Cornelius will be defending his title. He won the title, first time a bantamweight professional mixed martial artists was crowned in the State of Kentucky, when he defeated Thomas Campbell this past January at Spartan 11; which just so happened to take place at the same venue, the National Guard Armory in Ashland, Kentucky. He successfully defended it at SFC 13 in Huntington against Andrew Huffman.

This is essentially home-court advantage for Cornelius as he lives and trains right across the river in Huntington, West Virginia. He trains with Jorge Gurgel affiliated Ground Zero MMA who was home to current Bellator fighter and local star Jason Butcher.

Cornelius  juggles so much right now including attending school full-time, taking care of his daughter  and training. He has risen, like Jason, to the top of the regional scene. He started off his professional career with six straight victories which eventually got him noticed by XFC officials who reached out to Cornelius for a fight with  Shah Bobonis (15-6). Unfortunately for Cornelius he would suffer his first loss in over two years when all three judges saw the fight in favor of Bobonis.

Just like Cornelius, BJ is also coming off of a loss headed into this fight. BJ traveled up to Quebec, Canada to face Randy Turner (6-2) for the Wreck MMA professional bantamweight title. Before that fight he only dropped one of his last six fights not including The Ultimate Fighter stint.

The Ferguson brothers are well known throughout the State of Kentucky the elder two brothers, BJ and Josh, have paved the way for their younger brother Isiah Ferguson who just made the leap to become a professional fighter earlier this year. Throughout their journey in the local and regional circuit they gained fans from all over which helped them land a spot on The Ultimate Fighter cast last year.

After the loss on The Ultimate Fighter BJ took some time off before returning back to the cage. He made his return in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky when he defeated Latral Purdue at Hardrock MMA 45 and Jeremy Meyers a few months later at Hardrock 50 which  took place in Shepherdsville. That eventually earned him the title shot against Randy Turner at Wreck, where from reports, he was doing well in the fight before he succumbed to a TKO loss in the championship round (5th round). The performance he had in that fight and in his recent fights has earned him a title shot against Cornelius.

This is one of the biggest match-ups in the Ohio Valley region. BJ and Cornelius are quite possibly the #1 and #2 bantamweight fighters and they are set to clash for the title in just under two months. You will not want to miss this fight. Tickets are available now at HoldMyTicket.com and will be soon on SpartanFighting.com

We will keep you updated on everything SFC 17 as it happens. You can follow Spartan on Twitter () and like them on .