The Knoxville Expo Center will be hosting the East Tennessee Sports Expo Sept. 12-13 from 10 am - 8 pm Friday and 10 am - 5 pm Saturday, with tickets costing $7 to the public and $5 to UT students who bring their IDs.

The event, which highlights strength and fitness, will encompass different activities. These include:

• bodybuilding competitions
• figure and fitness competitions
• power-lifting contests
• grappling competitions
• mixed martial arts tournaments
• cage fights.

Ginger Numamaker, event co-promoter, anticipates that the most popular event will be cage fighting, followed closely by bodybuilding.  While it is too late for the public to register for any of the preceding competitions, the schedule for each event is posted on the website. A competition open to the public, however, is the chin-up contest, hosted by the Marines. 

For those who merely hope to expand their fitness knowledge, many vendors will be present, including but not limited to:  The RUSH Fitness Complex, the Skin Wellness Center, Bio-Engineered Supplements and Nutrition, NOW Foods, Extreme Nutrition.   However, various other vendors will be there to motivate and to teach the participants how to lead healthy lifestyles. 

"Vendors will be giving away samples at each station," said Numamaker, who hopes the samples of protein supplements, energy drinks and other healthy snacks will motivate people to get into gear and will catch their interest. 

Also on hand to help answer questions will be six-time world Jujitsu champion and Knoxville native, Samuel Braga.  Fitness gurus Peter Putnam and Jessica Paxon-Putnam, from MTV's show "MADE," will also be there to sign autographs and meet with the fans.

Numamaker, who believes our interests lie heavily in conventional sports like baseball, soccer and especially football, hopes to educate and popularize fitness and strength activities in the South and said, "I'll be happy as long as I'm promoting these things right here in Knoxville."