Inside the cage, Trevor Prangley is the light heavyweight champion of the King of the Cage mixed martial arts promotion.

Outside of it, he's just another guy trying to make ends meet as a used car salesman at Dave Smith Frontier Sales in Coeur d'Alene.

PRANGLEY WAKES up at 5:30 a.m. every day to go running for an hour before being to work at the Coeur d'Alene lot at 8 a.m.

"It's extremely hard," Prangley said. "I'm here until 5, sometimes 7 p.m., then go to the gym and train for a couple hours. It's been tough, but there's no whining about it. It's what you have to do to get where you need to be."

Prangley sold cars 14 years ago before going pro - but has returned after moving his American Kickboxing Academy to Sunshine Street in Coeur d'Alene from their previous 4th Street location.

"Now that I've invested a lot of my savings into getting my gym going, I've been here waiting for my gym to grow."

His gym has moved to a new location at 6325 N. Sunshine St., Suite 1 near Tri-State Outfitters.

"It's a bigger space with better visibility," said Kevin Martin, manager of Prangley's academy. "We're off U.S. 95 now and have 4,100 square feet of room, with an area that was built for Crossfit, but we've turned it into a AK fit room. It has a whole new rebuild to it and gives us more room for mats and lights in the front of the building. It's a better family atmosphere. We've always said we're an MMA school first, and a gym second. It has more of that family feel and more of a professional approach to it."

They've even started a demo team for kids ages 8 to 11 to teach them in the sport of jiu-jitsu.

"We're hoping to go into some of the elementary schools, middle and high schools next year and show them that jiu-jitsu is just an advanced form of wrestling," Martin said. "It's the next level of wrestling for kids and we really want to get that out there."

PRANGLEY WILL defend his championship against former titleholder Tony Lopez - who he beat for the title in December - next Thursday when King of the Cage returns to the Coeur d'Alene Casino in Worley in an event titled "It's Personal."

In the previous fight between the two, the bout was stopped by an illegal strike by Lopez, which sent the fight to the judges' scores.

"I think it's going to be a great fight," Prangley said. "There's a little bit of bad blood there. This is the first legitimate title fight at the Coeur d'Alene Casino and I'm excited to bring it here to the Coeur d'Alene area. It's about time. I started my career back here 13 years ago and it's kind of cool to be here fighting (for the title) in my hometown again.

"It might be the biggest fight this town has ever seen. I really hope everyone gets their tickets and comes out to support it. A lot of these guys have made it big, or could make it big someday - and you just never know who will be on some of these shows."

The event will mark the fourth time the King of the Cage promotion has came to the area, with a deal for another four fights on the table.

"I think it's great," Prangley said. "They really seem to be selling out easier and easier now. At first, people were a little weary of the MMA shows here locally because back in the day, they weren't as good as they are now. Now, they're a lot better quality than they used to be and they're selling out because people realize it's a nice time out with their spouse or family where they can have a meal, get some drinks and enjoy a night of entertainment."

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com.