Roxy Balboa fought an amazing Muay Thai fight for the IAMTF US Women’s Lightweight Title at the Hollywood Park Casino on April 26, 2008. Roxy was relentless as she punished Solano with blows to the chin over and over again. It is awesome to watch Roxy dominate in the ring. Her fitness level is so high, she is like one of those Energizer batteries because she keeps “going and going”. Solano has a tough chin and put on a great fight as well, but Roxy’s striking and her endurance level are way beyond what I have seen in a lot of fighters.
If you have visited any MMA forums, you have probably seen the Dana White posts. They clog up so many of the forums with their unending flood of insults and flaming. You see so much that you almost begin to believe what you read. I have seen posts about how Dana is the worst thing that has happened to MMA, how Dana has ruined the UFC, and I could go on and on. It becomes a virtual river of hatred for a man most of us have never met and know little to nothing about. Honesty what do most of us know? We know what we see on television, on Pay per view, in interviews and on Internet posts. How much of this is the real Dana White and how much is hype? What is the real truth behind it? I really don’t know. What I do know is that we wouldn’t have MMA or a UFC without him and would have to turn our hatred elsewhere.
I remember watching the early days of the UFC and the birth of mainstream MMA. I was captivated by it. Here they had people from all different forms of martial arts and fighting disciplines putting it all out there to see who the best really was. We all came to realize that certain forms of fighting were clearly dominant and when two dominant forms met it came down to the skill and heart of the fighters. Royce Gracie clearly dominated everyone in the first few events. He calmly waited out his opponents to end the matches in classic and sometimes unbelievable style. Eventually it all came to an end. I was at Cobo Arena in Detroit for UFC 9 in 1996. I, along with everyone who witnessed this event, was very upset by the lack of action. We later found out that the fighters had been threatened with jail time for hitting with closed fists. We didn’t know it then but, the UFC was slowly dying. It had lost its pay per view and most states had outlawed it.
Then it started to come back. This time it was a regulated, structured and well formatted event. It carried the same intense action as before but just seemed better. Then it exploded into the mainstream. It kept growing and growing and small promotions were popping up around the country. I personally started my own promotion, Combat X, LLC (shameless plug), because of my love for the sport and of MMA. It has held a place in my heart for years and, being that I am not physically able to compete anymore, I decided to promote. I wanted to have a promotion that took care of fans and fighters alike. I based my design off of my perceived understanding of the UFC. I know that I am not going to be as big a promotion as the UFC. I don’t know if I want that kind of headache. I do know that I can run a professional promotion and give the fans what want and what they expect to see. That’s what I expect from the UFC. The UFC has gone from being considered human cock fighting to evolving into a legitimate sport. Now it commands the pay per view scene, sells out every arena it goes to and shows no sign of slowing down. Your average person may not know what MMA is, but they do know what the UFC is and often think of the UFC as the name for MMA. You have to sit back and wonder how this happened. It all points back to one man, Dana White.
Dana had, as he told the story many times, convinced his friends Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta to purchase the UFC. They turned control over to Dana and the rest is history. Like him or hate him Dana White is the reason why MMA is so big, fast growing and quickly gaining respect world wide. Yes he may be outspoken and sometimes down right rude but, he pulls no punches and tells you what he thinks. It’s his “In your Face” stance that makes him such a popular bad guy. He has fought hard to be where he is and to take MMA to the level that it is at today. It is quickly becoming legal in more and more states and countries. This is because of his constant fight for the sport. So next time you want to post a hate filled diatribe about the man, take a second to think about what topic you would be discussing had he not taken control of the UFC.
Dothan, Alabama, 90 miles outside of Birmingham, with a population of 62,713 has become a melting pot for its friendly atmosphere of Southern Hospitality. Dothan once played host to the UFC back on February 7, 1997 for UFC 12 “Judgment Day”, also known as the “underground” era of the UFC. UFC 12 was the first UFC event to feature weight classes; heavyweights at 200lbs and up and lightweights at 199lbs and under. This event featured the “Super-fight” between Dan Severn and Mark Coleman which would determine the UFC Heavyweight Champion. Coleman defeated Severn with a nasty triangle choke which forced him to tap. The event also marked the first appearance of Joe Rogan, who was handling backstage and in-cage interviews for the event.
On Saturday April 19, 2008 the Dothan Alabama Civic Center welcomed Lane Collyer’s XFN Extreme Fight Night, one of the top MMA promotions in the Southeast. Unlike many of the smaller previous MMA promoters in Dothan who were unsuccessful, XFN Extreme Fight Night is sanctioned under I.S.K.A rules, which will bring certified judges and officials, rules and regulations of I.S.K.A sanctioning body, and stream line internet pay per view. Lane Collyer, owner and promoter of Extreme Fight Night recently signed a deal for the next four years to host fights at the Dothan Civic Center. Along with the scheduled shows for August and November this year, Collyer’s other events include XFN Gainesville Fight Night VII at the Georgia Mountains Center on May 31st and XFN Gadsden Fight Night at the Gadsden Convention Hall on June 28th. All shows will include Professional MMA fights, Amateur MMA fights, and Muay Thai Kickboxing matches. April 19th was Collyer’s first event at the Civic Center and featured eight amateur MMA bouts, two professional MMA bouts, and one Muay Thai Kickboxing bout. Fighters represented gyms from Alabama’s Dothan Combatives and Shadow MMA, gyms from Georgia included Bulldog Kickboxing, X3 Sports, Alpha Fighting Systems, Tifton MMA, and Rage MMA, gyms from Florida included Fierce Fight Team and Capitao Jiu-Jitsu. Headlining Saturday’s show and making his professional MMA debut was Dothan Combatives own Eric West with a 5-1 amateur record. He is known to be a strong, well-rounded fighter with good hands and a solid ground game. He was up against a star of BET’s “Iron Ring” reality show, Primus Moore out of Tifton MMA. As predicted by many, Eric West defeated Primus Moore by TKO at 4:58 in round one. Other teammates from Dothan Combatives to take the win that night were Xavier Morales and Richard Lamb. Check out the quick fight results below.
1) 3 Rounds of Lightweight Mixed Martial Arts
Mike Cefalu (Bulldog Kickboxing/Georgia) versus Xavier Morales (Dothan Combatives/Alabama) Winner: Xavier Morales at 2:56 of round one by rear naked choke
2) 3 Rounds of Welterweight Mixed Martial Arts
Clint Swartzlander (X3 Sports/Georgia) versus Juan Berrios (Fierce Fight Team/Florida) Winner: Clint Swartzlander at 1:30 of round one via triangle choke
3) 3 Rounds of Light Heavyweight Mixed Martial Arts
Tony Pavolini (Shadow MMA/ Alabama) versus Matt Bass (Dothan Combatives/Alabama) Fight ruled a no contest due to an unintentional groin kick
4) 3 Rounds of Lightweight Mixed Martial Arts
Ethan Watts (Alpha Fighting Systems/Georgia) versus Joshua Thomas (Dothan Combatives/Alabama) Winner: Ethan Watts at 41 seconds into the first round by rear naked choke
5) 3 Rounds of Middleweight Mixed Martial Arts
Jerod Salter (Capitao Jui Jitsu/Florida) versus Aaron Wilcox (Shadow MMA/Alabama) Winner: Jerod Salter at 1:57 into round two by arm bar
6) 4 Rounds of Welterweight Muay Thai Rules
Josh Shaddock (Bulldog Kickboxing/Georgia) versus James Isler (Dothan Combatives/Alabama) Winner: Josh Shaddock by TKO at 2:00 into round three
7) 3 Rounds of Welterweight Mixed Martial Arts
Steele McCall (X3 Sports/Georgia) versus Dave Pattie (Dothan Combatives/Alabama) Winner: Steele McCall at 1:22 of the first round due to a triangle choke
8 ) 3 Rounds of Bantumweight Mixed Martial Arts
Larry Landry (Alpha Fighting Systems/Georgia) versus Micah Goss (Rage MMA/Georgia) Winner: Larry Landry by knockout at 20 seconds into the first round
9) 3 Rounds of Light Heavyweight Mixed Martial Arts
Mike Bradford (Shadow MMA/ Alabama) versus Richard Lamb (Dothan Combatives/Alabama) Winner: Richard Lamb by TKO at 1:18 into the first round
10) 285lbs Amateur Mixed Martial Arts
James Percy (Fierce Fight Team/Florida) versus Kenneth Linen (Dothan Combatives/Alabama) Winner: James Percy by TKO at 3:15 into the third round
11) 185 lbs. Professional Mixed Martial Arts
Primus Moore (Tifton MMA/Georgia) versus Eric West (Dothan Combatives/Alabama) Winner: Eric West by TKO at 4:58 of the first round
by Donna Knoll of mma-underground.com - photo courtesy of extremefightnight.net
The first time in Canada the UFC premiered live on PPV April 19, 2008 live from Montreal. Montreal just happens to be the birthplace of Georges St. Pierre.
Mac Danzig VS. Mark Bocek (Lightweight bout)
Round 1:
Round one started out with Bocek and Mac on the ground with Bocek on top. During the last 40 seconds Mac switched things around and finished the round strong on top of Danzig pummeling him with fists.
Round 2:
Mac throws a knee landing on the jaw of Bocek. The crowd chants Bocek as Danzig slams him with another knee to the face. Danzig clearly dominates throughout round 2.
Round 3:
Entering round 3, Bocek’s face is showing clear signs of damage from the knees of Mac. Bocek takes Danzig down but Mac was able to work his way back to his feet and land yet another horrifying knee to the face of Bocek. As the blood flows freely the ref calls time for the Dr. to take a look at the cut over his left eye. The Dr. determined after viewing the battered bloody face of Bozek the fight could go on. The two fighters threw blows at each other till Mac took him down stretched him out and submitted him with a rear naked choke.
***
Michael Bisping VS. Charles McCarthy (Middleweight bout)
Round 1:
Bisbing punched and kneed as McCarthy made faces stuck his tongue out and taunted Bisping. At one point McCarthy put an arm lock on Bisping that he was able to finally pull out of. The fighters jumped back up tot their feet where Bisping was able to get McCarthy up against the fence where he unloaded his knees till McCarthy dropped. Bisping began punching at his opponent on the ground until the clock ran out of time. As McCarthy lay in a heap the ref spoke with him determining he could not continue the fight.
***
Kalib Starnes VS. Nate Quarry (Middleweight bout)
Round 1:
Quarry threw leg kicks and punches while Kalib retreated, backwards from him. Neither fighter tried for a takedown the audience booed.
Round 2:
Quarry threw several leg kicks that where left unchecked by Kalib. Quarry moved forward as Kalib sidestepped, retreated and ran from him. The audience booed and chanted “boring.”
Round 3:
Quarry kicked punched and chased Kalib around the octagon. It was so obvious that Nate began to mimic Kalib’s running style. Nates frustration could be seen when at one point he started punching himself in the head! I guess he figured if Kalib wouldn’t hit him then he had to hit himself. The round ended with Quarry not able to come up with a finish and Kalib breaking a new track sprinter record. Nate got he win. Kalib ended his night yelling at the crowd, ” f*ck you.”
***
Rich Franklin VS. Travis Lutter (Middleweight bout)
Round 1:
The first round moved along pretty evenly until Lutter got Rich in an arm bar that looked scary, however, Rich was able to spin out of before looking like he might have to tap. Travis kept grabbing on to Rich’s left leg and holding on to it like a crack whore grabbing on to her dealers leg as he says she cant have any more crack.
Round 2:
Rich mounts Travis and grabs his ankle. Rich spins out back to the feet. Franklin clinches Lutter and lands knees to his face. Keeping the pressure on, Franklin forces Lutter to the ground. After standing up one last time, Rich punches Lutter into back down to the ground ending the fight.
***
Matt Serra VS. George St. Pierre (Welterweight Championship Main Event)
The loudest UFC Event to date, beating out UFC 68 – the Randy Couture comeback fight for the heavyweight title against Tim Silvia in Columbus Ohio.
Round 1:
George had the upper hand the entire round. At no point did it appear Serra would win.
Round 2:
George forces Serra to the floor. Two minutes into the round George caught Serra with several jabs as Matt hung his arms down, hands near his waistline. Once again George controlled the entire round. He dominated Serra on the ground and repeatedly threw knees to his sides. Seventeen seconds left in the round, it is over and Geroges St. Pierre is declared the winner by TKO.
***
Jonathan Goulet VS. Kuniyoshi Hironaka (Welterweight bout)
Round 1:
Goulet began the round with some very impressive combinations, leg kicks and a good takedown defense against Hironaka. With thirty seconds left in the round, Goulet was dropped by the left hand of Kuniyoshi. After that, Kuniyoshi was able to finish the round in control.
Round 2:
Goulet throws a nice flying elbow. Hironaka replies with a left hand hook that momentarily drops Jonathan. Goulet then throws a right hand punch that takes Kuniyshi to the floor. He gets up to receive another right hand punch that ends the fight for Hironaka. Goulet is the winner.
Felice Herrig “lil bulldog” arrived on television in June of 2007 on the Fight Girls. The reality show featured American female fighters. In a short amount of time the women were taught muay thai kickboxing by the instructor Master Toddy. With the muay thai skills just learnt the fighters fought each other for the right to go compete in Thailand. Thailand is generally thought to have the best muay thai fighters in t he world. All but one of the five American fighters won their Thailand fight. “Lil Bulldog” does not stand for Felice Herrig’s looks, unless you do realize little bulldogs are cute as can be. It is for her fighting style. She keeps going forward no matter what is thrown at her; like a bulldog she just keeps going at her opponent.
Now that Fight Girls is over Felice tells me, “Since the show I have become very close with a lot of the girls. Like Ardra, Dawn, Kerry and Gina Carano. We have all gotten together a few times. I went to Arda’s K1 fight in Vegas, Kerry and I did a spread in Black belt Magazine together and just last month I stayed with Gina for a couple weeks and Dawn and I trained together. Kerry Vera is going to visit me sometime at the end of the month.”
Felice says, “Since the show, I won another National kickboxing title with the W.A.K.O, then I fought in Tokyo Japan. I turned pro and have been fighting for Chuck Norris’s World Combat League. I basically agreed to do that to keep me busy and make me a better fighter, because I usually fight at 114 lbs and the only weight for females in the league is 128lbs., so all the girls cut from about 140.”
Felice went on to say, “This season of the WCL is over and I am now co-hosting a MMA TV show on CLTV. You can check it out on cltv.com. I did an interview with Bas Rutten this Monday. Videos will be up soon. It starts airing May 6th. It was super fun.”
“I am doing a seminar In Baltimore Maryland June 13th and 14th.” said Felice. “I quit my job at the salon and am just focusing on fighting and anything fight related. I have started teaching a few classes a week at FLOMMA. I have been a very busy girl. I should be in next month’s issue of Black belt Magazine. I was in the April issue of Chicago Magazine. I am making my MMA debut this year.”
For me to watch a female fight it has to be good. Felice Herring is punching and kicking her way to destroy the theory that girl fighting is boring. I don’t want to look away when I watch her fight. Along with the likes of female fighters such as Gina Carano or Lisa King, Felice is the girl to watch if you want to be impressed.
When you think of a Promoter, you think of money, power, and the glitz. Most people see them at the shows hob-knobbing with fighters, ring girls, politicians, and practically everyone. What most people fail to see is what goes on behind the scenes. It’s not that glamorous and actually is very stressful. I thought I would share the heartaches and triumphs in promoting a show. This is how it happened and what I went through.
Having been involved in martial arts since childhood, I was drawn into the world of MMA from the start. I don’t want to give my actual age, but let’s say I was an adult watching the first UFC from my living room. In 2007 I felt secure in my career and decided to make the jump into promoting. I had no clue what I was going to do or how I was going to do this. I initially made a few calls to the Michigan Boxing Commission, from which I never received a return call. I was able to use some friends to get me in touch with the right person. I was amazed to find that, even though there was an exclusion for Amateur and Exhibition Martial Arts, the State considered MMA illegal. I argued back and forth with a couple of people and was basically told that if I tried to host an event I would be served with a cease and desist order to stop it. This really put things on hold. I couldn’t afford to lose money because I have a family and responsibilities. I was very happy to hear that the state had finally changed the laws in December of 2007. The down side to it was that the law did not go into effect until March 28th 2008. I began in January, preparing for my first event to be held in April. The following is how things went and just a little insight into what a promoter actually goes through.
I had just gotten off the phone with the State Boxing Commission. MMA is going legit in Michigan and amateur is un-regulated. The state would not be ready for a few months to have the officials in place to hold Professional shows. Therefore I had no choice but to hold an all-amateur show. I began calling every person I knew in the state that dealt with MMA Fighters. No one knew me, no one trusted me, and they certainly weren’t going to send their fighters to my event. A friend suggested I make a MySpace page and see how that goes. Well it turned out to be the best tool I have had so far. The problem still remained on the topic of credibility. There are a lot of people out there who will scam you and I understand fighters being worried about it. I still had almost 3 months to get this together and wasn’t really worried. One thing I did know was that Ohio had a ton of fighters that would love to break out of their state and do an event. I also began going to events hosted by other promoters, and making contacts. Still I wasn’t getting much return on the effort, and I had been running my butt off. I made contact with two teams out of Ohio who wanted to bring 3 fighters each. This was a Godsend. I had my first 3 fights laid out and still over a month away. Then fighters began to pop up all over. Detroit MMA brought in 5 fighters including Cinque Williams, who would go on to win our Heavyweight Title. Things were looking great, except for one thing; I still didn’t have a cage. I have been welding since I was young. �I can do this”, I thought. I grabbed a couple of buds and we began building our ultimate cage. I wanted and 8 sided cage (can’t say the name – you know why) but, also wanted something different. I decided on a full circle cage. I looked at how other cages were built and realized it wasn’t that hard to do if you knew what you were doing. It came together quite quickly. I had to use a local company to roll the steel beams, for the out frame work, other than that it was all in house. It all came crashing down when I went to get the frame powder coated. The folks who did the powder coating used the wrong temps and times and ended up ruining several weeks worth of work. I was back to square one. Fortunately I had made several contacts in the local industry and was able to get a nice cage rented to me. Things were finally falling my way.
One week to go and things were doing fine. I had sold enough VIP tables to cover all pre-show costs; yippee I had no bills left. I got notice into 2 local newspapers, ads on the city cable channel, fliers at dozens of local bars (where I was going almost nightly and handing them out to every person in the bars) and the buzz was strong. Then things began crumbling. The arena was trashed and took 2 days to clean. I have to give the city a lot of credit. Their DPW workers did and outstanding job. My wife and friend Rob helped me considerably and the school district really helped with the PA system. The show was going down Saturday night and it was now Wednesday evening. I was feeling good but I was really tired. My cell phone rang and it was an Ohio number. The guy on the other side informed me that he was representing the 6 fighters from Ohio. I was kind of shocked since they were from 2 different teams and were to fight each other. He then informed me that the fighters were not going to be at my show, as they had chosen to fight for a promotion in Ohio. When I brought up the matter of the contract he informed me that they were being paid to go to the Ohio show and our contract was nothing more than a piece of paper. I then told him that I would be calling Ohio to inform them that each of the fighters was stepping from amateur to pro status. That got a very fractured barrage of vulgarity and a hang up. No matter how I felt, I was down 3 fights. This really put a hurting on the event. Things were about to get even worse�
The day of the show was rolling along well. I had the arena looking as best as it could. The cage looked great and things were falling into place. I had set a 4 PM weigh-in time but, had several fighters coming from Ohio and Pennsylvania, so we didn’t know if they would be in on time. The main event-ers were there and ready. Chris Bourdon and Dave Gayhart weighed in good for the Lightweight Title; Cinque Williams and Anthony Holder weighed in for the Heavyweight Title. However our Super Heavyweight competitors were coming up short. The guy from Michigan was nowhere to be found and his opponent, from Pennsylvania, was not happy. We were just 3 hours from opening the doors. Alex Puckett of Detroit MMA made some calls and got guys in to fill voids. One of the fighters, referred by a friend, showed up but his opponent was a no show. It actually worked in my favor as it turned out that he was a pro fighter with 12 fights. Just moments before the event began our Super Heavyweight showed. He was in the National Guard and had been out training. We weren’t at the 10 fights I wanted but, we did have 7 and they were evenly matched. All-in-all I had 9 fighters as no shows for the event.
The fights went well and the crowd was just insane. Phil Davies, our announcer and fellow promoter, was very impressed with the crowd. The Lightweight Title fight was intense. The first round was a battle and had the crowd on its feet at the horn. The second ended very quickly with a KO just 19 seconds into the round. Then it had to happen. A guy who brought in a fighter wanted to contest the weight of his fighter�s opponent. That was no problem except, the opponent had shown up on time for the weigh-ins and this guy came in about an hour late. So he decided to contest it on the matter of not being present for the weigh-ins. I told him we would handle it after the show had concluded, since we were in the middle of a match and had the main event coming up. He demanded, “His words”, that we stop the show and re-do the weigh-ins for his fighters opponent. It wasn�t going to happen. I was not about to stop a fight in the middle, that could have a negative impact on that fight. If we had a problem with one fight we would settle it, not damage the integrity of 2. I ended up having to have him leave. He just would not allow me to finish the show and then redo the weigh-ins. By the way, I had personally weighed in the opponent and he actually weighed 3 ounces less than this guy’s fighter at weigh-in.
The event ended without other drama. The fights had been good and the crowd was very happy. I didn’t make much money off the event but, I didn’t end up in debt either. It took 7 hours the next day to clean everything up. We left the building looking better than we found it. I was able to finally get some sleep. I had been getting about 3 to 4 hours a night and going in each morning at 6:30AM to my full time job and working 8 to 10 hours a day. I was excited and ready to begin preparing for the next event. We had gotten a big boost in credibility from this event. We have a lot of fighters joining the ranks and things are looking good. I still have to put in hours and hours getting things lined up and dealing with the ever changing demands. I am not making millions, but, I enjoy the work.
John Poe is a Fight Promoter who resides in Michigan
Bodog has finally released all of the lines for this Saturday’s UFC 83. We have live lines posted under our CURRENT LINES section. Looks like there will be plenty of competitive bouts on this card. The main event between Georges Rush St. Pierre and Matt Serra should be nothing less than interesting. Serra said recently that he is having his crew boo him so he will be prepared for the 22,000 boos that he is going to hear during his entrance to the octagon. I for one do not feel to bad for the guy. Sorry, but this is what happens when you call your popular Canadian opponent “Frenchie” before fighting him on his own turf in Montreal. We also have some decent underdog bets on the card. This is the first time I’ve seen Ed Herman listed as an underdog. Would not be surprised if that line shifts a bit as Herman bets start coming in. Rich Clementi and his opening line look pretty good. Check out our PICKS section for our detailed opinions on these fights.
Felice Herrig “lil bulldog” arrived on television in June of 2007 on the Fight Girls. The reality show featured American female fighters. In a short amount of time the women were taught muay thai kickboxing by the instructor Master Toddy. With the muay thai skills just learnt the fighters fought each other for the right to go compete in Thailand. Thailand is generally thought to have the best muay thai fighters in t he world. All but one of the five American fighters won their Thailand fight. “Lil Bulldog” does not stand for Felice Herrig’s looks, unless you do realize little bulldogs are cute as can be. It is for her fighting style. She keeps going forward no matter what is thrown at her; like a bulldog she just keeps going at her opponent.
Bodog has finally released all of the lines for this Saturday’s UFC 83. We have live lines posted under our