UK Combat - First England, then the World

[BYU 14]

Announcer Burt West: “We’re midway through round 4 and both fighters are exhausted, this has been a pier 6 brawl folks and I don’t know how either is still standing. Lee shoots on Gilchrist and takes him down, but Gilchrist secures a Guillotine!!!!! Lee is trying to get out, but it looks like its locked in and Shane Gilchrist is really wrenching the neck. Lee is hanging on……..but surely he will have to tap…….Wait a minute, Gilchrist has relinquished the hold and now he and the referee are both calling for the ringside Doctor. I don’t know what happened, but Lee is not moving and Shane Gilchrist is now on his knees with both hands over his face. This looks serious folks; we’ll try to get word of what happened, hopefully Lee just lost consciousness from the choke. Oh my, we certainly hope Ace Lee is ok as paramedics have now entered the cage……..I don’t want to speculate, but it appears there is concern about Lee’s neck…….Again, all of us with British Cage Fighting certainly hope he is OK……”

 

I used to watch that replay over and over………..Sitting alone in my den, neck held motionless by a halo. There I was, “The Chilton Assassin” Ace Lee, fighting for the BCF Light Heavyweight against Shane Gilchrist and the chance to parlay years of work into a Championship and then who knows, SIGMA, GAMMA, Alpha 1, the sky was the limit. Then in a blink of an eye, I was laying face down in my own sweat and blood. No feeling in my legs or arms….wondering if I was dead or dying. There was a flurry of activity around me, lots of noise and people trying to talk to me. Yet at the same time it was serenely quiet….almost peaceful.

 

Don’t worry, the story doesn’t end tragically. Yes, I did have a fractured vertebra in my neck, but fortunately there was no permanent damage to the spinal cord. The break had caused my spinal cord to be pinched and that was what resulted in the loss of feeling in my limbs. Six months in a Halo and countless hours of painful rehabilitation and I was good as new. I could get around as well as anyone else, but unfortunately my MMA career was over. Realizing that hurt….a lot!! In fact, it hurt almost as much as the rehab and the steel bolts that it seemed were screwed into my head keeping that damn halo in place. But still, one thing hurt more.

 

Jerome T McCallum was the owner of BCF (British Cage fighting) he was there at my bedside the first night in the Hospital. But as time wore on, it was clear he had begun to grow sick of the questions, sick of the inquiries and most of all sick of the fact that one of his promising young stars was done making him money. How can I say that? Well, it’s easy really, because he practically said it himself. In an interview with Blurcat some months after my injury, he all but went on a rant about how people should quit feeling sorry for me. How I got hurt doing what I loved and that he felt the continued focus on my injury was hurting his business. When asked why he felt no compassion for me, he stated emphatically that it was time for all of us to move on and he basically had no words left for me. I chose my career and knew the risks it brought and he was sick of the media trying to make him feel guilty for what happened. To those of us who worked for him these words were no pusrprise. He was a wanker, who just managed to hide it well from the rest of the world. Well, now the world knew too.

 

I would have been fine if it had ended right there, but he had to get one more quote in….”Ace Lee was a fine fighter, but he is done with MMA now, sorry, but that’s how life goes. It’s about time we blew out the candles on his pity party. He can walk, talk and do everything else any other healthy man can……Everything but MMA, so he will just come to grips with that and go find a new line of work.” Even for McCallum that was a bit much. I don’t know why he would say what he said because I never asked for pity, money or anything else from that bastard. But there was one thing I did know now…..I was not done with MMA! No, I wouldn’t be fighting again. It was even better than that. I was going to scour every corner of the earth and find an investor and start my own MMA company right in his own back yard and shove his words right up his ass. First England....then the World!!

 

As for Shane Gilchrist, he has become a dear friend over the course of this ordeal. He is now the #2 ranked Light Heavyweight in the SIGMA promotion and on course for a title shot. He is a great guy and I actually hope our paths cross again in the future, not as painfully of course as the first time.

[BYU 14]

Quest for the Dollar

 

Well, after scouring England I had discovered two things about Jerome McCallum. Everyone hated him and everyone feared him. It was the same everywhere I went looking for investments. “We would love to see that sod get knocked off his high Horse…………But, we couldn’t invest in a rival company.” What the hell, McCallum just can’t have that many compromising pictures.

 

After exhausting every lead, I took my search to America. I didn’t know what I was expecting to find, but I did know MMA was huge in the states. Big enough in fact, to not only support GAMMA, but also XCC and the newly opened MSX which is based in Utah. After pursuing several dead end leads I found myself in Dallas, Texas sitting in the rather opulent waiting room of an Oil magnet named Lance Decker. Lance was the stereotype of typical Texan, big, loud and dressed in a garish ten gallon hat, with a bolo tie to match. As I was ushered into his inner office the first thing that caught my eye was the large Steer horns mounted behind his expansive desk.

 

Lance: “Well c’mon in son and grab a squat. What’s all this I hear about you wanting to start up a fightin company?”

 

Me: “Well, actually it’s MMA, mixed martial arts, quite popular now actually.”

 

Lance: “woooeeee, y’all sure talk funny from across the pond there son and I know what the hell it is, my question is why should I pay you money to start one over in England? Hell, fer all I know ya could just be looking to make a few dollars back from all that Tea of yers we dumped in the Ocean a couple a hundred years ago.”

 

Me: (Listening to that drawl, make me chuckle inside, I talk funny?) Well, sir, I have prepared a lengthy presentation about why I think it would work and a detailed progression of how I plan to make it grow.”

 

Lance: “Hell, don’t bore me with words son, is there pictures?”

 

Over the next 90 minutes I went through a detailed presentation with charts, projections and yes, pictures. It detailed a two year plan to become the top MMA Company in England and a three year plan to become one of the top 3 in the world. I had scouted young fighters the world over appearing in small local shows, fighters established in individual art forms ready to make the transition to MMA and some solid veterans in the latter stages of their careers, who still had some name value.

 

Taking this mix, we would build slowly as the young fighters established a name for themselves and a select few became drawing cards and ultimately stars. We would then begin to pick up established stars from other promotions as their contracts came due and begin out ascent to the international stage….Where the real money making potential lay.

 

Lance perked up every time I said the “M” word. There were a few concessions and conditions and the usual string pulling. But when I walked out of his office, he was the owner and I the president of……Combat UK, the next generation of MMA.

[BYU 14]

Building a Dream

 

There was nothing sweeter than seeing that article in the January 1999 edition of the Blurcat MMA newsletter about the odd pairing of Ace Lee, former MMA fighter and Lance Decker, the Texas Tycoon, set to enter the world of Mixed Martial Arts as the owner and president of UKC. Even sweeter, Jerome McCallum was approached for a quote and shoved correspondent David Saint-Claire into a wall in the BCF reception area, swearing at him as he stormed off into his office.

 

Lance Decker had invested $100,000 to start the company and I told him it was all I would need. I spent the first three weeks of January calling, begging, cajoling and pandering to scores and scores of MMA fighters and hopeful prospects, usually on fast food and no sleep. Caffeine was the fuel that drove my quest and as January entered its final week I had close to 100 fighters ready to go in five divisions. I tried to be smart, signing young guys I thought had potential to long term exclusive deals while they were still a bargain. The opponent types got associate deals at cut rate prices and the “names” I would be relying on got standard deals, sometimes for more than I wanted to pay, but I couldn’t launch this ship as the SS “I never heard of this guy” if I wanted to make money.

 

I realized the dream was about to come true as I entered negotiations for our first event with my roster finally in place.

 

Blurcat ran a nice little piece introducing UK Combat MMA

 

UK Combat Roster

 

Key: Name (age) record

Heavyweight

Major Stars

None

 

Secondary Stars

Brian Barnes (31) 11-8

Eugene Clough (42) 37-34-2

Graham Goodbody (37) 20-9

Jesse Singh (29) 13-4

Kevin Portman (33) 9-5

Mark Bicknell (30) 7-2

 

Undercard

Barry Strachan (33) 24-15

Bronson Berle (30) 3-3

Daigo Kitaguchi (25) 3-5

Damien Jones (28) 2-0

Eien Kawano (24) 3-0

Fletcher Merman (29) 6-3

Frank Analysis (32) 36-19

Frank Sheedy (31) 22-7

Harvey Loeb (25) 6-3

Ikuhisa Tamura (30) 20-8

Jutaro Honma (24) 0-0

Keaton Spratt (26) 4-7

Libor Pudil (21) 0-0

Mason Archer (22) 0-0

Murlo Satinho (20) 0-0

Renato (24) 3-0

Stan Blackheath (37) 20-9

Sylvester Collins (24) 3-0

Taye Burnett (21) 0-0

Wilson Franklyn (25) 2-0

 

Light Heavyweight

Major Stars

Bill Cumming (34) 27-12

Michael Banning (28) 8-3

 

Secondary Stars

Conor Houghton (26) 2-4

Neville Granville (29) 0-0

 

Undercard

Affonso Villar (21) 1-0

Alekos Karabatsos (28) 12-4

Blaze Weeks (23) 1-0

Ernie Burns (35) 17-10

Folee Caffatere (29) 2-1

Hardy Tristan (24) 0-0

Jasper Osmond (35) 10-13

Joseph King (28) 4-10

Juan Puga (28) 8-10

Justin Brannagh (28) 3-0

Logan Sky (21) 0-0

Priti Manek (23) 1-1

Rupert Dreck (23) 4-0

Samuel Russo (28) 16-11

Spencer Rubenstein (21) 0-0

Titus Mostel (25) 2-3

 

Middleweight

Major Stars

None

 

Secondary Stars

Bixente Fontaine (26) 8-2

Paxton Brinkal (32) 4-5

 

Undercard

Atsutane Akera (20) 0-0

Bart Diggs (24) 5-2

Bill Brown (21) 1-0

Billy Russell (24) 1-0

Bradley Dixon (32) 17-9

Carson Neuwirth (29) 10-14

Danny Akabaro (18) 0-0

Ed Burridge (22) 2-0

Francis O’Leary (45) 26-18

Genki Shinashi (26) 6-1

Haranobu Oshiro (24) 4-0

Heath Kaladaris (19) 0-0

Hunter Scribbins (22) 2-0

Jakuchu Abe (20) 0-0

Jermaine McKenzie (24) 4-0

Marlon John (21) 1-0

Nick Detroit (26) 4-0

Owen Hyde (22) 2-0

Ronnie Allen Teller (21) 2-0

Susumu Katoh (32) 17-10

Todd D’Abruzzo (25) 5-1

Tora Mizwar (23) 3-0

Vagner (30) 13-5

Wes Hersch (23) 0-0

 

Welterweight

Major Stars

Jim Carpenter (34) 49-9-2

 

Secondary Stars

Mikey Wallace (25) 5-0

Mills Mullally (29) 14-4

 

Undercard

Bret Clement 23) 4-0

Brock Youdale (22) 1-0

Bussho Maruyama (21) 1-0

Chad Zoff (18) 0-0

Deacon Stawford (27) 4-5

Diego Arteta (21) 0-0

Evan Pizzaro (18) 1-0

Fisher Kaye (25) 2-2

Gideon Mavarro (20) 0-0

Grant Capelli (21) 0-0

Holden Strant (26) 2-4

Houston George (22) 2-0

Joaquim Fontes (25) 11-1

Junmal Skinner (25) 4-3

Kojuro Ijicho (31) 14-10

Ray Eton (26) 7-1

Ryder Myllart (21) 0-1

Templeton Crumb (27) 6-1

Thiago Ceni (35) 17-12

 

Lightweight

Major Stars

Heikichi Shimizo (31) 1-0

William Powell (27) 8-7

 

Secondary Stars

Gregory O’Hara (23) 1-0

Helio (23) 20-2

Ron Chuckle (21) 2-1

Roy Lynch (24) 6-7

Tim Oldacres (22) 0-0

 

Undercard

Bosco Curbeam (22) 0-0

Braxton Pryce (23) 1-3

Brendon Job (22) 0-0

Chuck Brown (20) 0-0

Drauzio Simaan (23) 5-0

Floyd Haywood (20) 0-0

Georges Nouri (29) 10-1

Grande Silveira (23) 4-0

Henry Baldwin (26) 7-2

Kyle Sagal (23) 3-0

Kyle Winterburn (22) 0-0

Lucas Mueller (26) 7-2

Motoki Hojo (22) 0-0

Sawyer Hines (26) 2-2

 

Featherweights

Major Stars

Liam O’Donnell (24) 5-2

 

Secondary stars

Jay Dorridge (23) 3-0

Louie Sullivan (20) 0-0

 

Undercard

Beau LaPone (21) 0-0

Clifton Curry (20) 0-0

Dominic Ash (28) 5-0

H.M. Menzel (28) 10-3

Hetcher Durante (22) 0-0

Hisamitsu Sasaki (18) 0-0

Kei Maki (21) 3-0

Maya Asgar (20) 0-1

Nicky Shapiro (28) 14-10

Norberto (33) 27-5

Pim Pim Gwon (20) 0-0

Reza Afshar (27) 4-0

Samba Nakamura (21) 0-0

Sophan Sastrowardoya (23) 3-0

 

Yes, I had spent every penny we had and it would take some good advance merchandise sales to keep us barely in the black. But I wasn't ready to share that with the Boss yet.

[Icy]

Nice start, i'll be reading as i have also started from zero in Europe, Mediterranean in my case.

[GrantC]

Great start look forward to reading the rest. Look out for Danny Akabaro

[BYU 14]

;623070']Nice start' date=' i'll be reading as i have also started from zero in Europe, Mediterranean in my case.[/quote']

 

Great start look forward to reading the rest. Look out for Danny Akabaro

 

Danny is a beast and I like Renato as well. Glad to have you following guys, hopefully will be ready for my first card tonight or tomorrow, hopefully I don't go broke as I may have been a bit ambitious on the initial hiring

[Icy]

I'll be pulling for Villar, he is a monster in my game and just won the Light Heavyweight champ in my Mediterranean promotion.

 

Love also Murlo Satinho who is my heavyweight champ.

[jamie1989]

Fantastic start.

 

Like the back story an awful lot, keeping an eye on this one.

[GrantC]

Are you going to post the fights before hand so we can predict the winners?

[BYU 14]

I called Lance Decker to give him the good news. We had a full (slightly bloated) roster and I had just finished negotiations with the venue for our first show in February and had sent the final proofs of our advertising poster for the event for priority printing, which would be done this afternoon. The inaugural event would be UKC 1 – Dawn of Destruction, a name he seemed quite fond of.

 

Me: You know we have not held a single event and already have a 25% rating as a low level regional promotion. We have some good young fighters locked down as well, Renato, Murilo Satinho, Danny Akabar, Affonso Villar, Sylvester Collins, Bill Brown and Billy Russell. Guys I think will be big stars in the coming years Mr. Decker.

 

Lance: “Ya know son, I can ‘preciate the spunk ya have here, but yall know what I care about is the bottom line. Ya can have a Possum in the pot, but if ya ain’t got no matches ya ain’t eating!! Now I want to eat, so how much cash we got son?”

 

Me: (Swallowing hard) A little under $4000.00 currently, but we will go into the hole after our first show after wages and advertising.”

 

The silence on the other end of the line spoke volumes. Then, Decker mentioned how hard it would be to find a body at the bottom of an Oil well and reminded me he was a business man, not the Salvation Army. I promised I would do my best and was very confident we would reach our goals.

 

Decker: “Son, doing your best is only an excuse for not doing what I expect and if I had a Bull that was only trying his best, he would end on my Dinner table, yall do get my meaning don’t ya?”

 

Me: “Yes sir.”

 

With that the line went dead. I normally would have been a bit concerned about the tone of that conversation, but I had a show to get ready for and I was determined not to end up on Decker’s table or the bottom of an Oil well, so there was no time to sweat it.

 

 

;623175']I'll be pulling for Villar, he is a monster in my game and just won the Light Heavyweight champ in my Mediterranean promotion.

 

Love also Murlo Satinho who is my heavyweight champ.

 

Those two quickly became two of my favorites. Villar is the scariest looking character in the game!

 

Fantastic start.

 

Like the back story an awful lot, keeping an eye on this one.

 

Thanks Jamie, glad to have you following along.

 

Are you going to post the fights before hand so we can predict the winners?

 

Most definitely, I will put up a poster similar to the one in my test post a few threads down before every fight.

[BYU 14]

Night steals the Day

 

After every Night, comes the Dawn..........

 

With every Dawn a new Day begins..........

 

If...................You survive the Dawn!!!

 

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x32/Kidbrit/UKC-2.jpg

 

Make your predictions

[GrantC]

Cumming

Ijichi

Barnes

Silveria

Renato

Nuewirth

[BYU 14]

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x32/Kidbrit/UKCHeader.jpg

UKC 1 – Dawn of Destruction

 

Preliminaries

 

FW – Dominic Ash (6-0) defeats Hetcher Durant (0-1) by TKO in 4:02 of rd 1

Rating: Decent

 

WW – Bret Clement (5-0) defeats Brock Youdale (1-1) by UD in 3 rds

Rating: Decent

 

MW – Asutana Akera (1-0) defeats Paxton Brinkal (4-6) by submission in 1:19 of rd 1

Rating: Great

 

HW – Jutaro Honma (1-0) defeats Bronson Berle (3-4) by submission in 4:44 of rd 3

Rating: Great

 

Main Card

 

LHW – Bixente Fontaine (9-2) defeats Carson Neuwirth (10-15) by UD in 3 rds

A slow paced match that generated very little excitement and even less action, Fontaine was simply the busier of the two, barely and takes it 29-28 on all 3 cards.

Rating: Poor

 

HW – Renato (4-0) defeats Daigo Kitaguchi (3-6) by UD in 3 rds

Renato used his superior strength to control Kitaguchi, but lacked the experience to finish two submission attempts as Daigo fought in a defensive posture the entire bout

Rating: Poor

 

LW – Henry Baldwin (8-2) defeats Grande Silveira (4-1) by submission in 3:47 of rd 3

These two put on a Jiu Jitsu clinic as they traded submission attempts, with neither man able to gain an advantage until Silveira ran out of gas and succumbed to an Arm bar.

Rating: Average

 

HW – Brian Barnes (12-8) defeats Eugene Clough (37-35-2) by UD in 3 rds

A sad spectacle as Clough is shot as a fighter and Barnes was not in top shape. The crowd is irate as Barnes plods his way to a boring decision. Clough announces his retirement after the loss.

Rating: Awful

 

WW – Mikey Wallace (6-0) defeats Kojuro Ijichi (14-11) by UD in 3 rds

A brilliant chess match between striker and grappler, with Wallace using a rapier like jab and quick counters to avoid all but one takedown attempt that came at the end of round 2.

Rating: Great

 

Main Event – For the UKC LHW Championship

LHW - Michael Bannon (9-3) defeats Bill Cumming (27-13) by UD in 5 rds

Underappreciated fight by the pro Bannon crowd, who grew as frustrated as “The flurry from Surrey” was stymied by the wily veteran time and again as he tried striking, grappling and Muay Tai with marginal success. Youth still carried the day though as Bannon held on to win the Strap.

Rating: Poor

 

Attendance: 244 – Gate $3,660 – Show Rating: Fantastic

 

Thoughts

The Wallace / Ijichi match pulled the show out of the toilet and left the small crowd happy. I was hoping for closer to 350 in attendance, but the word will get out. I don't see Bannon as any more than a gatekeeper Champion while the young guns in the division gain experience.

 

Fight of the Night - Wallace / Ijichi

 

Surprise of the Night - Renato struggling in his UKC debut against Kitaguchi. I expect more from him.

 

Lance Decker will not be happy that after the proceeds are totaled we will be over $25,000 in the hole as a Company. I have my next two events set up as 10 fight cards to get exposure for some young fighters, but after that I will be going to 6 show events (4 main, 2 preliminary) until we start making a profit. Otherwise we won't see our first anniversary.

 

Grant: You owe the house money

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[BYU 14]

After a five percent boost in popularity after our first card (Low regional 30%) I am happy and try and allay Lance Deckers fears of losing money by playing this up. Even better, with most of our signed Fighters now done with their old contracts, our second card, featuring two Title fights should be even better.........The Poster says it all.

 

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x32/Kidbrit/UKC-4.jpg

[BYU 14]

http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x32/Kidbrit/UKCHeader.jpg

UKC 2 – Rude Awakening

 

Preliminaries

 

MW – Bill Brown (2-0) defeats Ronnie Allen (2-1) by TKO in 3:16 of rd 2

Rating: Good

 

LHW – Affonso Villar (2-0) defeats Hardy Tristan (0-1) by UD in 3 rds

Rating: Average

 

HW – Damien Jones (3-0) defeats Keaton Spratt (4-8) by UD in 3 rds

Rating: Very Poor

 

LW – Bosco Curbeam (1-0) defeats Braxton Pryce (1-4) by TKO in 3:47 of rd 1

Rating: Great

 

Main Card

 

MW – Billy Russell (2-0) defeats Jemaine McKenzie (4-1) by submission in 2:23 of rd 3

McKenzie’s striking gave Russell fits during the first two rounds as he led on all cards. Russell was finally able to secure a takedown in the 3rd and promptly stole the win with an Arm triangle.

Rating: Decent

 

FW – Jay Dorridge (4-0) defeats Liam O’Donnell (5-3) by submission in 2:12 of rd 2

Dorridge was a whirling dervish of submission attempts keeping O’Donnell scrambling as Jay looked to work his arms. The end came with Dorridge applying the Kimura from half guard.

Rating: Good

 

WW – Bussho Maruyama (2-0) defeats Fisher Kaye (2-3) by UD in 3 rds

Kaye carried the first round with marginal strikes and good takedown defense, but big slams and ground control in each of the next two rounds carried the day for Maruyama in dull match.

Rating: Very Poor

 

HW – Barry Strachan (25-15) defeats Jesse Singh (13-5) by SD in 3 rds

A close fight throughout that saw Strachan build an early lead through superior grappling. As Strachan tired, Singh began to land vicious strikes in a furious comeback that fell just short.

Rating: Decent

 

UKC Heavyweight Championship

HW – Graham Goodbody (21-9) defeats Ikushi Tamura (20-9) by UD in 5 rds

Tamura grounded Goodbody in the first and battered him with strikes, punching himself out in the process. Goodbody then controlled the rest of the fight with his jab to win the UKC HW Title.

Rating: Decent

 

Main Event – For the UKC Welterweight Championship

WW – Jim Carpenter (50-9-2) defeats Mills Mullally (14-5) by submission in 4.11 of rd 1

Carpenter put on a clinic, manhandling a very capable fighter with sound technical grappling and lightning quick transitions. Mullally was game, but once Carpenter had the Americana locked in, he moved from mount to side control and forced the tap to become UKC WW Champion.

Rating: Good

 

Attendance: 253 – Gate $3,795 – Show Rating: Excellent

 

 

Not as much of an increase as I had hoped in terms of attendance, even with our best drawing card on top. Hopefully this show will springboard us for the April card though. I have to say I am disappointed so far with some of our young talent. Villar looked very average tonight and Russell was losing decisively before he pulled the triangle out of his ass.

 

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[BYU 14]

UKC – Quick Strikes

 

UKC Rankings April 1st, 1999 (* = Champion)

[b]Heavyweight[/b] [b]Light Heavyweight[/b] [b]Middleweight[/b]
1- Frank Sheedy 22-7 Alekos Karabatsos 12-4 Alex Cole 10-0
2- Ikuhisa Tamura 20-9 Ernie Bruns 17-10 Vagner 13-5
3- Grant Goodbody 21-9* Bill Cumming 27-13 Bixente Fontaine 9-2
4- Stan Blackheath 20-9 Michael Bannon 9-3* Bradley Dixon 17-9
5- Fletcher Merman 6-3 Jasper Osmond 10-13 Genki Shinashi 6-1
6- Frank Analysis 36-19 Samuel Russo 16-11 Susumu Katoh 17-10
7- Barry Strachan 25-15 Juan Puga 8-10 Bart Diggs 5-2
8- Kevin Portman 9-5 Rupert Dreck 4-0 Todd D,Abruzzo 5-1
9- Renato 4-0 Justin Brannagh 3-0 Francis O’Leary 26-18
10- Jesse Singh 13-5 Affonso Villar 2-0 Billy Russell 2-0

[b]Welterweight[/b] [b]Lightweight[/b] [b]Featherweight[/b]
1- Jim Carpenter 50-9-2* Helio 20-2 Norberto 27-5
2- Thiago Ceni 17-12 Georges Nouri 10-1 H.M Menzel 10-3
3- Mills Mullally 14-5 Henry Baldwin 8-2 Dominic Ash 6-0
4- Joaquim Fontes 11-1 William Powell 8-7 Jei Maki 4-0
5- Mikey Wallace 6-0 Lucas Mueller 7-2 Jay Dorridge 4-0
6- Junmal Skinner 4-3 Drauzio Simaan 5-0 Nicky Shapiro 14-10
7- Ray Eton 7-1 Roy Lynch 6-7 Liam O’Donnell 5-3
8- Bret Clement 5-0 Kyle Sagal 3-0 Reza Afshar 4-0
9- Templeton Crumb 6-1 Sawyer Hines 2-2 S. Sastrowardoya 3-0
10- Holden Strant 2-4 Bosco Curbeam 1-0 Maya Asgar 0-1

News

We follow up a loss of 24,172 in February with another loss of 29,632 in March, putting us $52,509 in the red. Lance Decker is having a fit, but I assure him I have a plan and that we need to lose money to make money. He makes a crack about the Boston Tea party and asks how much us “limeys” made off of that and hangs up on me.

 

I sign only one fighter in March and that is one of BCF’s top Middleweights Alex Cole. I give him a 4 fight associate deal at $1,800 a match. If all goes well I well look to steal him from BCF when his deal with them is up. He is 27 years old and 10-0 and is a very solid all around fighter.

 

The Big Three

Gamma, Alpha-1 and Sigma are the top three promotions in the World in that order, though the gap between Sigma and the big boys is substantial.

 

Top 10 Pound for Pound in the World

1: HW – Hassan Fessik 26-0 (Alpha-1)

2: LHW – Tadamasa Yamada 22-1 (Alpha-1)

3: HW – James Foster 33-4-1 (GAMMA)

4: MW – Neil Napier 15-0 (GAMMA)

5: LW – Sean Morrison 26-3 (GAMMA)

6: MW – Matthew Dean 32-5 (GAMMA)

7: LHW – Zvonimir Asanovic 16-1 (GAMMA)

8: LHW – Roberto Aldez 43-6 (Alpha-1)

9: WW – Carlos Da Guia 15-0 (Alpha-1)

10: MW – JJ Reid 27-2 (GAMMA)

 

Not surprisingly GAMMA and Alpha-1 hold all the spots in the overall pound for pound. UKC does put two fighters in the individual weight class top 10 with Norberto the #7 Featherweight in the world and Helio the #9 Lightweight.

 

Retirements

Tobias Goulet – 33 years old – Career record 13-20

Kenta Arimura – 34 years old – Career record 10-15

Eugene Clough – 43 years old – Career record 37-35-2

 

“The Bear” was on of ours, but this was the right choice. 74 MMA fights (many unsanctioned) and a battered 43 year old body are not harbingers of any future success in this industry.

[BYU 14]

Not the big name in the main event, but this is our best card top to bottom yet IMO. Fighters that are new to the area are finally getting some name recognition and guys like Helio and Vagner can really break out with good performances. Decker is on my ass for a balance sheet and I talk him into waiting until after Midlands Mayhem, a move I will probably regret. I will leave this up longer before posting the card so I can get some predictions, hopefully.

 

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[BYU 14]

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UKC 3 – Midlands Mayhem

 

Preliminaries

 

MW – Haranobu Oshiro (5-0) defeats Francis O’Leary (26-19) by UD in 3 rds

Rating: Very Poor

 

LHW – Logan Sky (1-0) defeats Priti Manek (1-2) by TKO in 0:21 of rd 1

Rating: Great

 

WW – Diego Arteta (1-0) defeats Ray Eton (7-2) by KO in 0:44 of rd 1

Rating: Great

 

HW – Sylvester Collins (4-0) defeats Taye Burnett (0-1) by submission in 4:52 of rd 2

Rating: Great

 

Main Card

 

MW – Danny Akabaro (1-0) defeats Wes Hersch (0-1) by TKO in 0:40 of rd 1

In keeping with the precedent set on the undercard, Akabaro swarms Hersch early and drops him with a devastating flurry of punches, then pounds him out with Hammer Fists.

Rating: Great

 

HW – Kevin Portman (10-5) defeats Frank Analysis (36-20) by submission in 3:50 of rd 1

Another high intensity early ending as Manchester favorite “Granite” Portman drives Analysis into the mat with a big slam and pounds away, before catching an Arm bar and forcing the tap.

Rating: Great

 

LHW – Rupert Dreck (5-0) defeats Justin Brannagh (3-1) by UD in 3 rds

A good looking matchup on paper, but Brannagh did not live up to his name, abandoning his reckless style in fear of being taken down, practically handing the match to Dreck.

Rating: Poor

 

MW – Vagner (13-5-1) and Bart Diggs (5-2-1) fight to a 3 rd draw.

An incredible turnaround in this fight as Diggs was rocked several times in the first two rounds as he looked to grapple. In the 3rd he stood and traded, dropping Vagner and pummeling him for the entire round to salvage a draw.

Rating: Good

 

UKC Lightweight Championship

LW – Helio (21-2) defeats Georges Nouri (10-2) by TKO in 1:32 of rd 3

Helio is a well balanced fighter and gained a quick advantage with his Muay Tai in round 1. Nouri had some success grappling in the 2nd, but was smothered in a barrage of shots in the 3rd that ended it. Helio becomes the UKC LW Champion!!!

Rating: Great

 

Main Event – For the UKC Featherweight Championship

FW – Dominic Ash (7-0) defeats Jay Dorridge (4-1) by TKO in 4:34 of rd 2

Jay Dorridge hoped to make lightening strike twice by taking a page out of Bart Diggs book. Rebuffed by sharp punches as he tried to grapple in the 1st, Dorridge came out swinging in round 2 and was caught with a beautifully timed counter right that dropped him, where Ash applied the coup de gras pounding Dorridge to take the UKC FW Belt!!

Rating: Good

 

Attendance: 494 – Gate $9,880 – Show Rating: Great

 

Thoughts: Nearly doubled our attendance and almost cracked $10,000 at the gate, both great jumps over last months show. I wish the main would have been a little stronger, but I have to say overall the card lived up to expectations. What won't live up to expectations is the fact that we are close to $100,000 in debt and I will have to explain that to Lance Decker at the end of the month after I get the final merchandise figures. That should be about as fun as this....http://operationsports.com/fofc/images/smilies/headbang.gif

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[BYU 14]

News

April ends and we are $86,969 in the hole. I call Lance and he comes unglued, threatening to bury me up do my neck in Cow **** in a closet full of Horse flies. I lay out my plan to cut down on matches now that we are getting some exposure and also inform him that I will be pursuing a TV show with a minor network like Euro Cable sports 4 or UK Broadcasting Digital. He ends the conversation by threatening to fly over for the May show and makes it know he better see some asses in the seats or he will by “really mad dagnabbit!” I don’t ask him what dagnabbit means, though I am tempted to.

 

Joining the fold

With an eye on getting a quick boost I bring in some bigger names on short term associate contracts. This allows me to get them much cheaper, but they can walk away at any time as well….A potential liability if any of them win one of our titles.

 

LHW – Curt Kitson – 4 matches over 24 months at $2000.00 a match. He has a record of 20-3 and is the #2 HW in BCF, the #1 LHW in Mountain States X-treme and will likely debut at the top of our rankings as well.

 

FW – Colm Dee – 5 matches over 24 months at $1,400 per. He is 12-3 and the #5 Featherweight in Sigma.

 

HW – Dave Lennon – 4 matches over 24 months at $1,400 per. He is 14-4 and ranked #10 BCF.

 

Needless to say, Jerome McCallum is pissed I now have two of his top 10 heavyweights and wastes no time trashing me in an interview with Blurcat. “UKC is a joke, my guys only signed associate deals because they needed a quick once Ace Lee buggers it up. I fully expect them to win a Title, bring it back here and piss on it at one of our shows.”

 

As if that wasn’t enough I then snag….

“The Sandman” Rob Baines to an associate deal, calling for $2,100 a match for 5 matches over 24 months. Baines is the #4 ranked BCF Middleweight and is 28-10. I will give him a title shot soon to see who pisses on what.

 

WW – “Citizen Pain” Will Kane – 4 matches over 24 months at $1,200 per match. He is another BCF fighter and ranked #10 in their Lightweight division.

 

Farewells

MW – Bradley Dixon 17-9 leaves the promotion, signing an exclusive deal with GAMMA. He would have been a solid gatekeeper for us, but will likely be cannon fodder with GAMMA.

 

April results of note

Carlos da Guia knocked out Washichi Kobayashi in 1:02 of the 1st round to retain the Alpha-1 WW Title

 

George Laurent knocked out Davis Spyrou in 0:55 seconds of the 2nd round to retain the BCF MW strap. They headlined the card and drew only 508, with a paid gate of $10,160 for British Cage Fighting. We are nipping at their heels already!!

 

The Gamma 44: Regueiro vs. Cahill show drew 7,462 fans in Ohio and 82,008 PPV buys as Julio Regueiro retained his GAMMA WW Title via 2nd round submission over Geoff Cahill in 3:40.

 

Promotion Rankings

Gamma, Alpha-1 and Sigma are still 1, 2, 3. We are currently #6 in the world and BCF is 4, though we are both wayyyyyyyy behind the big guns.

[BYU 14]

I waste no time throwing Baines into a Title shot, in which he will be the overwhelming favorite. This could be a big payoff, if I am able to leverage the Title into an exclusive deal, or a big bust if McCallum talks him into leaving after one fight and basically saying our Title is worthless if he wins it in convincing fashion and feels no need to stay in our paupers row promotion and prove anything.

 

Lance Decker gets a woody when he discovers a fellow Texan is fighting Goodbody for the HW Title and informs me that all sweetbreads in Amarillo couldn't keep him away from this show.....I start to ask him "Aren't sweetbreads Bulls nuts? " and then follow that with, "and what would they keep you away from?" but again think better of it.

 

I cut the card to 8 matches to try and lessen our loss, though Baines is a pretty penny all by himself by our current financial standards.

 

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[GrantC]

Keep an eye on Arteta taken out everybody in my WW division in BCF. Going to match him with Carpenter now should be a great fight. Look out for another mexican at WW called Vega forget his first name but his just as good if not better.

[BYU 14]

Keep an eye on Arteta taken out everybody in my WW division in BCF. Going to match him with Carpenter now should be a great fight. Look out for another mexican at WW called Vega forget his first name but his just as good if not better.

 

I didn't know what to expect from him, but that was an impressive debut. He will get fed some weaker opponents now to build his record as I definitely need some more stars at WW. I think there will be some interesting matches developing over the summer and fall, especially at HW.

[BYU 14]

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UKC 4 – Torment

 

Preliminaries

 

WW – Evan Pizzarro (2-0) defeats Grant Capelli (0-1) by KO in 1:05 of rd 2

Rating: Good

 

LHW – Affonso Villar (3-0) defeats Joseph King (4-11) by KO in 0:57 of rd 2

Rating: Good

 

HW – Murilo Satinho (1-0) defeats Keaton Spratt (4-9) by submission in 2:31 of rd 1

Rating: Fantastic

 

 

Main Card

 

FW – Sophan Sastrowardoya (4-0) defeats H.M. Menzel (10-4) by submission in 1:21 of rd 1

Action packed while it lasted, Menzel charged from his corner taking Sastrowardoya to the ground almost immediately, but as he moved to pass guard got caught in a triangle choke and submitted.

Rating: Great

 

MW – Owen Hyde (3-0) defeats Ed Burridge (2-1) by SD in 3 rds

A controversial split decision win for Hyde, who fought moving backwards most of the match, throwing occasional flurries to frustrate Burridge, who could not catch the fleet Canadian.

Rating: Decent

 

WW – Joaquim Fontes (12-1) defeats Bret Clement (5-1) by submission in 4:13 of rd 1

Fontes was all over Clement from the get go, pounding away from the mount and catching an arm as Clement looked to defend himself. Fontes nimbly turned a blocked Arm bar into an Americana for the win.

Rating: Great

 

UKC Heavyweight Championship

HW – Frank Sheedy (23-7) defeats Graham Goodbody* (21-10) by submission in 3:47 of rd 1

Sheedy lifts the HW title belt in Goodbody’s first defense with a punishing ground game that the Champion was ill equipped to deal with. The end came via an Americana as Goodbody was simply overwhelmed.

Rating: Good

 

Main Event – For the UKC Middleweight Championship

MW – Rob Baines (28-10) defeats Bixente Fontaine* (9.3) by submission in 2:46 of rd 1

The newly arrived Baines showed was simply too talented for the defending Champion as we had our second Title change of the night. The Sandman demonstrated a potent submission game (He calls Wigan style hooking) to salt the match away with an excruciating Arm Bar to become the new UKC Middleweight Champion..

Rating: Fantastic

 

Attendance: 472 – Gate $9,440 – Show Rating: Fantastic

 

Thoughts: Another solid card, with three of our brightest prospects looking impressive in the preliminaries and Baines was absolutely as advertised in the main event. It will be key to keep him around at least for a couple of Title defenses. A slight dip in attendance, but we are still threatening that first magic milestone of a $10,000 gate and I think the success of this card will put us over the hump in June.

 

My personal highlight was watching Lance Decker nearly piss himself when fellow Texan Frank Sheedy took the Heavyweight strap from Goodbody, chorteling. "Woo-eeee, that fella may be Champ longer than it takes a Three legged Turtle to walk across Texas!!!" I just smiled and began thinking of throwing Renato in with him for his first defense.....A thought I quickly erased as I did not want to overmatch one of my future stars this early.

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[Icy]

You are starting to see already what Affonso Villar and Murilo Satinho can do, they are my top stars in my regional promotion

[BYU 14]

A long reign as LHW champ looks pretty bleak for Bannon, with "The Bad Element" jumping right into a title fight. In all reality Bannon is a weak champ, popular but weak. I look for Kitson to take this comfortably and Lennon to lay a similar beating on Barnes.

 

To me the most intriguing fight on this card is 32 yr old Judo legend Shimizu taking on Simaan. Shimizu is highly regarded, despite his late transition to MMA and in Simaan he has a decent opponent. This fight will say a lot about both men.

 

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;626224']You are starting to see already what Affonso Villar and Murilo Satinho can do' date=' they are my top stars in my regional promotion [/quote']

 

No doubt, I love both those guys and I hope I can keep them around a while. Satinho, Renato and Sylvester Collins could generate a ton of excitement at Heavyweight.