UNTAMED 10 POST FIGHT REPORT: A FULL FORCE PRODUCTIONS EVENT
Posted on | March 12, 2007 | 2 Comments
FULL FORCE PRODUCTIONS’ UNTAMED 10
(PICTURES WILL BE AVAILABLE SOON)
Post Fight Report by: Rich Bergeron
Ten incredible fights took center stage in the ring at Memorial Hall in Plymouth, Massachusetts Saturday night in front of a packed house of over 1,500 people. It was a spectacular show bringing in high-caliber fighters who provided non-stop thrills from start to finish.
Paul Gorman of the Academy of Mixed Martial Arts in Portland, Maine was the first fighter warming up in the ring on Saturday before most of the fighters had even shown up yet. The 140-pounder, coming in with a record of 4-3-1, has been in training for three years and has two years of fights under his belt already. As one of the stars of the main event Saturday, Gorman admitted he would be feeling the jitters just like he does in any other fight. He explained that, no matter what role he plays on the card, each competition scares the Hell out of him. “It’s all about proving something out there,” he said. “I don’t think you’re a real fighter until you’ve had to come back from a loss.”
He considers himself a well-rounded fighter despite reporting, “I like the ground the best.” He added that his favorite submission is a rear naked choke and he prides himself on being able to mix his boxing and jiu jitsu training in with his wrestling background. He works part time at a grocery store to support his training and also teaches classes in MMA.
He got what he expected out of Dan Ferrer Saturday, who came in with a record of 4-1-1. He predicted a “tough fight” and knew Ferrer liked standing up and striking. “I always like to go to the ground,” he said. “I’ll just work for the takedown and try to put him on his back.” Gorman would like to fight in Japan someday, where he mentioned the fighters are more respected and revered. He also wants to keep teaching and “fight as long as I can.” He gave special thanks to his coaches: Jay Jack and Amanda Buckner. “I’d never be able to do it without them,” he said.
They obviously prepared him well, as he edged out Ferrer with an excellent strategy to go along with his greater wrestling abilities. Ferrer got off to a quick start and did prove to have some decent striking ability. He landed a few vicious knees to Gorman’s legs before he wound up exactly where Gorman predicted he would. Gorman scored a few leg kicks of his own in the middle of the round and wound up locking up a takedown. He spent the rest of the round trying to lock up a chokehold.
It was all Gorman in the second. Ferrer just couldn’t keep up under the onslaught Gorman unleashed. He landed a few leg kicks and some rib shots, but otherwise he had no answer for his well-rounded opponent. Gorman landed a leg kick of his own and a left and right hand early in the second. After a jab and a follow-up right hand Gorman locked up the Guillotine tight and sunk it in deep. Ferrer wound up on the ground and struggling to rip Gorman’s arm off his throat. He eventually succeeded and Gorman kicked off his back and tried for an arm bar. He got back up to his knees and scored a takedown from there. A left and right hand from Gorman provided the final action of the night. He won a Majority Decision.
“I’m super excited,” said Gorman after the fight. “I’ve been waiting to fight him for a long time.” He added that he was pretty sure he won when he discovered there would be no overtime round. “I hit him good,” he said. “I landed a lot of solid shots on him.” He also mentioned his sponsor Hell on Earth (www.hellonearthcult.com).
Despite being the clear aggressor and the more dominant fighter, Gorman was still humble in winning. “I can always do better,” he admitted. “There’s always things you could do better.”
The undercard began with a fight between Josh Spearman of Dragon Warrior MMA and Don Amarasinghe of Massachusetts Submission Academy. This was a rematch between the two, who last met in August of 2005. Their first match ended with Amarasinghe pulling off a triangle choke to finish the fight. Spearman came in for their second fight trim and slim at just over 120 pounds for the clash between these two rivals.
Sensei Steve Pento of Dragon Warrior MMA explained before the fight that Spearman had a bunch of fights since he last squared off with Amarasinghe. His opponent had not fought since, and the ring rust showed.
Spearman, landed some jabs before he swept in for the takedown in the early seconds of the first round. Amarasinghe spent much of the first round on his back doing a decent job of holding off the relentless attack from Spearman. Looking like he was truly on a mission to get revenge, Spearman rattled off a few shots to the ribs and a bunch of nice right hands to Amarasinghe’s head before the fight ended suddenly. Just when it looked like Spearman was attempting to pick Amarasinghe up and slam him down on the canvas again, the crafty underdog managed to lock up an arm bar and tugged it hard until Spearman had no choice but to tap out.
Spearman fought a great fight and was definitely ahead on the scorecards when his opponent took advantage of a small window of opportunity. Amarasinghe got right back on the horse with a win after his long layoff, and although luck might have played a significant part in his win, so did skill. He executed the arm bar finish perfectly and at the first opportunity he was able to.
Fernando Bernardino and Josh Grispi fought next at 155 pounds in a full-fledged battle of local brawlers that went on for a long while. Grispi, of Plympton, Ma came in representing South Shore Sportfighting while Bernardino represented the Cape Cod Fighting Alliance (CCFA). They both put forth an amazing bell to bell effort.
Grispi started slow with a big leg kick and not much else. Bernardino landed a left hand and a few scattered punches on the way to securing Grispi in a headlock against the ropes. Bernardino later landed a huge takedown. Grispi was able to reject one takedown early on, but Bernardino’s grappling skills won out. All Grispi could land before hitting the mat was another leg kick and a nice rib punch.
Bernardino latched onto a modified backward cradle, holding one arm around Grispi’s neck and the other secured under Grispi’s knee. It seemed like he was just trying to keep Grispi from getting back to his feet for most of the first as he held on tight and missed his early attempts at some hammer shots. Grispi eventually worked his way into a better position and got up to his knees before escaping. Bernardino stayed down and took a few leg kicks before the bell ended the round.
Making up for letting his opponent get out of trouble late in the first, Bernardino stormed his way out of the corner in the second and notched another nice takedown. Although he scored another takedown later and landed a nice leg kick, the punches he got in were all glancing blows during the second round. Grispi made a few mistakes, but he made up for them by pressing the action more, even when on his back. After a few wild punches he got caught up trying a high kick, and Bernardino made him pay by dropping him to the canvas. Grispi escaped once again, let Bernardino get up, and not long after that he landed a great left hand with a right following it up just moments later. He ended the round strong with several huge leg kicks and a couple nice punches. At one point Bernardino’s legs buckled, but he made it to the end without a stoppage.
The deadlocked judges’ scores called for a third and final overtime round of two minutes. Bernardino came on strong early and worked his way to a takedown after landing a nice kick to Grispi’s ribs. Grispi landed a few cleaner shots in the short round along with a nice knee and leg kick. He also managed to fight decently off his back while Bernardino didn’t do much once he had Grispi on the ground. The judges all scored the final and deciding round 10-9 for Grispi.
Super Heavyweights Troy Tondalo and Darryl Paquette made their way to the ring next. Tondalo looked like the clear favorite to win before a punch was thrown based on his physique alone. Fighting for Team Savage, he acted like one as he stormed right toward Paquette, fighting independently. Paquette engaged in a series of fast, heavy-handed flurries at the center of the ring with Tondalo before he wound up on his back. He took a few good right hands before he crashed to the canvas and only managed to land a good leg kick to complete the only offensive chance he would be given in the fight. Once Tondalo had his opponent on the ground, he maintained control and managed to rain down enough punches for the referee to call the fight to a halt due to excessive unanswered strikes. The entire fight was over in just over a minute and 40 seconds.
The next fight featured a couple featherweights, but it ended just as quickly as the first super heavyweight bout of the night did. Boneyard’s Chris Snow could only get off a few decent kicks before Dragon Warrior MMA’s Matt Smith used his wrestling background to secure a guillotine submission. Smith scored a quick takedown and then let Snow back to his feet before wrapping up the headlock tight and jumping up quick to wrap his legs around Snow’s torso. Snow tried to get out, but Smith made the move count. The quick finish set up one of the best matches of the night between Darron Andrew and Dan Savery.
Andrew, fighting out of Massachusetts Submission Academy, did well in his pro debut against the 1-0 Savery of Team Santos. The 205-pounders slugged it out all the way through the eight-minute fight. Andrew secured the first takedown, and Savery fought off his back pretty well until Andrew let him up. Savery got his payback when he caught Andrew with a huge right hand that simply bounced off Andrew’s skull and seemed to have no ill effect. Andrew answered with a right jab and a left hand. He threw a few more glancing shots and got hit with a left and right from Savery. Andrew ended up against the ropes taking knees for much of the last half of the round until he reversed positions and started landing his own knees. He definitely landed the more solid strikes with his knees, and some of them were borderline low blows. Savery appealed to the ref to no avail. He kept trying for the takedown but couldn’t get the angle or the leverage he needed. Andrew closed out the round by landing a couple excellent punches to Savery’s face.
Andrew fought much better in the second round, though he did seem completely winded at some points. Savery landed a thumping leg kick early, but all he could do after that was score some rib punches. Andrew was backed up against the ropes in the first half of the round, but he fought off his attacker’s knees with quick, powerful punches. A right hook and a few knees later he tripped Savery to the mat. Andrew landed a few nice strikes and managed to keep control for a short time with his minimal grappling skills, but Savery eventually escaped. It was almost all knees from Andrew and rib punches from Savery from that point on. Near the end of the fight Andrew dodged Savery’s best chance to score a knockout and came back with a brilliant right hand. Andrew took the match by a final score of 20-18 on all cards.
The second super heavyweight bout of the night came after the intermission with hometown and fan favorite Eric Foley taking on Charlie Thomas. Foley, battling for South Shore Sportfighting, gave the fans what they came to see. He rushed right out of the gate at Team Savage’s Thomas and almost landed the running tackle attempt. Thomas turned the tables on Foley, who barely escaped being taken down himself. The two grappled to their feet where Foley promptly landed a trip takedown. Foley wound up securing a half nelson between nailing Thomas in the ribs with a few knees. Thomas escaped and got back to his feet where he landed a power slam takedown after getting off a knee to Foley’s chest. Foley rolled out after the takedown and wound up standing over Thomas. He made a few attempts to land some shots on his prone opponent, but Thomas did a great job of fighting off his back. Finally, Foley let him get to his feet, where Thomas almost landed a single leg takedown before Foley fought him off near the end of the round.
Thomas came out quick, landing a leg kick and swinging for the knockout punch. Foley ducked it and shot for the takedown with split-second timing. It took a few moments to develop, but he finally did wind up on top dropping some hammer shots on Thomas. It was all Foley for the rest of the round. The only real highlight for Thomas through the rest of the action was a nice right hand. Foley bloodied his nose with a furious succession face punches and nailed him with knees to the ribs when he didn’t have any openings to go for the head. He also landed a few nice hooks to the ribs before the end of the fight. The heavy crowd favorite easily took home the unanimous decision.
185-pound Jerry “The Punching Bag” Speigal, of Lion Kill, lived up to his nickname against Chris Rondeau of Fightzone. Speigal came out slugging, but he wound up unable to secure an early takedown. Rondeau put him down on the mat in the prone position. Rondeau ignored Speigal’s attempts to grab his legs from the ground as he began landing vicious strikes to Speigal’s head. When Speigal finally managed to drag Rondeau down with him, Rondeau even gave him a heel to the face. Finally, Speigal was able to find what he had been looking for all along. He latched on to an inverted heel hook submission and pulled it tight enough to do serious damage. Rondeau wound up limping out of the ring. After just one minute and 38 seconds, the fight was over.
“I got a lot of beatin’ in a short amount of time,” said Speigal after the fight. He admitted it was worth it, though, since he was able to come out with the win. “I just wish the guy woulda tapped out,” he said. “I don’t like tearin’ nobody’s ACL.”
He added that most of his whole game is built around submissions. “That’s all I do, mainly,” he said, describing how he goes through five or six days a week of jiu jitsu to get ready for fights. He trains out of LA Boxing in Albany, New York. He said he enjoys the sport because it offers “a format to compare what you can do to what other people can do and see where you’re at.”
Greg Rebello and Shawn DePaul came next in the 205-pound class. Both men had their moments of brilliance in this one, but one final explosion of adrenaline ended it all after the back and forth battle went almost all the way to the end. Rebello, of CCFA, had a tough first round, but he made up for it later on. DePaul, of Massachusetts Submission Academy, landed a huge high kick to the face early and rushed in for the takedown without success. Rebello landed a left hook and his own kick to the chest in the round. DePaul came back and landed a huge right hand just before shooting for another takedown. Rebello managed a few knees to the chest and a couple more punches before DePaul finished strong with a series of punches landing to the ribs and face.
Rebello landed some big kicks to DePaul’s ribs and leg early in the second. He dodged a few punches and then landed a few of his own before his opponent rushed in again for a takedown. He caught Rebello at just the right moment and position against the ropes. Rebello could not back out and wound up on the canvas. DePaul landed a few rib punches before Rebello worked his way up to a sitting position and managed a nice left leg kick after getting to his feet. The two exchanged flurries and left and right handed bombs until Rebello took the attack to a whole new level. He pushed DePaul into a corner and unloaded a furious combination of left and right hooks. Depaul’s legs buckled at one point, and he looked ready to collapse until the referee jumped in to halt the action. Rebello initiated the action out of nowhere and with tremendous speed and power. The final storm of punches was like a tornado of precision and pain swirling around DePaul, who simply could not respond. Rebello’s effort completely overwhelmed him. He took home the win in dramatic fashion.
The 145-pounders came next and fought a close battle on route to another knockout ending. Jason Pappas of Team Savage battled through a tough first round against Team Bishops’ Brian Conrad. Conrad poured on the punishment early, landing some nice uppercuts and left and right shots. Pappas struggled to gain some control with some grappling, but he wound up on the canvas. Conrad seemed to lack any real wrestling skills and found it tough to do anything with his advantage. The two wound up back on their feet, and Pappas landed a nice left hook and set to work with a withering attack featuring a succession of knees and foot stomps. Between attempts to Charlie Horse Conrad, he wound up getting smacked a few times and developed a bloody nose. Conrad did all he could to avoid the punishing knees to his legs and ribs, but Pappas could not be stopped. When Conrad tried a throw after a break that Pappas mistook for the end of the round, it was Pappas who ended up securing the takedown.
The second round started with Pappas once again pressing the action with knees. Conrad punched back with wild shots that didn’t do much at all. Pappas wrapped up a headlock, but Conrad somehow managed a takedown and piled on the punches. Though nothing landed with that much power, Pappas simply covered up through it all and did nothing to stop the few blows that landed solidly. Conrad won due to excessive unanswered strikes.
Full Force Productions (www.fullforce.tv) put on an amazing card and had all the fans in a frenzy for the intense action. Special thanks goes out to Mike Varner for an outstanding job at setting up and organizing the whole event. He also helped get the crowd pumped on a few occasions, including one tense period when everyone in the crowd had to find a seat for the matches to continue. Sensei Steve Pento from Dragon Warrior MMA was also instrumental in helping Fight News Unlimited secure access to the event. Above all, Vendetta Fight Gear (www.vendettafightgear.com) deserves the highest praise for supplying the event’s sexy ring-card girls, bringing a huge flat screen TV to show UFC highlights, and giving away 60 free T-shirts to screaming fans. The Duxbury-based clothing company run by Chris Jeffcoat and Nick O’Connor provided complete support for the event and helped make the night a success.
MMA AMATEUR JONATHAN WOOD INTERVIEW
Posted on | March 9, 2007 | 1 Comment
Jonathan Wood: Amateur MMA Fighter
By: Rich Bergeron
Jonathan Wood will step into the cage for his next battle on March 17th as part of the Cage of Honor St. Patty’s Day Bash. He’s looking forward to putting his training to the test.
“I been in Kenpo Karate since I was 18, so it’s been about 6 years,” Wood said about how he got started in the sport. “I got to talking to some people about wanting to do it, and I went to the library and did some research. I seen it on TV, and I ended up finding the Cage of Honor out of Nixa, Missouri. I sent ’em all my info, and they got right with me, and I got a fight scheduled. I’ve been in it since November of 2005 as an amateur.”
He carries a record of 2-2-0 into his next match and hopes to break .500 and move on to greater accomplishments in the sport.
“My ultimate goal is to become a pro fighter. I just want to train, fight, and keep fighting. If it takes me to bigger places, great, if not, that’s great, too,” he said. “I’ll fight until I can’t fight no more, and when I’m done I wanna start my own gym and possibly start my own cage fighting business.”
Asked about what he loves most about the sport, Wood responded, “I love the training, the pain’s great. I can’t get enough of that. I just like training with different types of people. Everyone’s different, and you can learn a lot of things from others.”
He hails his intense workouts as the key to preparing for his fights. “Conditioning, conditioning, conditioning,” he stressed. “I do a lot of sparring with different weight classes, and that kinda helps me with sparring with the heavier guys. That gives me a little bit more strength out of it. That way it’s a little bit easier for me. I used to spar with a 185-pound guy, and when I went to fight I could just bridge out, and I had no problem getting out of tight spaces.”
He said he’s always been a fan of martial arts and considers Bruce Lee and Brandon Lee as role models.
“Outside the ring I’m a certified nurse’s aid,” he said. “I really enjoy helping elderly people as much as I can. It’s a pretty good way of helping people.”
Looking back at his career so far he recalls one fight in particular that stands out as the most frustrating. “My toughest fight was definitely my second fight. I went in there not really prepared, and I paid for it,” he recalled. “It lasted about 18 seconds into the first round. The guy threw a jab, I parried it down, and then he threw a right leg kick. When he did that I dropped my hand, and he came over with the right cross. He broke my nose in 7 places, re-arranged my septum, and caused a hairline fracture in my left eye socket. He hit me once, I fell down, and he got on top of me and hit me a few more times before the ref jumped in to stop it. That was probably the roughest fight I’ve ever had. I learned a lot from that one.”
His amateur debut was much more gratifying. “My first fight was my favorite. I went in there well trained, my cardio was great, and I was fighting against a Jiu Jitsu guy. We went through the first round in a standup battle with strikes back and forth. The second round went 38 seconds or so, and the guy took me down and had me in a headlock. I was just kinda working my way out of it, and he reached up and grabbed the fence. I got behind him, took his back, and got him in a rear naked choke to end it.”
He’s a big fan of the sport of MMA and studies both local fighters and the major stars out there to improve his game. “There’s a couple local fighters that I like pretty well. Rodney Gordon, he’s an excellent guy, and he’s willing to help anybody. He’s an excellent fighter, too. He’s a good striker, and he’s got a good ground game. He’s a champion in his weight class. I’ve also been working with Tyler Stinson here at the gym. He’s the middleweight champion for Masters of the Cage,” he explained. “I’m also a big fan of Chuck Liddell and Cro Cop. I love Liddell’s unorthodox style. It’s just amazing how he can come from anywhere and knock somebody out. And with Cro cop, that leg kick of his is amazing.”
Wood is just plugging away with training and trying to maintain a complete game to take into the cage with him against his next opponent. “I’m just trying to work on my standup, because I think this guy’s more of a standup fighter,” he said. “He’s 6 foot 3 and weighs 155 pounds, so he’s obviously a tall, skinny guy, but I don’t know whole lot about him. I heard he’s got a decent ground game, and I’m working a lot on that here at the gym.”
To find out more about Wood check out his MySpace profile at: http://www.myspace.com/jmadwarrior
STEELE CAGE PROMOTIONS SET FOR JULY DEBUT
Posted on | March 9, 2007 | 2 Comments
Richard Steele’s International Fighting Organization Set to Debut Steele Cage Promotions This July
By: Rich Bergeron
Richard Steele is well known to boxing fans as a world famous referee and former pro fighter. After retiring as a ref, he crossed over into the promotional game. He’s now beginning to make another crossover to a new endeavor. Recognizing the rise of Mixed Martial Arts–to the point where it is surpassing boxing in popularity–Steele and two business partners created their own fight league and promotional company. Steele Cage Promotions and the International Fighting Organization were both started by Steele’s team to carve out a new niche in the sport to address the influx of eager fighters out there clawing for attention.
“My partners and I were sitting down talking about promoting MMA,” explained Steele about how the whole concept was born. “Boxing is not up like it used to be, but MMA is definitely on its way up. It’s almost about to take over the whole sport. We talked and put together the name of Steele Cage. They wanted to use my name, and it sounds good, cuz they’re fighting in a cage. We all decided to incorporate, so we did. Steele Cage Promotional Company was the result of that. One of my partners is an attorney: Steve Oshins. He’s a young attorney, he’s very business minded, and he knows about the law. He’s a very smart young man. The other partner used to be a boxing manager. His name is Ed Swindle, and I knew him in LA. He has a lot of business sense, and he’s a good manager, so all three of us are in it together.”
Steele’s interest in the sport goes beyond studying the demographics of the fan base. He also surveyed the landscape out there for young fighters and realized that there is an abundance of young men and women involved in the various martial arts and wrestling disciplines who don’t have a place to really show off their skills on a grand stage without Mixed Martial Arts.
“What’s so good about it is you’d be surprised at how many fighters you have. You take Jiu Jitsu, karate, wrestling, and you take boxing, and that’s what makes MMA. We have so many young people coming to us, young and older guys that have been in MMA or some parts of MMA for a long time,” said Steele. “They want to come into MMA and get into the cage, and they have a lot of excitement. There’s a lot of people who want to get involved. We get about 20 to 30 calls a day from people wanting to fight. There’s just a lot of anticipation, and we’re hearing from fighters and managers. They all love the name Steele Cage, and they all want to be a part of it. Everyone can not get into the UFC and some of the other bigger organizations. There’s just not that many. We are trying to give young people a chance to show their talent, a chance to rise to the top.”
Steele and his partners have four shows booked so far. The first one is set to take place July 7th in Las Vegas at the Orleans Arena. The follow up show is scheduled for September 1st at the Riviera Hotel. Then it’s back to the Orleans Arena again on the 21st of September. The fourth show will be December 15th at the Riviera again.
In addition to the four dates at two locations, all the events will be broadcast on HDNet (http://www.hd.net) television. “That’s Mark Cuban’s network here in Dallas. He’s the owner of the Dallas Mavericks,” said Steele. “We’re using his network to go to 5 million homes. That’s a great start on a great network. We gonna have some great fights, and that’s what we’re here to do, to please the public. We just want to let young people display their talent. We’re trying to produce best show in MMA. For those who work real hard, we’ll have a rating system, and we’ll rate ’em and let the cream come to the top where the best will fight for the title. These guys will have to fight the best to keep the title. There’s not gonna be no playing around. Everyone’s gonna have to fight to get a position, and they’re gonna have to fight even more to keep a position.”
Over 60 fighters are signed on already, and the group is still looking for new talent. Fighters can go to www.Steelecage.com and sign up for the new league by filling out the registration form on the site. One of the Steele Cage Promotions staff members will get in touch with the fighters once they submit their information.
“The best part about it is there’s something new here, and it’s exciting, and the fighters really want to fight. Boxing, I’ve been in boxing almost 40 years, and it has its ups and downs, but this is all new,” said Steele. “It’s just really exciting to me, because I see and I hear all the fighters trying to fight and prove themselves and try to get to the top.”
It is no surprise that Steele has high hopes of someday competing with the more well-known organizations out there. “Our goal is to be able to have some of the best MMA champions ever. To be able to have world champions, where we can challenge the UFC, PRIDE, and all the leading organizations in the world,” he said.
Having watched the rise and fall of so many boxers over the course of his career, Steele knows what it’s like for fighters who don’t ever make enough to support themselves when they finally reach an age and physical condition when fighting becomes impossible. “We gonna try to really direct the careers of these young people and make sure we do a really good job with the young careers they have, even after they finish fighting,” he explained. “We gonna take it personally so we can help these young people have a great career and a great life after their career. One of my partners is a great business man who has a lot of companies. Hopefully after these guys careers, if they want a job or need one, we’ll make sure they get it, and we’ll make sure they get some education. We’ll take the pride in directing these young people’s careers and their livelihood.”
Steele sees some stark differences between the sports of MMA and boxing. He’s noticed that MMA is ushering in more excitement to the fight scene, while boxing is on the decline. “I was in boxing for over 40 years, and I love boxing,” he said. “I know what boxing has done for so many young people, but the fans and the TV people, and everyone is really tired of watching the same fighters fight all the time. They want new blood and new talent, and they’re just not getting it.”
Steele sees the next generation of fighters turning to MMA for both the challenges and benefits of learning a host of different skills to survive and thrive in the sport. “Young guys are coming out and giving they best, and they’re working hard to learn the sport,” he said. “They’re learning how to become a champion, and they’re all new and exciting kids, you know, and you get what you pay for. When you go to see MMA and you pay money to see those fights, they fight. That’s what you get. There’s no messing around. So many times in boxing, the fight is one sided or lopsided. When that kind of thing goes 10 to 12 rounds, nobody wants to watch that. In this sport when they come and do it, it’s only two or three rounds, and then it’s over. They go all out and give everything they can to take the guy out. There’s no playing around.”
The transition to promoting MMA doesn’t mean Steele is ready to completely give up on the Sweet Science. “Oh yeah, I still will be involved in boxing. I’m still promoting boxing and trying to keep boxing alive,” he maintained. “Boxing is a great sport. I’m talking to four guys now that are Olympic hopefuls, and we’re gonna get ’em through the Olympics so they can turn pro. We need to have a good Olympics with good fighters to come out of it.”
Steele looks at the free TV stations like CBS and ABC as the key to getting boxing more exposure. “We need to get it back to that point where families can watch people box and display their talent on free TV, and that will build the interest in the sport again,” he said. “I’ve never seen the gyms so empty. The gyms I’ve seen have been empty in Vegas and California, and I can remember a time when you couldn’t get in the gym there were so many people learning. Today the gyms are empty. We have to get some more excitement, and we need good fighters and young fighters. We got to bring the interest back up.”
Steele and his team are planning to go far beyond the traditional MMA show setup and make their events truly spectacular. “We gonna have videos, music, and everybody’s just gonna have a great time. It’s not just gonna be a event. People are gonna be able to come in and just relax and have a great party,” he said. “We are planning to have the best DJs, the best videos on screen, and the best fighters. Every time we have a card, we gonna have 2 title fights. We have a sanctioning body: the IFO. Those are the belts we gonna have. There’s gonna be a lot of excitement when these young people fight and reach the top to become world champions. With the IFO, we gonna build that organization so it stands for something, and we’re gonna have the best champions in the world.”
Steele promised he’ll be holding some press conferences about the new organization in the near future. He said fans should expect a lot of TV advertising and other press. “We gonna build these young people up. We’ll generate interest with newspapers, magazines, and television, and we’ll cover these young people so the world will learn who’s fighting,” he said. “We’ll hold the first press conference at the Orleans Arena, on site, and we’ll be putting that together soon.”
It is impossible to ignore all the great fights that unfolded under Steele’s watch as a boxing referee. “I had a wonderful career, and I’ve done some of the major fights in history. I’ve refereed over 170 world title fights. Some of them went in the history books as some of the best world title fights ever,” he said. “I’ve worked fights with Hagler, Hearns, Sugar Ray Leonard, Ali, Mike Tyson even, and I done just about everybody.”
Though it may be boxing that initially gave Steele his star status and name recognition, he’s quickly finding a new passion for MMA and looking at both sports with the same important goal in mind. “Boxing has been good to me, and it’s been good to my family. It’s time for me to give back. I’m gonna give some back for boxing, but now is the day for MMA, and I can give back there as well as boxing,” he said. “The major thing here is if it’s MMA or boxing, the major thing to me is to give some exposure to these young kids. I just want to help these young people to come in and get off the streets and make a decent living.”
He has designed Steele Cage Promotions to put the fighter first. “That’s one thing that we do, we pay our fighters a decent salary for a decent day of work. We believe in letting a fighter go home with a decent paycheck. That’s what we gonna do, we gonna give back to the fighters,” he explained. “As long as they go in and give 100%, we gonna give them what they’re due. They’re gonna be paid to come, paid to fight, and paid to win.”
Though it has been done before, Steele promises his fighters will get unique bonuses for coming away with a victory. “If you come and do a great job and win your fight, We’ll give you extra. We’ll give a special bonus, something boxing don’t have. It’s really great to have something to show the fighters you really appreciate them fighting hard, putting in all the hard work they do to be victorious,” he said. “They’re all gonna get paid to show up and paid to win. The winner will get a big bonus. Most of the time, you know, a fighter will say I’m gonna try to win this fight. If a guy goes in knowing I’m gonna get X amount of money to win, it’s a good concept, and it’s been happening around, but we gonna really take it to a new height. We gonna show these young fighters that if they put out 110 percent, they gonna make some decent money.”
He also promised a place for females in his organization, though he is unsure if there will be any women’s fight on the inaugural event card. “We have a couple of them already signed on with us,” he said. “Maybe we won’t have any on this first one, but maybe the next one.”
Given a chance to offer some final thoughts Steele gave a gracious thanks to Fight News Unlimited for the interview. “We appreciate everything you have done,” he said. Steele is deserving of the same level of thanks for all he’s done for boxing over the years, all he’ll contribute to the sport in the future, and all the championship fighters he’ll help groom in the growing MMA scene.
TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT STEELE AND STEELE CAGE PROMOTIONS CHECK OUT THESE SITES:
STEELE’S HOME PAGE: http://www.steeleboxing.com/home.htm
STEELE’S PRO BOXING RECORD: http://www.boxrec.com/record33078.html
RICHARD STEELE FAN SITE:
http://www.aplus.net/steeleboxing.html
STEELE CAGE PROMOTIONS:
THE GREAT WHITE HOPE: TRAVIS KAUFFMAN
Posted on | March 9, 2007 | 1 Comment
Travis Kauffman Interview: The Great White Hope
By: Rich Bergeron
Undefeated Heavyweight Prospect Travis Kauffman (7-0, 5 KO’s) is primed to notch another win in a match against Joe Stofle (10-9-2, 9 KO’s) on Saturday, March 10th at The Riveredge Hotel in Reading, Pennsylvania.
The young heavyweight only became devoted to pursuing the sport of boxing after a run in with some schoolyard bullies. “My Dad owned his own gym when I was like 9 or 10, and I used to go in all the time and mess around. I had a couple exhibitions against my brother, and he was three years older, but we weighed the same,” he explained. “My grandma died when I was like 10, and she was the core of our family. She kept everyone together. So, I quit boxing for a while. My dad was keeping an eye on us more and had to stop putting us with grandma all time. Later when I was about 14 years old in the ninth grade, I got jumped by a group of kids. One of them was an amateur boxer, but he was nothing big. My main focus was revenge, and I wanted to get ’em all back one by one. I was only able to get one guy, though, the boxer. My dad was putting on the regional and state Golden Gloves, and he heard that this kid was entering it. So, I was like OK, I wanna fight him. ‘In ring or on the streets, I want to fight him and get him back,’ I told my dad. My dad wanted to make sure it was in the ring. I fought him and beat him. I’ve been at it ever since, and I started getting really serious at about age 17.”
Kauffman’s father is just one of a few role models he looked up to when he was younger. “Steve Little was a big role model for me. He passed away in 2001, and he fought Michael Nunn for a title once and won a split decision. He was like an uncle to me. He and my dad grew up together. Just because of the kind of boxer he was and seeing how much he gave back to the community. That’s my goal when I become somebody big, and I want to give back not only to my community, but to the world. Steve had a big heart, and he was always someone who influenced me,” he said. “Hassim Rachman is another guy I idolize now. He’s a good friend, and he always gives me good words of wisdom. He always tells me, ‘All your so-called friends, leave ’em alone.’ He’s someone I idolize, and he’s a big influence in my life right now. Not only that, but my father as well. He raised me and my older brother by himself as a single parent. He’d work a full time job as a business owner, take me to the gym, this, that, and whatever else, and he kept doing it, and he still does it to this day.”
Kauffman has two main focuses as a boxer: to be a champion and to make money. “Like everyone else, I wanna be the champion of the world, unify all the titles, and make money,” he said. “I want to make millions, but my main goal is to become heavyweight champ of the world. Anybody can become a millionaire, but not everyone can become Heavyweight Champion of the World.”
Asked about his style, he pointed to a couple well-known legends. “I’m more of an Ali-type, and some people call me the white James Toney,” he said. “I’m more of a boxer/counter puncher, but it depends on who I’m fighting. Anyone who goes in there with me knows I can fight. I’m orthodox, but I can fight southpaw. I’m versatile, and I can adjust to anybody. I fought internationally a lot in the amateurs.”
As far as how he’s feeling going into this weekend’s match-up, he’s anxious to prove what he can do. “I’m always ready, whether I’m in shape or out of shape, I’m always ready. This is what I do for a living,” he said. “I’m a born fighter. If it’s tomorrow, three weeks from not, or last month, I’m always ready.”
He compiled a 52-12 amateur record and was ranked number one when he turned professional. The Olympic field had been whittled down to Kauffman and Mike Wilson, and he opted out of the trials to turn pro.
He points to his solid record and his pro debut January 26th of last year. He explained that his last fight was September 9th, and that’s been his longest layoff so far. “I don’t want no more layoffs like this,” he said.
Preparing for a fight is primarily a matter of conditioning for Kauffman. “Mostly just getting in shape and staying in shape. I have all the talent in the world, and I believe I’m one of the best heavyweights out there,” he said. Hassim Rachman and Monte Barrett are my friends, and they tell me I have what it takes to be a champion someday. So, as far as boxing, I know I have the talent, but I choose to live my life on the outside of boxing, too. Boxing comes easy to me. I’m 21 years old, and I have almost a one-year-old son. It’s tough to stay focused being so young, and there’s a lot of distractions, but I try my hardest to stay focused.”
Asked about what his favorite punch was he gave the classic answer: “Whatever one I hit you with.”
He makes a point to refuse to underestimate his opponent. “People who don’t know anything about boxing might say the guy’s record isn’t that great, so why am I fighting him? He’s a puncher, obviously, and he’s got nine knockouts. All his losses are to guys who are like 22-1 and 16-0. The greatest percentage of his losses are against guys who had great records,” he said. “People question me about it, and my last fight was against a guy who was 2-1, and that guy didn’t come to fight. People are always saying, ‘You ain’t fighting nobody,’ but I’m 21 years old. You look at the guys fighting for Heavyweight titles and they’re 27 and older. Right now I think all the champions are over 30. I just wanna move up smart and do it the right way. There’s no need for me to rush. Yeah, I was ranked number one in the country as an amateur, but now this is the pros. I don’t worry about who I fight. They can put the best in there, and no matter who they put in there, I’m gonna perform the best.”
As far as his best and worst fights, he points to one opponent. “His record was 3-9, and Top Rank told me not to fight him, even though I’m not with them, they used to get me fights. He was real tough, a guy named David Cleage,” said Kauffman. “More so because my son was born the night before. He was a rough and rugged guy, and I didn’t get enough sleep before the fight. I was fighting on about three hours sleep, and I went the whole fight southpaw. It went all six rounds. I just wanted to prove I could do it, that I could beat whoever they put in front of me. No matter if I had three hours, no hours, or 10 hours of sleep, no matter what.”
He also considers the fight with Cleage as his best fight so far in his career. “I boxed the best I think I ever boxed in my life, and not only that, but I did it southpaw. I was on my toes, dancing, and sticking my jab,” he said. “I could go out and KO him like everyone else, but I didn’t want to knock him out at all. My first few fights only went three or four rounds, but when it comes to a guy who’s gonna last, I won’t know what to do. So, I want to get as much experience as I can, just in case there’s someone out there who’s gonna be able to take my punch and go the distance. I just wanted to feel what it’s like, and since then I’ve had two or three that didn’t go six rounds.”
Looking outside the ring he calls his son the best accomplishment he’s made so far. “He made a huge difference in my life,” he said.
Given a chance to offer some final thoughts, he appealed to all his supporters to keep the faith. “I want everybody to continue to believe in me, and I want everybody to know my name’s GW hope for a reason. We have our guys out there like Joe Mesi and stuff like that, but I don’t think he’s much at all. He’s a tough fighter, but I just want people to know, I’m gonna be the best. Fight News Unlimited, I want to give you guys thanks for doing the interview, and I just want people to keep an eye out for me. 2007’s gonna be a great year for me, and I’ll continue to get better.”
FIGHTERS AND PROMOTERS AT ODDS OVER CAGE BRAWL EVENT CHANGES
Posted on | March 9, 2007 | 2 Comments
CAGE BRAWL CONTROVERSY
BY: RICH BERGERON
Illustrating the fact that the sport of MMA is not immune to the same kind of controversy that has plagued boxing over the years, an amateur event called Cage Brawl has created quite a stir in recent weeks. Promoter Sam Ibrahim is working feverishly to salvage the event after some fighters and sponsors recently pulled out due to differences of opinion and a few broken promises.
Since Fight News Unlimited wound up in the middle of this whole dispute, we thought we’d try to put it to rest with a story illustrating both sides of the whole argument and then put it up for a vote at the end. We’ll explain the point of view of two fighters who pulled out, give you Ibrahim’s perspective, and also offer the opinion of another fighter in the middle of this mess who has come out in support of Ibrahim. At the end we have posted a poll allowing our fans to vote on the issue and decide just who is right and who is wrong.
Let’s start with the facts as we know them: Cage Brawl is set to be held on June 9th in Columbus Ohio and will feature a host of amateur MMA fighters shooting for title belts in their respective weight classes. Shannon “Sinister” Elliot and Greg “Country Boy” McDowell were both asked by Sam Ibrahim to be the main event and co-featured bout. A matchmaker was later brought in, and soon Ibrahim had to let both fighters know that they could not compete for a title belt since their sanctioned records were technically 0-0. He invited them to participate, anyway. Both eventually refused. Some sponsors also pulled out during the whole process leading up to Elliot and McDowell deciding to opt out.
We’ll start with what the fighters have to say about this issue.
“It all started around January 5th when I was promised the Main Event,” said Greg McDowell. “I still have on my profile all the bulletins Sam sent me. He’s a liar, and he promised me everything was gonna be there on his bulletins. He told me he did not want me to fight in any event until Cage Brawl.”
McDowell reported that he was told to save it for Cage Brawl, and that Ibrahim continually promised him that his word was good. “My best friend in my life, my father, told me to print something out, and since January he’s been telling me this, and it bit me in the ass,” said McDowell. “It’s pretty much a crooked deal.”
McDowell fights for Team Norsemen, a fight team that was also supposed to sponsor the event. Tim Riddle, who heads up that team, has reportedly now pulled out as a sponsor. McDowell said Tim Riddle is also pulling five of his fighters out of the event.
Feel The Pain Fight Gear, who is McDowell’s new sponsor, had also signed on to sponsor the event after McDowell personally helped make up the different sponsorship brackets for the event with Ibrahim. He said he has copies of what he and Ibrahim worked on for hours. “He told me that for anything I bring in, I get 20 percent,” said McDowell about his reasoning behind doing all the work. “I helped Sam pick up Feel The Pain as a sponsor and because I helped Sam out one night he promised me he was going to wait 72 hours to put the word out himself on the sponsorship packages. He said to me, ‘I’m not gonna post ’em out, you’re a promoter’s dream. I’m gonna let you go out there so you can make a little something on it.'”
McDowell toiled away, trying to lure Chuck Liddell and other big name fighters to participate in the event somehow or make appearances. “I went out of my way, out of my training and my fighting mindset. I became his gopher, cuz he can’t do the job,” said McDowell. “Then, all of a sudden he has a big time fighter around January 22nd, when Shannon ‘Sinister’ Elliot came in. He’s a big time brawler. He became the Main Event, and I got dropped down to be the co-feature.”
Ibrahim explained the changes to McDowell and he didn’t take any issue with it. As long as he’d still be a fighter in the event and still be shooting for a title, he said he didn’t mind. “He told me and Shannon we’d be the main guys on the fight, and he kept saying, ‘Trust me, my word is good.’ His word is so good now that I’m considered an alternate because I got a 0-0 record, and he said the Commissioner of Ohio won’t let us fight for a title,” said McDowell. “Basically what it came down to is me losing my spot on the card as a title spot contender. So, I talked to my sponsors. Tim Riddle from Norsemen didn’t want his fighters in the event. Bottom line is that it’s Sam Ibrahim’s event, and that’s just the truth. Now he brought in someone who’s a matchmaker. Justin, or something, and he’s running the show.”
McDowell maintains that he wouldn’t represent anything that’s a lie, and he even promised to take a lie detector test to prove it. “I know what the truth is,” he said.
Shannon “Sinister” Elliot also discussed the issue with Fight News Unlimited. He just found out about losing his title shot and main event slot after getting back to business when his child was recently born. “I’m not trying to do no smear campaign,” said Elliot. “But, we were both promised fights, and he pulled out on it. He hired some matchmaker, and he pulled out on us. He asked myself and McDowell not to fight until Cage Brawl, and we both agreed. We both passed up events where we could have had fights, and he knew what our sanctioned records were from the beginning. I’ve been banging for a while, and he knew that, and he promised me a title shot in writing in the first bulletin when I responded. He responded in another bulletin, and he admitted he promised me the main event. I know this matchmaker is just bringing in his friends to fight after we both went all out to promote the whole event. Greg did an interview with you guys, and I went out and did all these interviews with newspapers and the local news stations. I even contacted James Lee on MySpace, and he agreed to come in as a guest commentator. I have that on my Myspace, all my talks back and forth with him. I spoke to him Monday after his fight in Pride where he had that 33 second win.”
Elliot maintains he’s been putting the word out about Cage Brawl since the end of December. He’s passed flyers out, posted flyers all around where he lives, and told all his friends to come out and watch him in the main event match. According to Elliot, he wound up as the main event when McDowell was offered a chance to participate in another amateur or pro event, and he pulled out of Cage Brawl for that. When McDowell found out he couldn’t fight in the event after all, he came back and talked to Ibrahim, who had by then promised Elliot the main event. “He had guaranteed me the main event, and I’ve been promoting myself as the main event of Cage Brawl,” said Elliot. “I spoke to Darrick Patrick, James Lee, Thug Fight Wear, Feel The Pain, and they all knew what was going on, that I was the main event and McDowell was the co-feature. So I was out of loop with my wife having a baby here, and I figured I needed to talk to Sam to see if I still got a fight lined up. I talked to Sam, and he said everything’s fine, no big deal. He called me back 40 minutes later, and he said we’re both still on the card, but I’m not the main event anymore.”
McDowell added, “Sam Ibrahim called me a week and a half ago, and he told me we need to get some type of record real quick or you’re gonna get pulled off the card completely. We were told not to fight from January until June, and he told us that in Cage Brawl we will make a home for ourselves. He was making us sound like kings. Every time he’d talk to you, he’d say, ‘My word is gold, my word is good.’ If I had a dollar for every time he said that, I’d be a millionaire. I really felt used at the end of it all.”
Elliot simply feels duped by all the recent developments. “We, as fighters, put our body and soul into this, and we give everything we have, and you think you’re dealing with a reputable business, you think you’re lining yourself up with people who are good for their word. So, I said OK, I’ll fight. I got the main event, and I started promoting,” he explained. “Sam told me that any sponsorships I can pull in, I’ll get 20 percent, and I told him that’s great, but I just wanna fight. I knew it would be televised worldwide on the Internet, and there would be a lot of publicity. John Quinn, who’s affiliated with the MMA Guys and Cageside Live, he was gonna get The Sicillian Assassin. He was gonna fight, but I don’t know if he still is or not. I told John I’m gonna pull out. Why would I drive 8 and a half hours to an event that’s wishy-washy? I’m not gonna fight in an event where people are still gonna be looking for their seats. I can fight closer to home if I wanted to do that and fight my way up to the main event that way.”
Elliot contends that Ibrahim changed his tune when both fighters stopped bringing money in. “He offered me 20 percent, but I said, ‘I just wanna bang.’ My thing was he asked about sponsors, so I started talking to Feel The Pain, Tim Riddle, and Greg and I were talking to the same people. Greg and myself are in different financial standings, and I’ve been offered sponsors, but I turned them down. I don’t really need them until I’m ready to go pro,” said Elliot. “Greg’s in a different spot. He needs sponsorships to get the ball rolling a lot quicker. Sam offered us both a piece of the action for whatever sponsors we could pull in.” Elliot went on to explain everything seemed rosy between he and Ibrahim as long as he was able to convince sponsors and big names in the business to sign on.
McDowell said he feels like he was a gift certificate in the eyes of Ibrahim. He also claims that what occurred with Ibrahim promising both fighters 20 percent of the sponsorship money is likely illegal. “We were both brought into the event as a money thing for Sam Ibrahim,” said McDowell, “Not for the fact that’ we’re fighters, and it was the same thing with Norsemen.”
Elliot is particularly upset, he explained, because his background totally betrays the way Ibrahim has painted him as a fighter unqualified to battle for an amateur belt. He is convinced he’s been underestimated. Not only is he trained as a law enforcement officer, but he also works with a local Gracie gym, The Northeast Boxing Academy, and he goes to all the gyms around his area to invite the best fighters to come to his house and train. “I understand his point of view, and I understand cards are subject to change. But how can he go from having us as the main event and co-feature, and then not even put us on the undercard for a belt? I asked him can I get it in writing, and he said ‘Don’t worry, my word is good.’ One of the reasons he took the title away, is he told us the commissioner of Ohio was not allowing us to fight,” said Elliot. “Now, I have an unofficial record of 14-2, and if I was gonna lie about my record, I’d say I was 0-2. I would make my record less than it is, not more, if I wanted to sandbag people. Why would I lie and get put up against better fighters? So I can get my ass kicked? That’s my record, from boxing, and from fights I had in Thailand and Korea while I was in the military.”
Elliot laid out his unregistered, unsanctioned fight record of 14-2. He explained that he fought in Lop Buri, Thailand in an event called Cobra Gold. Back in 1993 he had two fights at Camp Casey in Korea. He fought in the Ranger Battalion King’s Guard, and he’s had 12 boxing matches with the All-Army boxing team at Fort Bragg and at Fort Benning, Georgia. “They could look at my military records and find it all,” he said. “I can’t get proof, and I don’t have tapes of it, but I’m sure somebody does. I grew up in foster care, and I became an Army Ranger, and now I’m a police officer. Why am I gonna lie about my fighting abilities? If anything I’d say I had no fights, or I’d say I’ve only been fighting in my garage. I’ve trained with Jay Valentine, Tom O’Malley, and I used to train under Jeff Reese who runs the Royce Gracie Jiu Jitsu Network here in Scranton. All of my friends are fighters, that’s what we do. I have a black belt from Jennings Karate Academy in Isshinryu Karate.”
Not only does he feel like his skills in the cage have been doubted, but he also feels he hasn’t been given due credit for the way he’s helped spread the word about the event. “I’m getting fighters from all four-corners of the United States to promote this event, and all the time he’s promising us one thing,” said Elliot. “Now that the event’s all blown up and promoted, now he’s going to switch it on us. We promoted the Hell out of the event. Everybody around here knows about it. People are always asking me ‘When’s your next fight,’ when I’m out running. I’ve told everybody about it being a Pay-Per-View event. Everybody’s waiting for the event, and I even got a bunch of people who were all going to rent a bus and drive down. It kind of bothers me. Myself and Greg have been promoting the Hell out of the event, and now we’re getting switched up.” Elliot even had a friend who planned to pay to become a licensed corner man to accompany him at the event.
McDowell also wants to know why Ibrahim hasn’t changed his flyer that promises all winners of the event a title belt. He added that Ibrahim hinted he may have to change Cage Brawl to a pro event because Ohio’s amateur rules are very strict. “He was wishy-washy every day I talked to this guy. He literally drove the training out of me,” said McDowell. “My job is to fight, bottom line.”
Elliot maintains he’s not out to sully the reputation of Ibrahim. It’s a matter of principle for him. “It just pissed me off,” he said. “I’m not running any smear campaign against the guy. If he holds this event, all it does is blow up the sport. I just know he pulled the rug right out from under us. We did all the leg work and then he’s pulling us out and not granting what he promised.”
McDowell argues that the primary reason for Ibrahim’s change of heart is all based on the financial backing of the event. “He’s offering the sponsors that come in and fill the top four brackets the belts we deserved. That’s where our belts are going to,” he said.
Elliot pointed out that the fight business is slimy enough without the kind of things he’s seen here. He said he remembers going on MySpace and seeing four Cage Brawl fighters at 185 pounds. He started talking shit to his scheduled opponent about what kind of training he had. The fighter wound up backing out. Ibrahim got him a new opponent “Sam told me the guy was a local boy, and that I would be the underdog. He said, ‘I hope you’re ready.’ I told him I’d fight anybody. As long as he’s an amateur and not some pro guy that blew out his knee and has it all taped up. I just wanna fight. Just find me an opponent. I don’t care if it’s Matt Hughes or Chuck Liddell,” said Elliot. “I’ll be friends with him before and after the fight, but when the cage closes, it’s a fight. I’m gonna show what I’m training to do, and I’m ready to do that against whoever it is. I take a week off to have my baby, and he tells me, ‘You might not be on the fight card.’ This is after I did interviews with the local paper, had reporters come to my house and take pictures, and I take a week off to have my son, and he has jaundice, and he’s a little sick. Then the first time I talk to anyone, he made it seem like I’m lucky to even be on the card.”
McDowell is equally infuriated by the turn of events. “We were planning on really proving ourselves in that event, and he’s taken that away from us now. It just takes the fighting out of the fighter. This guy is wishy-washy like a Martini on the rocks that’s been blended up,” he said. “How am I supposed to explain this to my people on MySpace, my 330 friends? They’ll have to get in touch with you now, because they all know Fight News Unlimited Covers Country Boy McDowell. They’ll approach you, because they’re not getting answers from me.”
Above all, Elliot calls into question the integrity of Ibrahim in the whole process. “I asked Sam several times, put it in writing, and I haven’t got it yet. He told me he was finding me the best fighter in the area, and then he turns around and says, ‘With with your experience, I can’t put asses in seat with that 0-0. But, he can throw a carrot in front of my face, let me promote it that way, and then tell me no I’m not gonna fight in that event. I’ve got sponsors sending banners, planning on putting up tables. And I’m not even signing with nobody, I just wanna fight,” said Elliot. “Just like I told Sam and Country Boy, I don’t want a sponsor right now. Still he told me he could offer me 20 percent of anything I could bring in. I told him I just wanna bang. I’ll come in like Tyson with a white t-shirt with a smiley face on it. I teach my kids all you have in life is your integrity, and nobody can take that away. They can take your clothes, your house, or your car, but they can’t take your integrity. I tell them to never lie. I was born and raised in Rochester, New York, and when I was 16 I got put in jail for 19 months for assault. The judge offered to seal my record if went in the military. At 17 I was a ward of the state, so I went to basic training, airborne school, air assault, and then straight to Kuwait. I first went in thinking I’d get kicked out and go back on the streets, but I went in, and the military was like Beverly Hills. I fell into it. I did two tours in Kuwait, and I did a stint in Mogadishu.”
McDowell has only spoken out publicly once so far about the whole mess. That came in an interview with the fledgling MMA news group Knockout Nation. “My people know, if I’m considered Pinocchio, I hope to God I get my nose broken off,” he said. “When they interview, they know me. They know they’ll get the real truth, and nothing but the truth. I’ll fight all the liars. This type of thing ruins a fighter’s dream.”
McDowell considers himself a true survivor, and he’s obviously had a rough life with having to come back from a car accident and being lucky to even be walking at this point. “My intentions weren’t to sandbag Sam, and my friends were planning on ordering this event, and now I’m not gonna be in this event. And that’s for due reason, because I wasn’t gonna be in this event to fight for nothing. My heart’s broken. I passed up two events to fight in, and for me to go ahead and say no because of Cage Brawl, it’s not fair,” he said. “I feel like I had a number on me, and it really took the fighter out of me. I just hope to God no other promoter looks at this example and think this is something they can get away with. This is not the way to get it done.”
He went on to offer a bit of advice to other MMA fighters. “Put it in print, don’t listen to people run their mouths. Go on contracts. Let them put it down in writing, and that’s so much easier for you to lean on instead of all this he said she said going on here. This all happened because someone would not put the print button behind their mouth, and now me and Shannon are paying the price,” he said. “Do not get involved in an event unless that event comes to you with a written contract to sign.”
THE PROMOTER’S DEFENSE
Joshua Penuel is a leader of a fight team involved in Cage Brawl who supports Sam Ibrahim all the way in demoting McDowell and Elliot to non-title bouts. “He’s not gonna put someone in there that doesn’t have at least few fights under their belt,” said Penuel. “The way Country Boy is handling this is kind of messed up.”
He said he discussed the subject of people trying to make their fighters look good with Ibrahim before, and they both agreed that matching someone who was 0-0 against someone with any record was not a good idea, and they were both trying to keep that from happening.
“I’m supporting Sam 100 percent, because he’s doing this the right way. You can’t overmatch someone like that, and you can’t even put someone that’s 1-0 against someone that’s 4-0. You’re not gonna get that good of a fight, it’s uncalled for, and it’s not professional,” he said.
Although Penuel admits the setting of the matches resembles a tournament where an inexperienced fighter might end up going against a proven winner just because of the way the brackets work, his understanding of the event was that it wasn’t so much of a tournament. “You might have four guys, and they’re 170 pounds each. You set it up so these two fighters are gonna fight, and whoever wins out of each fight is gonna fight for title,” he said. “Sam told me personally, every fight or every other fight is gonna be a title match, so it’s a tournament, but not in that nature.”
Penuel sees no issues with the way the even has been set up and plans to maybe even fight himself in the event if he has to. “I’ll work some stuff out so one of my guys, if not myself, gets in there to fight,” he said. “I only got one side, which is Sam’s side, and Norsemen Fight Gear is one of our team sponsors, but I haven’t really got each other side. I’m gonna try to get a hold of Tim Riddle tonight. I’m basically a supporter for the way that Sam is doing the show. So many shows pit you up with a small record against somebody that is out there already. So you end up in your first fight going against a guy 6-1. A lot of these shows are pitting you against one of their best guys, and they don’t care who you are. If you’re going up against a guy with three times the experience you have, you might win, but you could still get hurt.”
Penuel found out about the event when he got online and applied there for a fight team he runs out of Deleware, Ohio. “I had some fighters, and they were interested. Sam lives about fifteen miles down the road, and we’ve been conversing back and forth,” he said. “Today about noon, I called him on his lunch break. I heard he lost sponsors over the whole thing, but he’s doing it right, and he’s not mismatching people.”
Penuel is also good friends with Tim Riddle of Norsemen Fight Gear, and he said he’s known Tim a lot longer than Sam, but he still supports what Sam’s doing, because he’s doing it right.
Sam Ibrahim himself contends his recent moves were simply a matter of procedure and part of the nature of the business. “This is not the first time something like this has happened where a main event and co-feature on a fight card gets changed,” he said. “These guys are just trying to make a name off the event. No one told them to pull out.”
Ibrahim is convinced both fighters are blowing a big opportunity based on a simple issue. “I was afraid that if I set them up with title shots it wouldn’t make sense, and I seriously doubt that the commissioner would allow that. McDowell had made a statement that I had told him that the commissioner would not allow it, period, and I never said anything like that. I have to match fighters up with same type of experience,” he said. “I don’t want my belts to go up as a joke. I want fighters who are proven and tested to be crowned as champions. It doesn’t make any sense to have a guy who’s 0-0 fight for a title. Get a couple fights under your belt, and then you’ll have your title fights. If you prove yourself, there’s no problem. They had an objection to that, so they pulled out. McDowell’s just gonna try to make a name for himself. Cage Brawl does not consist of these two guys. If they were smart they would take the opportunity I gave them, and I’m still offering them the exposure. No one’s offering that to ’em but me. If the guy was smarter, he woulda made a couple bucks, but no, he had to open his mouth, and he blew a lot of things for himself.”
Ibrahim insists he never offered Elliot a portion of what he gained for Cage Brawl in sponsorships. “I only offered that to McDowell. I didn’t offer that to anyone other than Greg,” he said, also arguing that their being dropped down to non-title bouts was not as a retaliatory move for them not bringing in sponsors. “It had nothing to do with that. One thing I am is politically free from all sponsorship stuff, although it’s nice to have them. The real reason it changed was because we ended up with a lot of fighters making their debut on Cage Brawl, and what I wanted was fighters who had a fan base, so I could not match them up. If it’s going to be a title fight let it be more compelling, and let’s have fighters who are more deserving. Greg is only a gym fighter, and he hasn’t fought anywhere. Sinister, I don’t know why he pulled out. They’re a coupla guys where each one echoes the other. Neither one of them have a mind of their own. All the other fighters who registered before the matchmaker signed on just wanna fight, whether it’s for a title or not. Why are they so different? True fighters fight. True warriors fight, and they’re not going to talk all politics, and they’re not gonna get involved in all the he said, she said. McDowell is doing all this and sabotaging me and the event all because I was trying to be too nice to the guy.”
The promoter wants to stay above the fray, and he argues he did nothing wrong. “I’m gonna keep my professionalism one way or another, and I’m not gonna sink down to that level. Fight cards change all the time. It’s not a matter of who gets on the card is who pays the sponsor money. I’m not gonna be bought out by nobody,” he said. “Elliot or McDowell, I’m not gonna let them ruin the show. Nobody heard of them other than Cage Brawl, and they’re using me trying to make a name for themselves. Elliot was fine Friday, and then he spoke to Greg, and now he says he was forced to pull out. Nobody forced him to pull out. As far as I was concerned, he was still on the card. And what promoter doesn’t offer sponsorship money to fighters as far as ticket sales and such? That 20 percent is a lot of money, and McDowell can’t even afford a gym pass, and he said he hasn’t had a hot meal in a while. That’s all it boils down to. His sponsor pulled out because of Greg’s shenanigans.”
He admits he told them they would be the title fight and co feature, but he also points out that it’s not the first time or the last time a fight card changes. “I don’t want no mismatches, and I don’t want no one in there getting hurt because they can’t defend themselves. I want to set each fighter up with the right opponent,” he said. “It’s not good for me if a fighter gets injured. I want them to come back for the next event. It’s about entertainment and putting on a competitive fight. Boxing and MMA are two different sports altogether. You might be able to get away with it in boxing, but you can’t in MMA.”
Outside of all the back and forth and a little flip flopping on Ibrahim’s part, he insists it’s his show and he can do what he pleases. “No matter what they said at the end of the day, it’s my call,” he said. “As far as the flyers promising belts to every winner, that just has to be changed, and it doesn’t concern him [McDowell]. If he wants to fight on the card, he can. Flyers and all that, that’s none of his business, and it’s nothing out of his pocket. If he’s so big and bad, the door’s open for him to fight.”
So who are the fighters who will get title shots? Ibrahim explained they are MMA fighters with records like 3-0, 6-0, and 5-1. He also said there are still a couple of 0-0 fighters registered, but if they stay on the card they will be matched up in non-title fights. “Guys who have experience are more deserving of a title, so let them prove it,” said Ibrahim. “That’s why I got a matchmaker.”
The Cage Brawl promoter did admit that he indeed instructed McDowell and Elliot not to fight in any other event before Cage Brawl. “That point they have 100 percent correct. I did tell them not to take anything. Again, I think that’s because of my crossover between boxing and mma,” he said. “Boxers train about two-and-a-half months for a bout, and mma is totally different. But, at the same time, I’m no one’s manager. I’m a promoter, and I shouldn’t be giving them advice on when to fight. That’s up to them.”
He denied their contention that the matchmaker was putting his own fighters in key title slots. “That’s not true. What basis do they have for that? This guy is a matchmaker, and he knows about every organization. He’s a man here in Columbus, Ohio who knows how to reach the industry,” said Ibrahim. “He’s gonna put the fight card together. That’s the end of it, and I don’t know where they’re coming up with that. Can they prove anything? No.”
Ibrahim regrets getting embroiled in this whole bout of bickering, but he is committed to keeping the show on schedule. “It’s unfortunate that I got wrapped up in this controversy. That’s not my style, and I have a lot of things to do. I’m busy with so many other things, and I don’t need this. The bottom line is if they want to fight, they can, but it’s got to be a non-title fight until they prove themselves,” he said. “If they don’t wanna fight on the card, leave me alone. The matchmaker I have has talked to numerous people in Ohio, and I have a good working experience with him. When you’re promoting, and you’re set up to do something, you leave things like this in the hands of people qualified to do the right thing. Every promotion has a matchmaker, and every fight card changes. I tried to appeal to them, but they don’t want to listen. Cage Brawl’s gonna happen one way or another.”
Despite arguing both fighters have blown the matter out of proportion and are acting irrational, Ibrahim said he’d be glad to have them back on his fight card. “Either fight or sit down. I’ve got seven or eight other fighters in the same boat, and none of them has a problem, but these two guys are parrots. None of ’em got a mind of their own,” said Ibrahim. “The door’s wide open, and still, at end of the day, I would love to have ’em on the card, and I would gladly talk to them about that. We’ll witness for everyone concerned who fights and who doesn’t and who keeps talking end of the day and doesn’t show nothing.”
As far as a final message, Ibrahim slipped back into his comfy promoter’s shoes and rattled off another plug for his event: “I would tell the fans to watch Cage Brawl June 9th, because it promises to be a great show. There’s a lot of fighters out there who have proven themselves in sanctioned fights. There’s going to be plenty of competitive, epic fights. The Cage Brawl fight league and title belts are gonna shine in 2007 and 2008.”
VOTE FOR WHO YOU THINK HAS THE BETTER POINT BELOW:
TYLER STINSON INTERVIEW
Posted on | March 9, 2007 | 1 Comment
TYLER STINSON: Masters of The Cage Middleweight Champion
By: Rich Bergeron
Tyler Stinson fell into the fight game after starting out as a football player and needing a new challenge in sports. He entered the cage for his first fight with almost no training whatsoever. “I just started watching it on TV, and I thought I could do it, so I sent my info out, and a couple days later they called and said they had me in a fight already,” Stinson said. “I had no background. Once I took some little kid martial arts stuff for a week in the summer, but that was it.”
The young fighter has been a professional fighter since July of last year, and the lack of experience only invigorated his training and made him a better fighter in the process. Skipping the amateurs and going directly to the professional ranks has not really hurt him all that much, as he has already become a champion in his weight class. It was that first fight that proved to be his greatest hurdle so far. “All my fights have been professional. It was crazy. I took that first fight on 10 days notice with no training at all,” Stinson explained. “I called my trainer Mark Jones, and he told me I was an idiot for taking it. I told him, ‘I can’t back down now,’ so I ended up going all three rounds. I ended up losing in a split decision, and it was really the hardest night of my life.”
He is 4-1 now as a pro, and he’s even gone out and won the rematch with the man who gave him his only loss. “I fought the same guy the next month and knocked ‘im out in the second round,” he said.
His ultimate goal in MMA is to be a world champion at UFC, Pride, or any of the larger organizations out there. “I just want to be the best in my weight class,” he added.
His role models in the sport are Rich Franklin and Georges St. Pierre. “I was always a football player, so I looked up to Jerry Rice and Troy Aikman and all the classy football players who were the best,” he said.
He’s made an amazing transition to his new sport considering he never had a lick of formal training or even any rough and tumble experience as a kid. “I just saw it on TV,” he said. “I look at it, and it’s an ultimate sport to me, and I was always in sports, so I thought it was an excellent thing to try. It turns out I love it.”
His next fight is Saturday, March 17th in Norman, Oklahoma in a Masters of The Cage event. He will be defending his middleweight championship belt against Joe Bunch from Arkansas. “He’s gonna wanna take me down. He’s a wrestler, and he likes to ground and pound,” said Stinson. “He’s seen me fight before, and he knows me, so he’s gonna wanna knock me out. I’m gonna try to keep it on the feet.”
Though he admits his standup is his greatest strength, he also points out that he is fully capable and ready to scrap on the ground if he has to. “My trainers tell me I hit really hard and really fast, but my ground is good, too,” he said. “I’ve been training with Eric Payne out of Wichita, Kansas. He’s a purple belt in Jiu Jitsu, so I’m not uncomfortable on the ground.”
He’s looking forward to knocking Bunch out in the first round. “I just gotta keep winning,” he maintained. “My main goal is to win, and everything else will come after that.”
He is comfortable winning any way he can, whether it comes by submission or knockout. “Lately my favorite submission has been a triangle or Omaplata,” he said. “Right now for standup my best weapon is my left hand, and I’m a southpaw. I’ve improved in each fight, and if I hit you with the left hand, I’m gonna win the fight. I’ve also been working on my kicks lately. I threw one my last fight and about flipped myself over. It was pretty funny. I have quick hands, so my standup is pretty good. Lately I’ve been working on my knees, too.”
The last time I fought down in Norman, I threw one punch and the guy just fell forward. It was a one punch, 9-second knockout. Everyone told me beforehand that the fight was gonna go all three rounds, but just one punch and he was done. I spent more energy celebrating than I did in the fight. People are starting to learn I’ve got some power, so they’re gonna wanna take me down quick.”
Asked what he considers the most important thing he does to prepare for a fight, Stinson pointed to conditioning. “I have to be in shape. I learned my first fight that I need to be in shape,” he said. “I fought a guy 15 years older than me, and I was out of shape. If I can’t go, then I’m gonna lose. You always have to be in shape.”
Stinson is coming off the fight he considers to be his most intense battle so far in his career. “Actually my toughest fight was my last one February 10th in Wichita. It was my first fight in Kansas,” he said. “I fought Dominic Brown from Kansas City. He was like 18-6 as an amateur, and he won two amateur belts. He was 3-0 as a pro. I had to be ready for another battle, and it was set for three five-minute rounds. I almost KO’d him in the first 20 seconds, but he recovered. I threw a kick, and I missed, and he ended up taking me down. I ate probably 6 or 7 elbows, and then I was able to get him back in my guard. I put a triangle choke on him and won by submission, but my lip was all busted up afterward.”
He considers his 9-second knockout his favorite fight. “You don’t see those too many times, and to actually do that, it was pretty cool,” he said. “The place just went crazy.”
Asked about who he considers his favorite fighter, he answered, “I’ve always gotta watch St. Pierre. I’ll watch him before anybody. He’s the type of fighter that I wanna be. I’m trying to become fighter like him, and I wanna be good in everything, the best in everything.”
His greatest accomplishment outside the ring is just the way he’s lived his life. “Probably just not giving up,” he explained. “I wasn’t in school for a while. I could have got sucked in to all the bad shit that can happen, but I just kept my head up and followed my dream, and now I couldn’t be happier.”
Offered a chance to add his own final thoughts, Stinson gave credit to his support team. “If it wasn’t for Mark Jones, Nate Cook, and Eric Payne, you wouldn’t be talking to me right now,” he said. “I can’t thank those guys enough and all my crazy ass friends and family. They come to my fights, and they’re just nuts. Everybody looks at ’em like they’re just crazy, and that’s why I do it.”
To find out more about Tyler Stinson, visit his MySpace at:
www.myspace.com/teamkayostinson
FEEL THE PAIN FIGHT GEAR PROFILE
Posted on | March 9, 2007 | 2 Comments
FEEL THE PAIN FIGHT GEAR
By: Rich Bergeron
Greg and Kim Peverill took their love of the fight game to the next level when they recently started Feel The Pain Fight Gear. While they are still in the process of setting up an on-line store, right now they already have T-shirts, hoodies, fitted baseball caps, and some other apparel for the serious fans out there.
“Later on we’ll have gear for fighters, shorts, rash guards, gloves, and whatever else fighters need,” said Greg Peverill about the business he and his wife co-own. They recently signed their first fighter sponsorship with “Country Boy” Greg McDowell. McDowell is a proven warrior, having recovered from a serious car accident to be able to train full force for a career in MMA.
“We’re big MMA fans, whether it’s UFC, Pride, all that good fun stuff,” said Greg. “We never miss a Pay-Per-View, and we get all the DVDs at Best Buy, and just about everything everybody has to offer. It was actually my wife’s idea to start the company. I’m just the brains and the money behind it. I figure there’s a first time for everything.”
Greg explained that he and his wife started the company simply to do “something different” and added that it “beats the jobs we have right now.”
The couple keeps it simple with their design schemes. “It’s completely original gear, and it’s not gonna be that fancy,” said Greg. “It’s something we think the fighters will enjoy wearing. The logo’s plain and simple, just the initials FTP inside a Chinese throwing star. We’ll also have a lot of gear up more along the lines with what a lot of the female fight fans are looking for. Hopefully one day we’re gonna be a powerhouse and give all the other companies out there a run for their money.”
Peverill maintains the products now are geared more towards the fan. The whole complete line will target both fans and fighters and the male and female side. “We want to treat everybody equally,” said Greg.
McDowell has had a few difficulties with some previous sponsors, and he is thrilled to be the first fighter to sign with Feel The Pain Fight Gear. “They found me through the Cage Brawl profile. Greg asked me to call him and give him some advice on sponsorships,” explained McDowell. “He was interested in going into MMA clothing. It was a nice conversation, and that eventually led to a working relationship.”
McDowell kept in contact with the Peverills as the whole Cage Brawl event began to fizzle out due to a bit of controversy and matchmaking disasters. McDowell wound up pulling out and then ran into difficulties with Thug Fight Wear, which had promised to sponsor him but never sent him any kind of contract. “I got back to Greg and we ended up working out a year’s sponsorship,” said McDowell. “I’m a fighter wherever I go. I was shadowboxing out of a wheelchair, and I’m a survivor wherever I go.”
McDowell is more than happy to have the backing of such serious fight fans and a great business team to boot. “They offered me a golden opportunity to lay my head with a good team,” he said. “They’re looking at some options for other fighters with some serious wins. Guys who are up and coming in their MMA careers. As far as being different from other sponsors I’ve talked to, I have a contract with them, and I signed for a year, so that made me feel real good. Other companies won’t do that. It’s something to lean on, and it’s something to help me out as a fighter. They’re not there to just give me clothes. They’ll provide me supplies and everything. Plus. I’ll get a little something every month to help me continue to train. With other companies I’ve had no response. Thug fight Wear just put me through a roller coaster ride.”
He enjoys the fact that with the Peverills there is “no B/S involved. Feel The Pain just offers support.”
Greg Peverill promises the full-scale www.feelthepainfightgear.com site will be up and running within two to three weeks. The site is under construction at the moment, but anyone interested in purchasing gear can email info@feelthepainfightgear.com to inquire about what’s available for sale now.
“We’ve got t-shirts, hoodies, and fitted and embroidered baseball caps right now,” said Peverill. “People can order right now through the Web page itself and through email. They can place orders before the site’s finished, and we’ve got a Pay-Pal account set up.”
Greg and Kim Peverill both have MySpace Sites where some of the actual clothing can be viewed. Check them out at:
http://www.myspace.com/feelthepainfightgear
and
http://www.myspace.com/peverill1990
and
« go backSEARCH OUR BLOGS
SEARCH THE WEB
Subscribe in a reader
US Money Reserve
Bodybuilding fitness software: Gain weight & build muscle fast.
Photographers - Boston, MA
PRO-SEBLOG.COM: EMPOWERING ORDINARY PEOPLE TO PRACTICE LAW ON THEIR OWN BEHALF
CLICK HERE TO ORDER AN AWESOME SELF-HELP LEGAL COURSE
MARKETINGBOSS.INFO: MARKETING TIPS FOR YOUR SITE & BUSINESS
Boxing Live
RING GIRLS
OUR SPONSORS
