Jeremy May ‘TUF’ Road Back Leads to XCF’S Rumble

Posted on | February 13, 2009 | No Comments

ANDRE WILSON NEW FOE FOR UNBEATEN TEON KENNEDY MARCH 6 IN BLUE HORIZON SEMIFINAL

Posted on | February 13, 2009 | No Comments

Philadelphia, PA–Hard-hitting lefty Andre Wilson, of St. Joseph, MO, steps in against unbeaten super bantamweight Teon Kennedy, of North Philadelphia, in the scheduled eight-round semifinal Friday evening, March 6, at the Legendary Blue Horizon, 1314 North Broad Street. First fight i s set for 7.30 pm.

Wilson replaces another lefty, veteran Paulino Villalobos, of San Diego, CA, who withdrew due to medical reasons.

Topping the seven-bout card will be Mike Jones’ first defense of his North American Boxing Association (NABA) welterweight title against Larry Mosley, of Los Angeles, CA, in a 10-round contest.

Wilson, 26, is 11-1-1, 9 K0s. He stepped up his career in 2008 when he knocked out Francisco Rodriguez (14-2), of Mexico, in two rounds in Chicago, IL, and earned a 10-round decision over Alex Baba (26-14-1), of Ghana, in St. Joseph, MO.

Kennedy, 22, won the 2004 National Golden Gloves flyweight title. As a pro, he is 11-0, 5 K0s. His biggest wins came against Castulo Gonzalez, of Lowell, MA, by decision, and over Thomas Snow, of Washington, DC, by knockout.

In his last fight Nov. 14 at the New Alhambra in South Philadelphia, Kennedy pounded out a one-sided decision over Felipe Almanza, of Lorica, Colombia.

The March 6 card marks a return to the Blue Horizon after eight years for Hall-of-Fame promoter J Russell Peltz, who began his career there as a 22-year-old in 1969. He is promoting the card with Joe Hand Promotions, Inc.

Tickets are priced at $45 and $60. They are on sale at the offices of Peltz Boxing Promotions, Inc. (215-765-0922) and also can be purchased online at www.peltzboxing.com.

Battles in the ring the easier ones for Duddy

Posted on | February 13, 2009 | No Comments

IRISHTIMES.COM

Thursday, February 12, 2009

AMERICA AT LARGE: Since falling out with Irish Ropes, the Derry fighter has become the object of an ugly lawsuit, writes GEORGE KIMBALL

WHEN EDDIE McLoughlin hired Patrick Burns to be John Duddy’s new trainer last summer he didn’t anticipate he might be inviting the fox into the henhouse, but in the view of the Mayo-born promoter, that’s pretty much how it worked out.

At Jack Dempsey’s pub off Herald Square in Manhattan yesterday, McLoughlin presided over a press luncheon officially launching what has become a New York staple – Irish Ropes’ annual St Patrick’s Day card at Madison Square Garden. This year’s edition will showcase not Duddy, but another Irish middleweight, Limerick’s Andy Lee, fighting three-time world title challenger Antwun Echols.

Barely four months had elapsed since, following another press conference in the same pub on October 8th, McLoughlin sent Duddy off to Burns’ Miami training camp to begin preparations for a November 21st tune-up bout against Sam Hill. Within weeks Duddy had a new de facto manager, Craig Hamilton, the seven-year-old relationship between the boxer and his promoter was in tatters, the Hill fight (along with an even more lucrative January bout against Ronald Hearns) had been scuttled, and Duddy’s contract with Irish Ropes was the object of an unpleasant lawsuit, filed in US District Court.

At the centrepiece of the court case, which alleges financial improprieties in Irish Ropes’ handling of the Derry middleweight’s affairs, Eddie and Duddy’s erstwhile manager Tony McLoughlin stand accused of being brothers.

The McLoughlins do not deny that relationship, but point out they were already brothers in 2006, when Duddy, in the presence of a representative of the New York State Athletic Commission, signed separate contracts with each. In fact, from 2003 until last autumn, Duddy lived, rent-free, in an apartment owned by Tony McLoughlin, who also provided the boxer with the use of a car and several hundred dollars a week living allowance.

When Duddy appeared at Madison Square Garden a week ago to announce his February 21st date with Matt Vanda, he thanked Hamilton, attorney Gary Friedman and author Thomas Hauser for having effected his nascent emancipation from Irish Ropes. Hauser, himself a lawyer, subsequently objected to our having described him in these pages as a Duddy “adviser”, calling that characterisation “a disservice” to Hamilton and Friedman.

“The only advice I gave to John came when [Duddy’s proposed fight against Verno Phillips] fell through and I told him he should become more proactive in terms of charting his own career,” said Hauser, whose 4,000-word treatise The Truth About John Duddy on the website SecondsOut.com has, in the absence of dissenting views, been widely cited as the definitive view of a complex situation.

“In that same conversation, in response to a question from John, I said I wasn’t the right person to ask about the intricacies of managing a fighter and suggested he talk with Craig Hamilton. John was already aware of Hamilton because Craig manages Kevin Burnett, and Burnett is trained by Pat Burns,” added Hauser.

Within days of that advice, Hamilton (and his long-time lawyer, Friedman) were in charge and Irish Ropes was on the way out. Burns acknowledges having vouched for Hamilton’s integrity, but he also denies having initiated the poaching expedition.

Following the debacle against Walid Smichet last February (Duddy eked out a majority decision but was cut to ribbons, and blew a $1.4 million payday to fight middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik), it was clear to McLoughlin and matchmaker Jim Borzell trainer Don Turner would have to go.

McLoughlin says that even before the Smichet fight Hauser, whose opinion he valued, had lobbied on several occasions for Burns to replace Turner.

While acknowledging a long-time relationship with Burns, Hauser says the Florida trainer’s name was just one of several, including those of Nazim Richardson and Freddie Roach, he put forth to Irish Ropes.

In any case, McLoughlin and Borzell flew to Miami and met with Burns. (That the promoter and his matchmaker and not the manager conducted the job interview with the new trainer underscores the blurring of traditional roles at Irish Ropes, but both McLoughlins insist they acted in Duddy’s best interests.)

“When I asked him about his fee, he said it was ‘No problem, just a few hundred bucks a week’,” recalled Eddie. “He also talked about John’s conditioning, and about accommodation down there. He said neither was a problem, since he had a brother who was a qualified nutritionist who would work, again, ‘for a couple of hundred a week,’ and that his wife would arrange to rent a house for just a thousand or so a month.”

“That is inaccurate,” Burns insisted yesterday. “I simply couldn’t work for ‘a few hundred’ a week,’ and I wouldn’t have said I would.”

In the wake of the Smichet fiasco it was also clear Duddy needed to redeem himself with a tune-up bout against an unthreatening opponent. Charlie Howe of Ohio, knocked out in the first round of his last fight, had a deceptively impressive 17-3-2 record and seemed to fit the bill perfectly. When the New York commission refused to approve Duddy-Howe, the venue was shifted to Boston. And Burns became Duddy’s new trainer.

Once Irish Ropes had severed connections with Turner, according to McLoughlin, the picture changed dramatically. Between his own weekly fee of $850 and another $650 for Joseph Burns, the “few hundred a week” had grown to $1,500, and the $1,000-a-month house turned out to cost $1,800 a month.

In Boston on June 28th last year Duddy fought well and posted a unanimous decision over the 33-year-old Howe. Because that fight was a low-budget exercise away from the scrutiny of television cameras, Irish Ropes had anticipated running the show at a loss, and Duddy had agreed to a $20,000 purse, and $5,000 for training expenses.

Burns insists the financial terms had been spelled out before he took the job. McLoughlin claims he wouldn’t have agreed to it if that had been the case.

A few days ago, Eddie McLoughlin sifted through a pile of cancelled cheques showing that in May and June of last year alone he had written checks totalling $21,000 to various permutations of the Burns family.

Under the arrangement, Burns’ fee was supposed to cover gym expenses. For the Howe fight, Duddy sparred at the Phantom Gym in Miami. Phantom manager Artie Artwell says that for that camp, Pat Burns paid $60 a month for the use of the gym.

Given the unhappy beginning to the relationship, McLoughlin says he no longer considered Burns trustworthy, but acceded to the fighter’s wishes only because Duddy felt comfortable with him.

So who’s telling the truth? Consider this: that October 8th press conference was a veritable love-fest between Duddy and Irish Ropes, yet less than two weeks later he had new representation. Somebody gave John Duddy Craig Hamilton’s phone number, and it’s a pretty safe bet it wasn’t Eddie McLoughlin.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times

Lee & McCullough lead Irish boxers into “Erin Go Brawl II”

Posted on | February 11, 2009 | No Comments

St. Patrick’s Day Eve, Monday Night, Mar. 16, WaMu Theater in MSG

NEW YORK (February 11, 2009) – Many of the leading Irish and Irish-American boxers in the world will gather St. Patrick’s Day Eve (Monday, March 16), including 2004 Olympian Andy Lee and former WBC bantamweight champion Wayne “Pocket Rocket” McCulough, to fight on the “Erin Go Brawl II” card, presented by Irish Ropes Promotions at WaMu Theater in the famed Madison Square Garden.

Top middleweight prospect Lee (16-1, 13 KOs) will headline against 3-time world title challenger Antwun “Kid Dynamite” Echols (31-9-4, 27 KOs) in the 10 round main event. Although he hails from Limerick, Ireland, Lee fights out of the legendary Kronk Gym in Detroit and is trained by Hall of Famer Emanuel Steward. Echols is a past multi-regional champion who holds wins against former world champion Charles Brewer, Kabrey Salem, Ross Thompson and has fought Bernard Hopkins twice and Anthony Mundine.

Belfast-native McCullough, fighting out of Las Vegas, captured a Silver Medal at the 1992 Olympics. The veteran super bantamweight is in the 10-round co-feature against an opponent to be determined.

“The show goes on and, I promise you, ‘Erin Go Brawl II’ is going to be a spectacular show,” Irish Ropes president Eddie McLoughlin said. “Andy Lee is headlining and a living legend, Wayne McCullough, is in the co-feature. We have a lot of other exciting young Irish fighters in this card.”

Former Irish and Australian national amateur champion, undefeated light welterweight Dean “Irish Lightning” Byrne (10-4, 4 KOs), is also fighting in an 8 round bout. Byrne, training in Los Angeles under Freddie Roach, is a native of Crumlin, Ireland.

Scheduled to fight in 6-rounders are Irish featherweight champion Patrick “Pajo” Hyland (15-0, 8 KOs), of Dublin; Philadelphia by way of Galway middleweight “Slick Fightin’ Irish” Simon O’Donnell (8-1, 5 KOs); Limerick light heavyweight Jamie Power (4-0, 2 KOs) versus Reggie “Concrete” LaCrete (4-0-2, 3 KOs), from Brooklyn; Chicago by way of County Mayo light middleweight Henry “Western Warrior” Coyle (9-1, 8 KOs), 2005 World Military Games champion; Jersey City super featherweight Danny “Little Mac” McDermott (6-1-1, 2 KOs).

Also on the card in 4 round matches are Massachusetts light welterweight Danny O’Connor (3-1, 1 KO), 2008 U.S. Olympic Team alternate; Brooklyn featherweight Sadam Ali (1-0, 1 KO), 2008 U.S. Olympian.

Tickets went on sale today and are priced at $50.00, $75.00, $100.00, $150.00, $200.00, $300.00 and $400.00. Tickets are available at TicketMaster.com as well as Jack Demsey’s in Manhattan, Hilltop in Elmhurst and the Heritage in Yonkers.

For more information call Irish Ropes Promotions (212.868.9543) or go on line to www.irishropespromotions.

PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES

Andy Lee: “March 16, St. Patrick’s Day eve – big fight, big Irish show. There are a lot of good Irish fighters on the show like Hyland and Byrne. I’m honored to be sharing the card with one of my heroes, Wayne McCullough, starting when he was in the Olympics and as a pro. He’s been like a mentor to me, always helping me. It’s like I’m being reintroduced in America. I lost my last fight in America and came back strong in my last fight (in Ireland), knocking out Willie Gibbs. I took some time off last year to het my eye heal, If I win this and a few more I should be in the top 10 and knocking on the door for a world title fight.”

Emanuel Steward: “I’m very happy to be here to be part of this show. I always celebrated St. Patrick’s Day Eve in Detroit at O’Halloran’s. But it’s closed, so this year I’m going to stay here an extra day and celebrate with al of the Irish here. There’s a lot of Irish going on and that’s good for boxing. Going back to Wayne, then there was a lull until Andy in 2004 (Olympics). He was the star of Irish boxing. There’s in influx of Irish amateurs – a new generation of Irish fighters – and that’s good for boxing. Andy and John (Duddy) started it coming over here I think that will continue for the next 10 years. Irish fans are the best in the world and they’re spread all over the place. I was raised in an Irish neighborhood. They really support their athletes. It’s going to be a great show in a strong boxing city, especially after what Irish Ropes did with John Duddy to get everything going. In addition to being Andy’s manager and trainer, I like watching him fight. We have three more fights planned after this one and by the end of the year he should be fighting for a world title.”

Wayne McCullough (via video conferencing): “I’m thankful that Irish Ropes and Cedric Kushner for bringing me to the East Coast. I fought there (1998 in Atlantic City) against Naseem Hamed and I fought Daniel Zaragoza in Boston in 1997. My second fight was at Madison Square Garden (WKO3 vs. Sergio Ramirez in 1993). I look forward to returning there. I’m back! I want to get a few fights and hopefully, working with Irish Ropes and Cedric Kushner, fight for a title later this year. It’s going to be great fighting on St. Patrick’s Day Eve in New York City, it’s been a dream, and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Danny O’Connor: “I’m excited to come to New York City. I was asked about fighting on a show close to my home (Massachusetts), but I said absolutely not, I want to fight on the St. Patrick’s Day Eve be show in New York City. I’m happy things were finalized and I’m on this card. I went to and Irish Ropes show in Boston and it was amazing. The fans were so loud I couldn’t hear the person seated next to me. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like fighting here March 16. I can’t focus on it right now because I have a fight February 27th (ESPN in Florida). Once that’s cool I’ll be able to concentrate 100-percent on March 16. I can’t wait to showcase my talents in Madison Square Garden.”

Sadam Ali: “This will be my first fight in Manhattan in my second fight. It’s going to be great to be here.”

-IRP-

SHAMROCK VS. DIAZ ON FOR APRIL. SHAMROCK, SHOWTIME, AND STRIKEFORCE TEAM UP QUICK FOR HUGE EVENT

Posted on | February 11, 2009 | No Comments

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FRANK SHAMROCK vs. NICK DIAZ
HEADLINES LANDMARK STRIKEFORCE EVENT

Saturday, April 11, From HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif.

Live on SHOWTIME® at 10 p.m. ET/PT

NEW YORK (Feb. 11, 2009)—Three-time world champion and mixed martial arts legend, Frank Shamrock (24-9-1), will make his dramatic return to the cage when he squares off with fellow knockout artist Nick Diaz (18-7, 1 NC) in the main event of Strikeforce’s first MMA event of the year at San Jose, California’s HP Pavilion on Saturday, April 11.

The event represents the dawn of a new age for Strikeforce as it will be the first event under its new television agreement with premium television network SHOWTIME. The live telecast will feature up to five fights including the Shamrock-Diaz main event beginning live at 10 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast).

The matchup, which will be contested at a catch weight of 179 lbs, is an opportunity for the hard-punching Diaz to avenge a devastating, 21-second knockout that his trainer, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu master Cesar Gracie, suffered at the hands of Shamrock in the main event of Strikeforce’s historic MMA debut event at HP Pavilion on March 10, 2006.

Also on the fight card, middleweight (185-pound limit) sluggers Scott “Hands of Steel” Smith (16-5, 1 NC) and Benji “Razor” Radach (19-4) will battle each other in a featured contest.

Tickets for “Shamrock vs. Diaz,” priced from $30, go on sale to the general public on Monday, February 23, at 10 a.m. PT at the HP Pavilion box office (408-287-7070) as well as at all Ticketmaster locations (408-998-TIXS), Ticketmaster online (www.ticketmaster.com), and Strikeforce’s official website (www.strikeforce.com).

“I’d be pretty pissed off if someone smashed my coach,” said the 36-year-old Shamrock, who is regarded by many as the father of modern day MMA. “Diaz is going to be carrying the pride of his school with him, but a fight’s a fight. Someone’s getting smashed and it’s just not going to be me.”

A San Jose, Calif. resident, Shamrock earned his lofty stature by bringing to the sport a polished, hybrid fighting style combining western boxing, kickboxing and submission wrestling in the mid-90’s when most MMA competitors’ skills were heavily concentrated in a single fight discipline. He was crowned the first UFC middleweight champion in history after stopping “The Huntington Beach Badboy” Tito Ortiz with an onslaught of strikes in what is regarded as one of the greatest MMA battles of all-time.

“I’m done breaking myself for entertainment,” Shamrock continued. “I’m just going to break everybody else and they’ll be entertained by that.”

Diaz, a stone-faced 25-year-old Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt from Stockton, Calif., responded, “Frank and I have always lived in a 100 mile radius of each other. When I got into this (sport), the people around here were all about Frank Shamrock, so I turned around and walked the other way.”

“I’ve crossed paths and trained with people who have also trained with Frank,” continued Diaz. “I know what they do, how they fight, and the way they act, so it’s great for me to get this fight while I’m still young. There’s a lot of things I can talk about, but I’m going to represent Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and I’m down for whatever’s going to happen in this fight.”

Diaz is long known as one of MMA’s most rebellious characters with a short fuse and crowd-pleasing style. He exploded onto the national MMA scene when he stunned fellow rising star “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler with a right hook to the jaw that put Lawler flat on the canvas at UFC 47 on April 2, 2004.

When he steps in the cage with Shamrock, Diaz will look to notch his fourth consecutive victory after turning in a flawless 2008 in which he stopped all three of his opponents, including his last adversary, Thomas “The Wildman” Denny.

”I just got a bigger picture of what’s going on in my life and in the world,” said Diaz of his recent success. “I think I just needed to grow up a bit. I did that and things are coming to me much easier now.”

Shamrock’s start will be his first since March 29, 2008, when he sustained a broken right arm while attempting to defend the Strikeforce world middleweight championship against longtime Bay Area rival and undefeated kickboxing champion Cung Le.

A Le round kick to the body caused the injury and prevented Shamrock from coming out to fight for the fourth round of a championship bout scheduled for five rounds.

“It healed up like it never happened,” said Shamrock of his arm that underwent surgery.

Prior to the title defense, Shamrock was crowned the first Strikeforce middleweight MMA champion in history after choking “The New York Badass” Phil Baroni unconscious in the second round of their live SHOWTIME PPV® battle at HP Pavilion on June 22, 2007.

Showtime Networks Inc. and Strikeforce jointly announced last week a multi-year agreement to create an all-new series of MMA events that will air live on SHOWTIME as part of the SHOWTIME Sports franchise. The two entities will produce and televise up to 16 live events per year, including world championship fight cards as well as a series dedicated to showcasing up-and-coming fighters in the sport.

The agreement reunites SHOWTIME and Strikeforce following their successful “Shamrock vs. Baroni” event, presented by SHOWTIME PPV in 2007 and the Shamrock vs. Cung Le telecast, which aired live on SHOWTIME.

About Strikeforce
Strikeforce is a world-class mixed martial arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made history with its “Shamrock vs. Gracie” event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California state history. The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San Jose’s HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out, record crowd of 18,265. Since 1995, Strikeforce has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial arts series with “Shamrock vs. Gracie.” Since then, it has co-produced the first SHOWTIME PPV mixed martial arts event in history with its world championship “Shamrock vs. Baroni” card on June 22nd of this year followed by the first-ever mixed martial arts event at the world-famous Playboy Mansion on September 29th.

About Showtime Networks Inc.

Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL® and FLIX®, as well as the multiplex channels SHOWTIME 2™, SHOWTIME® SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME®, SHOWTIME BEYOND®, SHOWTIME NEXT®, SHOWTIME WOMEN®, SHOWTIME FAMILY ZONE® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL® XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL® HD, SHOWTIME ON DEMAND® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL® ON DEMAND. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV®.

FightZone TV and UWC Team Up For “Man ‘O’ War”

Posted on | February 11, 2009 | No Comments

FightZone TV is proud to announce that once again they will be partnering with Ultimate Warrior Challenge (UWC) as world-class professional mixed marital arts action makes its highly anticipated return to the GMU Patriot Center on Saturday, February 21, 2009, when Ultimate VIP International and Sherdog present UWC 5 – “Man ‘O’ War.”

FightZone’s Jay Adams will be cageside to bring fans all the exciting Play By Play action of the Mid Atlantic Region’s biggest, all pro MMA Ultimate Cage Fighting Event for future airings to over 25 million homes on Sun Sports, SportSouth and ATT U-Verse.

UWC – “Confrontation ” held last October entertained nearly 5,000 fans at the Patriot Center and drew rave reviews from the MMA community for its nonstop action from start to finish and highly charged and celebrity-filled environment. The event featured a mix of accomplished fighters, UFC veterans and local stars putting on an outstanding and highly talked about show. Superstars such as Urijah Faber, Carlos Condit, and others traveled across the country to get a firsthand look at the UWC presentation.

“Based on the success of our last two DC-area shows, we’re very optimistic and looking forward to continuing our growth and putting on an even greater event with “Man ‘O’ War.” said Ultimate Warrior Sports Development CEO S. Marcello Foran.

“Man ‘O’ War”” will feature ten All Pro cage-fights with a collection of UFC, Pride, IFL and Bodog vets as well as world-class athletes from across the country and from the greater Washington area’s top MMA schools/teams including Gracie – Renzo; Team Lloyd Irvin; American Top Team; Team Matt Hughes – Hit Squad; Yamasaki Academy; Greg Jackson’s MMA; Lionheart MMA; MMA Institute; Hybrid Academy; Gold Medal Grappling and more…

Main Event World Championship Title Fight – Mike “The Hulk” Easton Vs. Chase “The Rage” Beebe. Co Main Event: Antwain “The Juggernaut” Britt Vs. Jamal “The Suit” Patterson.

Fans can once again expect to see some of their favorite MMA superstars in attendance for the star-studded event such as 9x UFC World Champ Matt Hughes; Elite XC World Champ Robbie “Ruthless” Lawler among others.

Tickets are available for $35.00, $58.50, $78.50 and $128.50 and can be purchased through Ticketmaster by going online at www.ticketmaster.com, calling 703-573-SEAT, 202-397-SEAT or 410-547-SEAT or by visiting any Ticketmaster outlet, including the Patriot Center box office. Exclusive UltimateVIP ($500) and VIP ($250) ticket packages that include cage side seats, fighter meet-and-greets, UVIP status at official celebrity pre-and after-parties, and fully catered food and beverage services are available online at www.uwcmma.com and www.myspace.com/uwcmma or by sending an email at info@uwcmma.com. For more info and news please contact custsvc@uwcmma.com.

About UWC

The Ultimate Warrior Challenge (UWC) is the Mid Atlantic Region leader in providing fans with the best, most competitive and highest quality professional mixed martial arts (MMA) events. In addition to featuring elite fighters from the top MMA teams across the country, UWC also showcases and builds the careers of many top pro fighters from the leading Virginia, DC and Maryland teams and gyms by giving them an opportunity and platform to challenge the very best in their highly competitive hometown area. UWC’s fighters and events will serve as the catalyst for turning the Washington region into a powerful and highly regarded MMA east coast destination.

About FightZone® TV

FightZone TV is one of the largest Independent Distributors of MMA Events. Their weekly programs include FightZone Presents The Best of MMA Events from around the country and Jay Adams’ “Brawl Call” Interview Show.

FightZone TV is available to over 20 million homes weekly on SportSouth (Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, and SunSports (Florida) as well as nationally on DIRECTV, The Dish Network and AT&T U-Verse.
For more info visit www.FightZone.TV

UWC 4 “Confrontation” will be airing 9 times in February. Check local listings for time and channel.

Al Martino/Jay Adams
FightZone TV LLC
PO Box 20044
St. Petersburg, FL 33742
727-577-5500
www.FightZone.TV

TAKEDOWN RADIO REPORT

Posted on | February 11, 2009 | No Comments

The mobile Brute Adidas Studios will hit the road again this week and head to Columbia Missouri and Little Rock, Arkansas.

TDR- Schedule

Friday Feb. 13th 6:30 PM CST Missouri Vs. Cent. Mich
Live Play By Play with Scott Casber and 2 X NCAA Champ Ben Askren

Sat Feb. 14 th 9:05 AM to 11:00 AM CST Reg. TDR Show with Special Guests
Pat Smith and Greg Hatcher
Live from the Jack Stephens Center on the Campus of the University of Arkansas
at Little Rock

On phone or in studio guests include Jeff Murphy with the Kemin review of the
National landscape of College Wrestling and Hofstra’s Head Coach Tom Shifflet

Sat Feb. 14 th 6:30 PM CST TakedownRadio.com presents the inaugural Arkansas State HS
Championships. Join Scott Casber and Don Schuler for the presentation of the Finals
of this historic event.

Special Thanks go out to Pat Smith and Greg Hatcher and their team for the hard work and dedication to purpose in organizing wrestling at the club and HS level in Arkansas. Great work guys.

Please note you can listen to these broadcast at no charge at Takedownradio.com courtesy of our partners at Livesportsvideo.com and all of our tremendous sponsors who understand that wrestling is the backbone of all that is good in sports.

STRIKEFORCE & ELITEXC CONFERENCE: KEN HERSHMAN, SCOTT COKER & FRANK SHAMROCK

Posted on | February 11, 2009 | No Comments

MEDIA CONFERENCE CALL TRANSCRIPT

ANNOUNCED: Legendary Shamrock Faces World-Class Nick Diaz In Strikeforce Main Event When MMA Returns to SHOWTIME Saturday, April 11, At 10 p.m. ET/PT, Live From The HP Pavilion in San Jose, California

**If you would like to hear the conference call in its entirety, the playback numbers are **

U.S. Toll Free: (800) 355-2355
International: (402) 220-2946
Playback Passcode: 27122#
(Playback available through Sunday, Feb. 15)

Late last week, it was announced that Showtime Networks, Inc. and world championship mixed martial arts (MMA) event producer Strikeforce have joined forces to create an all-new series of MMA events that will air live on SHOWTIME® as part of the SHOWTIME Sports franchise.

The multi-year agreement calls for SHOWTIME to produce and televise up to 16 live events per year including Strikeforce world championship events as well as a series dedicated to showcasing up-and-coming fighters in the sport.

The initial Strikeforce event on SHOWTIME is Saturday, April 11 (10 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the west coast) at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., and will feature legendary MMA pioneer Frank Shamrock against world-class Nick Diaz in the main event at a catchweight of 179 pounds.

Hershman, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Sports and Event Programming, Showtime Networks Inc., was responsible for pioneering the network’s entry into MMA in 2007, when SHOWTIME became the first premium network to televise the explosive sport.

Coker, the Strikeforce founder and CEO, has promoted MMA for more than 23 years. His 14-year-old Strikeforce organization has been a major player in MMA since a March 2006 event drew a capacity crowd of 18,265 at San Jose’s HP Pavilion. The live gate figure also broke the then-all-time record for attendance at an MMA event held in North America.

The executives and Shamrock spoke on a national media conference call Tuesday. The following are highlights from the call:

Comments from:

SCOTT COKER:

We had the opportunity to work with SHOWTIME on the Shamrock vs. Baroni fight in June of 2007 and it was a great success. It was a great matchup. We went on to promote another event with SHOWTIME, which was the he Shamrock vs. Cung Le fight. It was very well attended, attendance was over 15,000. It was an amazing battle. At that point we said MMA is here to stay.

This is a monumental event for our company. We look forward to putting on the best MMA events in the history of Strikeforce. With the two rosters combined, we have a roster that makes for a lot of compelling matchups. We look forward to put on some amazing events and we look forward to moving forward.

KEN HERSHMAN:

We’ve had MMA on the network since 2007. That (EliteXC) programming was actually very successful despite ProElite’s financial struggles. One thing that we’re very proud of is that we always put on compelling contests that are very well received by our subscribers.

We’ve been in boxing the last 20-plus years. We expected MMA to start off slowly until people caught up, and I’d have to say that that’s not the case. It’s right up there with some of our highest rated sports programming.

We’re thrilled to be getting back into this space and equally excited to get back into it with Strikeforce and Scott Coker. There’s no one better and classier in this business. We’re really looking forward to launching this platform together. We now have a great compliment on the network again to our NFL programming and our boxing programming. And I can’t wait until April 11.

FRANK SHAMROCK:

I want to thank SHOWTIME for once again not only taking the risk with MMA but also embracing it wholeheartedly. My experience with Scott Coker is a very long one and a very successful one.

Scott was that guy that got me out, got me back in the cage and got me going again. I put my trust in him and put my faith in him to promote me well and to present us with honor and respect that I think the athletes deserve. In that way I think Scott is a tremendous friend and promoter.

SHOWTIME, man, you guys are good guys. You’re commitment to MMA is honorable. I, as an artist, really, truly appreciate that. It’s been 15 years since I’ve been a professional mixed martial artist and I can’t imagine having another job or wanting one.

(For) April 11, they called me and I took my suit off and put my training clothes on. One thing Strikeforce is really good at and SHOWTIME is really good at is making and booking exciting fights. My opponent for April 11 is an exciting fighter. He’s a guy who throws, talks trash and on April 11, I’m going to knock him out. And his name is Nick Diaz.

Many of you guys know him. He’s sort of the other bad boy that I haven’t beat down yet. But come April 11 we’ll take care of that.

QUESTIONS:

Do you plan to continue to cross promote?

SCOTT COKER:

We haven’t had the sit down with Ken and the guys at SHOWTIME, but my thought is that the co-promotion fights that we did together with EliteXC and Gary Shaw were probably two of the best fights we’ve ever done. When organizations get together and have compelling matchups that make sense and are relevant that work out in the end for both fighters and all parties, I feel why wouldn’t we? I think if it’s good for business that I will support it. But it’s something we still have to iron out.

On fighting Ken Shamrock.

FRANK SHAMROCK:

I do plan to fight more often. I had a program which was kind of fighting twice a year, but think I need to tie them a little closer so I don’t get out of shape.

In reference to fighting Ken, it’s a fight I’d always want to do. I think it’s a very compelling story. Ken’s going through some personal and emotional problems right now and we’re letting him do that. But this fight is something that is very personal for me. I think it’s very important that we tell the story of the sport and the Shamrock family and what type of influence the family has had on the sport. I think it’s important that I kick his butt, but right now we’re putting it on the back burner.

What went into Shamrock-Diaz?

KEN HERSHMAN:

Everything I’ve seen from Frank is there is never a dull moment. With Nick, you know what you’re getting from him. He’s just going to come at you and not stop.

When I program boxing I’m much more involved in the matchmaking. I look for styles that will make compelling contests and will make compelling fights. When we talked to Scott about this matchup this was one of those that was like three seconds. Do it. These guys are going to go at it. It’s going to be fun. Who knows who wins? Frank has to lose some weight and that’s a challenge for him and Nick has to fight a guy that is a legend. So come April 11 all I can say is I won’t miss it.

Has there been Kimbo Slice contact?

HERSHMAN:

Well there is a lot of reasons why (there hasn’t been contact with Kimbo Slice yet). We had to work through the whole EliteXC thing and unwind that transaction. It was a big bit complicated and a bit cumbersome. My hat goes off to Scott and his team for hanging in there. It was a long road, but we got there. And now we just closed this deal a few days back. We’ve already put together an event. Scott’s already matched up the main event and a couple of other cards. Now we’re going to go to the next step, which is to secure those fighters that we want and Kimbo is one that we think we have a future with. We’re going to make every effort to get him done. But there are only so many hours in a day. He’s an important part of where we’re going and we’re going to see if we can line that up with him in the coming weeks.

SCOTT COKER:

We have been in touch with I think half of the fighter roster. Yesterday, I did talk to Kimbo Slice’s lawyer, just to say hello and let him know we will be in touch shortly and that we are very excited to have Kimbo fighting with Strikeforce and getting him back into the cage as soon as possible. My goal is to get these guys back working and back fighting as soon as possible.

We will have reached out to everybody by the end of day tomorrow. And then we’ll start putting the matches together and move forward.

KEN HERSHMAN:

I think that we are going to have at least five major events this year and hopefully at least five of our up-and-comer series which was so successful before. As Scott said, we are going to sit down and go through the calendar and try and space these things out. But you know SHOWTIME hasn’t had MMA on the air with live, new events since September of last year, so we’re chomping at the bit. We can’t wait to get going and we’re looking forward to this April show to kick it off. You’re going to see a number of events in pretty rapid succession thereafter.

CHRIS DEBLASIO:

Just to clarify, there will be the championship level events and the up-and-comer series which is similar to our boxing series ShoBox, which showcases young fighters who are up and coming and trying to make their way to the big time championship fights.

Plans for women’s MMA:

SCOTT COKER:

Being from a martial arts background, we’ve always looked forward to women’s fights. At the end of the day, this is a martial arts contest. I’ve always supported women’s martial arts competitions. MMA is just taking it to the next level. We’ve had some compelling matchups. When you look back at the history of the women’s fights in Strikeforce there are a couple fights that are right up there with the big boys as far as exciting matchups. They can bring it. There’s no difference. A kick is a kick. A punch is a punch. An arm-bar is an arm-bar. If a girl is 125 pounds doing it, it’s still effective.

We’re going to continue supporting women’s MMA and we’re going to be inviting Gina (Carano) to come fight on April 11. And we’ve already got confirmation from (Cris) Cyborg that she is available if we can put that match together. And if not maybe we’ll put Cris Santos-Cyborg on the April 11 card. But those matchups are still to be determined and nothing is confirmed on that end. But we will be supporting women’s MMA in Strikeforce.

What’s the status of Cung Le?

SCOTT COKER:

Cung has been doing his movie star career. He’s had some success with it, he’s doing very well and we’re all happy for him. I talked to him about a week ago and he is itching to get back in the cage. He does have an injury on his elbow right now which is stopping him from fighting in this show. Otherwise, he would be fighting on this show because his schedule is open. He’s just injured. You will see Cung Le back in the cage on Strikeforce at least two times before the end of the year. I haven’t say down and talked to Frank about it, but the fight between Cung and Frank number two is a fight that actually should happen before the end of 2009. We are planning on having Gilbert (Melendez) fight (on April 11).

What is solidified for April 11?

SCOTT COKER:

Frank and Nick are going to be the main event. The other fight that we have matched is Benji Radich, who is an amazing fighter and great striker. He will be fighting Scott Smith, who in the last Strikeforce event knocked out Terry Martin in the first round. Those two guys will probably go right to the center of the cage and start throwing as hard as they can because that’s how they work.

The fighter that we are looking to match is Gilbert Melendez.

What’s the status of Josh Thompson?

SCOTT COKER:

I haven’t sat down with Josh yet, but we would like Josh to fight and the opponent we are going to invite to fight Josh, who is not confirmed, is KJ Noons.

Question on EliteXC Titles:

We should give them the ability to come fight and unify the titles at some point in ’09. We’re offering it to KJ because KJ was the EliteXC champion and Josh Thompson is our champion. That would be an amazing fight and that’s why we’re trying to put that together so we can unify the belt. But to get through all the weight classes that we have and they have, I think it is going to take the remainder of the year.

Announcers and start times:

KEN HERSHMAN:

I think we are going to stick with it the same way we did with EliteXC, which is mostly a 10 p.m. start time, east coast. The announce team we are putting in place as we speak. We haven’t figured out a way to have Frank Shamrock fight and announce at the same time, but I’m sure he’ll figure that out. I think we would like very much to bring Gus Johnson back, who did the CBS shows and is now our main commentator for boxing, and then we’ll round out the crew from there.

Title ramification for catchweight fight between Shamrock and Diaz:

SCOTT COKER:

This fight works because Nick Diaz fights traditionally between as low as 150 and up to 180. He goes back and forth depending on the matchup. He was fighting at a lower rate and I talked to Cesar Gracie (Nick’s trainer) and he said ‘we can’t make that weight anymore so we want to fight at 170.’ That’s were he would like to go back and fight and make his match. As you know, Frank is in the 185-pound weight class.

Putting those two fights together, it just made a lot of sense to me because of the history behind Cesar, the Gracie’s and the Shamrocks. I thought it was a compelling story. And it would be a fantastic matchup because of the styles. That’s why we put that fight together.

We’ve had a few fights at a catchweight, not that many. But once in a while to put one on that’s very special together like we are able to do for the launch with SHOWTIME and do it here, at our home, with Frank and Nick it just made a lot of sense and we’re very excited to do it.

In terms of exclusive fights:

SCOTT COKER:

If we had a fighter under contract but we couldn’t keep them busy then we would let him fight here or there. But based on the schedule, I think we are going to be very busy and we’re going to need the athletes to come participate because we are going to have so many fights. For right now we’re going to need athletes to fill these slots.

Alistair Overeem (Strikeforce heavyweight champion) will be fighting for Strikeforce. The question is when? I’m hoping to get him back before the end of the year. He’s just had a very busy schedule in Japan and fighting in Europe. One of my top priorities is trying to work out his next fight with us.

Kimbo against Bob Sapp?

SCOTT COKER:

That fight was just a conceptual fight. How great would it be if Kimbo and Bob could ever work out the weight and have that fight? I think it would be an entertaining fight to say the least. But by no means was that something that was contracted or talked about with both sides. It was just a “what if.”

Does Shamrock have the need or desire to avenge the loss to Cung Le?

FRANK SHAMROCK:

A need or desire, no. They’d probably pay well very well and it would probably be the fight of the year again. Other than that, fighting is fighting to me. It’s a transaction between two artists and somebody wins.

Shamrock’s comments on Nick Diaz:

FRANK SHAMROCK:

I do know Nick personally. It’s rare that I do know fighters on a social level. Nick Diaz is very similar to me. He grew up in a broken home and had abusive parents and really had a tough childhood. He and I have that in common and we’ve spoken about it a few times. He’s also gone on his MMA quest and traveled around to all the gyms. He ended up with my father for a minute training with him. So we have common ties that tie us together. I know for a fact hat he wasn’t too happy when I knocked out his coach Cesar and he said some words afterward that got him into this fight. But we’re going to fight and I don’t care about Nick. He’s a nice guy and I’m going to knock him out. Then I’ll move onto the next one.

Question about ProElite:

KEN HERSHMAN:

The reality of the situation is that ProElite ran into funding problems as many, many companies much bigger and far flung are in this world today. We had to figure out a way to unwind the relationship in a way that worked for everybody and that allowed MMA to have a life and to continue on SHOWTIME. That was very important to me and it was very important to SHOWTIME that we continue to showcase this programming for our subscribers.

Absolutely we had a say in that (the ProElite deal with Strikeforce). We were a stockholder number one and we had a programming agreement. We had to be very comfortable with the partner we were going to continue with. We absolutely had input there and we’re very happy with the way it worked out.

Why Strikeforce?

KEN HERSHAMN:

There were a lot of factors that went into it. First and foremost, we wanted stability that I think Strikeforce has demonstrated in their long tenure of operating successfully. We like their roster of fighters and we like the combination of rosters between the EliteXC fighters that we’re picking up and their current fighters. It presented a lot of compelling content in a very short time frame for us, so we didn’t have a building process.

What did you learn from failures of EliteXC?

KEN HERSHMAN:

They learned a lot as we did throughout this process about expansion too quick, too much, too fast. Things like that we’ll apply here. We just want to have a steady partner. We want to put on great shows. The benefit of our model and Strikeforce’s model is we’re not dependent on pay-per-view. So we don’t have to go out there month in and month out and charge our fans $40 or $50 to see our content. You get SHOWTIME, you can watch them every month, month in and month out. We think we have a really good model that will allow us to grow in the future and we’re looking forward to it.

Exclusive deal with Strikeforce?

KEN HERSHMAN:

We weren’t exclusive to EliteXC either and we’re not exclusive with Strikeforce. But I will tell you that when we’re in with a partner, we’re in with a partner. We feel like we’re going to be doing a lot with Scott. I’m not sure we have the capacity or the desire to do anything with anyone else. If somebody came along with something compelling we would examine it and also talk with Scott about how he felt about it because that’s the type of partnership we’re going to have.

What synergy is there between boxing and MMA?

KEN HERSHMAN:

I think that when we looked at our sports platform and the ways to expand it we looked at boxing and that is, in essence, one of the original extreme sports. Adding mixed martial arts, to me, is a very natural extension of that. Obviously that sport has evolved and developed in a very quick fashion and has caught the attention of a young demographic, which we will see. And we have the NFL, which, on a lot of levels, is as extreme and challenging of a sport as a combat sport. We love the triumvirate of those three together. We think that they all cross-pollinate each other and we expect that fans of one will become fans of each of the other.

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