First England......Now Texas? - A WMMA 2 Diary

[BYU 14]

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

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

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

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

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

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

[BYU 14]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[BYU 14]

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

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

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

Blurcat ran a nice little piece introducing UK Combat MMA

UK Combat Roster

Key: Name (age) record
Heavyweight
Major Stars
None

Secondary Stars
Brian Barnes (31) 11-8
Eugene Clough (42) 37-34-2
Graham Goodbody (37) 20-9
Jesse Singh (29) 13-4
Kevin Portman (33) 9-5
Mark Bicknell (30) 7-2

Undercard
Barry Strachan (33) 24-15
Bronson Berle (30) 3-3
Daigo Kitaguchi (25) 3-5
Damien Jones (28) 2-0
Eien Kawano (24) 3-0
Fletcher Merman (29) 6-3
Frank Analysis (32) 36-19
Frank Sheedy (31) 22-7
Harvey Loeb (25) 6-3
Ikuhisa Tamura (30) 20-8
Jutaro Honma (24) 0-0
Keaton Spratt (26) 4-7
Libor Pudil (21) 0-0
Mason Archer (22) 0-0
Murlo Satinho (20) 0-0
Renato (24) 3-0
Stan Blackheath (37) 20-9
Sylvester Collins (24) 3-0
Taye Burnett (21) 0-0
Wilson Franklyn (25) 2-0

Light Heavyweight
Major Stars
Bill Cumming (34) 27-12
Michael Banning (28) 8-3

Secondary Stars
Conor Houghton (26) 2-4
Neville Granville (29) 0-0

Undercard
Affonso Villar (21) 1-0
Alekos Karabatsos (28) 12-4
Blaze Weeks (23) 1-0
Ernie Burns (35) 17-10
Folee Caffatere (29) 2-1
Hardy Tristan (24) 0-0
Jasper Osmond (35) 10-13
Joseph King (28) 4-10
Juan Puga (28) 8-10
Justin Brannagh (28) 3-0
Logan Sky (21) 0-0
Priti Manek (23) 1-1
Rupert Dreck (23) 4-0
Samuel Russo (28) 16-11
Spencer Rubenstein (21) 0-0
Titus Mostel (25) 2-3

Middleweight
Major Stars
None

Secondary Stars
Bixente Fontaine (26) 8-2
Paxton Brinkal (32) 4-5

Undercard
Atsutane Akera (20) 0-0
Bart Diggs (24) 5-2
Bill Brown (21) 1-0
Billy Russell (24) 1-0
Bradley Dixon (32) 17-9
Carson Neuwirth (29) 10-14
Danny Akabaro (18) 0-0
Ed Burridge (22) 2-0
Francis O’Leary (45) 26-18
Genki Shinashi (26) 6-1
Haranobu Oshiro (24) 4-0
Heath Kaladaris (19) 0-0
Hunter Scribbins (22) 2-0
Jakuchu Abe (20) 0-0
Jermaine McKenzie (24) 4-0
Marlon John (21) 1-0
Nick Detroit (26) 4-0
Owen Hyde (22) 2-0
Ronnie Allen Teller (21) 2-0
Susumu Katoh (32) 17-10
Todd D’Abruzzo (25) 5-1
Tora Mizwar (23) 3-0
Vagner (30) 13-5
Wes Hersch (23) 0-0

Welterweight
Major Stars
Jim Carpenter (34) 49-9-2

Secondary Stars
Mikey Wallace (25) 5-0
Mills Mullally (29) 14-4

Undercard
Bret Clement 23) 4-0
Brock Youdale (22) 1-0
Bussho Maruyama (21) 1-0
Chad Zoff (18) 0-0
Deacon Stawford (27) 4-5
Diego Arteta (21) 0-0
Evan Pizzaro (18) 1-0
Fisher Kaye (25) 2-2
Gideon Mavarro (20) 0-0
Grant Capelli (21) 0-0
Holden Strant (26) 2-4
Houston George (22) 2-0
Joaquim Fontes (25) 11-1
Junmal Skinner (25) 4-3
Kojuro Ijicho (31) 14-10
Ray Eton (26) 7-1
Ryder Myllart (21) 0-1
Templeton Crumb (27) 6-1
Thiago Ceni (35) 17-12

Lightweight
Major Stars
Heikichi Shimizo (31) 1-0
William Powell (27) 8-7

Secondary Stars
Gregory O’Hara (23) 1-0
Helio (23) 20-2
Ron Chuckle (21) 2-1
Roy Lynch (24) 6-7
Tim Oldacres (22) 0-0

Undercard
Bosco Curbeam (22) 0-0
Braxton Pryce (23) 1-3
Brendon Job (22) 0-0
Chuck Brown (20) 0-0
Drauzio Simaan (23) 5-0
Floyd Haywood (20) 0-0
Georges Nouri (29) 10-1
Grande Silveira (23) 4-0
Henry Baldwin (26) 7-2
Kyle Sagal (23) 3-0
Kyle Winterburn (22) 0-0
Lucas Mueller (26) 7-2
Motoki Hojo (22) 0-0
Sawyer Hines (26) 2-2

Featherweights
Major Stars
Liam O’Donnell (24) 5-2

Secondary stars
Jay Dorridge (23) 3-0
Louie Sullivan (20) 0-0

Undercard
Beau LaPone (21) 0-0
Clifton Curry (20) 0-0
Dominic Ash (28) 5-0
H.M. Menzel (28) 10-3
Hetcher Durante (22) 0-0
Hisamitsu Sasaki (18) 0-0
Kei Maki (21) 3-0
Maya Asgar (20) 0-1
Nicky Shapiro (28) 14-10
Norberto (33) 27-5
Pim Pim Gwon (20) 0-0
Reza Afshar (27) 4-0
Samba Nakamura (21) 0-0
Sophan Sastrowardoya (23) 3-0

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

[BYU 14]

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

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

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

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

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

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

Me: “Yes sir.”

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

[BYU 14]

After every night, there comes a dawn.........

[BYU 14]

UKC 1 – Dawn of Destruction

Preliminaries

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

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

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

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

Main Card

LHW – Bixente Fontaine (9-2) defeats Carson Neuwirth (10-15) by UD in 3 rds
A slow paced match that generated very little excitement and even less action, Fontaine was simply the busier of the two, barely and takes it 29-28 on all 3 cards.
Rating: Poor

HW – Renato (4-0) defeats Daigo Kitaguchi (3-6) by UD in 3 rds
Renato used his superior strength to control Kitaguchi, but lacked the experience to finish two submission attempts as Daigo fought in a defensive posture the entire bout
Rating: Poor

LW – Henry Baldwin (8-2) defeats Grande Silveira (4-1) by submission in 3:47 of rd 3
These two put on a Jiu Jitsu clinic as they traded submission attempts, with neither man able to gain an advantage until Silveira ran out of gas and succumbed to an Arm bar.
Rating: Average

HW – Brian Barnes (12-8) defeats Eugene Clough (37-35-2) by UD in 3 rds
A sad spectacle as Clough is shot as a fighter and Barnes was not in top shape. The crowd is irate as Barnes plods his way to a boring decision. Clough announces his retirement after the loss.
Rating: Awful

WW – Mikey Wallace (6-0) defeats Kojuro Ijichi (14-11) by UD in 3 rds
A brilliant chess match between striker and grappler, with Wallace using a rapier like jab and quick counters to avoid all but one takedown attempt that came at the end of round 2.
Rating: Great

Main Event – For the UKC LHW Championship
LHW - Michael Bannon (9-3) defeats Bill Cumming (27-13) by UD in 5 rds
Underappreciated fight by the pro Bannon crowd, who grew as frustrated as “The flurry from Surrey” was stymied by the wily veteran time and again as he tried striking, grappling and Muay Tai with marginal success. Youth still carried the day though as Bannon held on to win the Strap.
Rating: Poor

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

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

Fight of the Night - Wallace / Ijichi

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

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

[BYU 14]

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

[NevStar]

Good grief, that roster is HUGE! Lance is gonna muss you up, bah gawd...

Always been a big fan of Carpenter, even in WMMA 1. Hope he does well for you.

I'll be following, been wondering when a WMMA 2 dynasty would show up here.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by NevStar

Good grief, that roster is HUGE! Lance is gonna muss you up, bah gawd...

Always been a big fan of Carpenter, even in WMMA 1. Hope he does well for you.

I'll be following, been wondering when a WMMA 2 dynasty would show up here.

Yeah I went a little Ape shit with the signing bonuses, so I have a nice little hole to dig out of. Lance needs to just keep Golfing with Jerry Jones for a few months and leave me the hell alone with his checkbook

Carpenter will be a saving grace early, since he is my only exclusive fighter with a "big" name right now. Feel free to throw out some predictions and drop a few bucks, UKC needs the money

[BYU 14]

UKC 2 – Rude Awakening

Preliminaries

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

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

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

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

Main Card

MW – Billy Russell (2-0) defeats Jemaine McKenzie (4-1) by submission in 2:23 of rd 3
McKenzie’s striking gave Russell fits during the first two rounds as he led on all cards. Russell was finally able to secure a takedown in the 3rd and promptly stole the win with an Arm triangle.
Rating: Decent

FW – Jay Dorridge (4-0) defeats Liam O’Donnell (5-3) by submission in 2:12 of rd 2
Dorridge was a whirling dervish of submission attempts keeping O’Donnell scrambling as Jay looked to work his arms. The end came with Dorridge applying the Kimura from half guard.
Rating: Good

WW – Bussho Maruyama (2-0) defeats Fisher Kaye (2-3) by UD in 3 rds
Kaye carried the first round with marginal strikes and good takedown defense, but big slams and ground control in each of the next two rounds carried the day for Maruyama in dull match.
Rating: Very Poor

HW – Barry Strachan (25-15) defeats Jesse Singh (13-5) by SD in 3 rds
A close fight throughout that saw Strachan build an early lead through superior grappling. As Strachan tired, Singh began to land vicious strikes in a furious comeback that fell just short.
Rating: Decent

UKC Heavyweight Championship
HW – Graham Goodbody (21-9) defeats Ikushi Tamura (20-9) by UD in 5 rds
Tamura grounded Goodbody in the first and battered him with strikes, punching himself out in the process. Goodbody then controlled the rest of the fight with his jab to win the UKC HW Title.
Rating: Decent

Main Event – For the UKC Welterweight Championship
WW – Jim Carpenter (50-9-2) defeats Mills Mullally (14-5) by submission in 4.11 of rd 1
Carpenter put on a clinic, manhandling a very capable fighter with sound technical grappling and lightning quick transitions. Mullally was game, but once Carpenter had the Americana locked in, he moved from mount to side control and forced the tap to become UKC WW Champion.
Rating: Good

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

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

[BYU 14]

UKC – Quick Strikes

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

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

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

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

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

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

Top 10 Pound for Pound in the World
1: HW – Hassan Fessik 26-0 (Alpha-1)
2: LHW – Tadamasa Yamada 22-1 (Alpha-1)
3: HW – James Foster 33-4-1 (GAMMA)
4: MW – Neil Napier 15-0 (GAMMA)
5: LW – Sean Morrison 26-3 (GAMMA)
6: MW – Matthew Dean 32-5 (GAMMA)
7: LHW – Zvonimir Asanovic 16-1 (GAMMA)
8: LHW – Roberto Aldez 43-6 (Alpha-1)
9: WW – Carlos Da Guia 15-0 (Alpha-1)
10: MW – JJ Reid 27-2 (GAMMA)

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

Retirements
Tobias Goulet – 33 years old – Career record 13-20
Kenta Arimura – 34 years old – Career record 10-15
Eugene Clough – 43 years old – Career record 37-35-2

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

[BYU 14]

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

[BYU 14]

UKC 3 – Midlands Mayhem

Preliminaries

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

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

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

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

Main Card

MW – Danny Akabaro (1-0) defeats Wes Hersch (0-1) by TKO in 0:40 of rd 1
In keeping with the precedent set on the undercard, Akabaro swarms Hersch early and drops him with a devastating flurry of punches, then pounds him out with Hammer Fists.
Rating: Great

HW – Kevin Portman (10-5) defeats Frank Analysis (36-20) by submission in 3:50 of rd 1
Another high intensity early ending as Manchester favorite “Granite” Portman drives Analysis into the mat with a big slam and pounds away, before catching an Arm bar and forcing the tap.
Rating: Great

LHW – Rupert Dreck (5-0) defeats Justin Brannagh (3-1) by UD in 3 rds
A good looking matchup on paper, but Brannagh did not live up to his name, abandoning his reckless style in fear of being taken down, practically handing the match to Dreck.
Rating: Poor

MW – Vagner (13-5-1) and Bart Diggs (5-2-1) fight to a 3 rd draw.
An incredible turnaround in this fight as Diggs was rocked several times in the first two rounds as he looked to grapple. In the 3rd he stood and traded, dropping Vagner and pummeling him for the entire round to salvage a draw.
Rating: Good

UKC Lightweight Championship
LW – Helio (21-2) defeats Georges Nouri (10-2) by TKO in 1:32 of rd 3
Helio is a well balanced fighter and gained a quick advantage with his Muay Tai in round 1. Nouri had some success grappling in the 2nd, but was smothered in a barrage of shots in the 3rd that ended it. Helio becomes the UKC LW Champion!!!
Rating: Great

Main Event – For the UKC Featherweight Championship
FW – Dominic Ash (7-0) defeats Jay Dorridge (4-1) by TKO in 4:34 of rd 2
Jay Dorridge hoped to make lightening strike twice by taking a page out of Bart Diggs book. Rebuffed by sharp punches as he tried to grapple in the 1st, Dorridge came out swinging in round 2 and was caught with a beautifully timed counter right that dropped him, where Ash applied the coup de gras to take the UKC FW Belt!!
Rating: Good

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

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

[BYU 14]

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

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

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

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

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

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

As if that wasn’t enough I then snag….
“The Sandman” Rob Baines to an associate deal, calling for $2,100 a match for 5 matches over 24 months. Baines is the #4 ranked BCF Middleweight and is 28-10. I will give him a title shot soon to see who pisses on what.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[BYU 14]

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

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

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

[BYU 14]

UKC 4 – Torment

Preliminaries

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

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

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


Main Card

FW – Sophan Sastrowardoya (4-0) defeats H.M. Menzel (10-4) by submission in 1:21 of rd 1
Action packed while it lasted, Menzel charged from his corner taking Sastrowardoya to the ground almost immediately, but as he moved to pass guard got caught in a triangle choke and submitted.
Rating: Great

MW – Owen Hyde (3-0) defeats Ed Burridge (2-1) by SD in 3 rds
A controversial split decision win for Hyde, who fought moving backwards most of the match, throwing occasional flurries to frustrate Burridge, who could not catch the fleet Canadian.
Rating: Decent

WW – Joaquim Fontes (12-1) defeats Bret Clement (5-1) by submission in 4:13 of rd 1
Fontes was all over Clement from the get go, pounding away from the mount and catching an arm as Clement looked to defend himself. Fontes nimbly turned a blocked Arm bar into an Americana for the win.
Rating: Great

UKC Heavyweight Championship
HW – Frank Sheedy (23-7) defeats Graham Goodbody* (21-10) by submission in 3:47 of rd 1
Sheedy lifts the HW title belt in Goodbody’s first defense with a punishing ground game that the Champion was ill equipped to deal with. The end came via an Americana as Goodbody was simply overwhelmed.
Rating: Good

Main Event – For the UKC Middleweight Championship
MW – Rob Baines (28-10) defeats Bixente Fontaine* (9.3) by submission in 2:46 of rd 1
The newly arrived Baines showed was simply too talented for the defending Champion as we had our second Title change of the night. The Sandman demonstrated a potent submission game (He calls Wigan style hooking) to salt the match away with an excruciating Arm Bar to become the new UKC Middleweight Champion..
Rating: Fantastic

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

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

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

[BYU 14]

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

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

[BYU 14]

UKC 5 – Eye of the Hurricane

Preliminaries

FW – Louie Sullivan (1-0) defeats Maya Asgar (0-1) by UD in 3 rds
Rating: Decent

WW – Templeton Crumb (7-1) defeats Junmal Skinner (4-4) by submission in 4:44 of rd 1
Rating: Great

MW – Atsutane Akera (2-0) defeats Genki Shinashi (6-2) by submission in 4:09 of rd 2
Rating: Decent

Main Card

HW – Renato (5-0) defeats Damien Jones (3-1) by submission in 4:54 of rd 2
Jones swarms the massive Brazilian right out of the gate throwing caution to the wind. He is unable to hurt Renato who takes him down early in round 2 and softens him up with elbows, before nailing an Arm Bar for the win.
Rating: Good

LHW – Alekos Karabatsos (13-4) defeats Samuel Russo (16-12) by TKO in 2:31 of rd 1
A good old fashioned schoolyard beatdown that had the crowd worked into a frenzy. Karabatsos jumped on Russo early, elevating him for a violent slam and then pummeling him into a semi-conscious state.
Rating: Fantastic

LW – Heikichi Shimizu (2-0) defeats Drauzio Simaan (5-1) by submission in 2:46 of rd 1
No unproven fighter has probably ever garnered as much hype as Shimizu, but the Judo master proved deserving backing Simaan up with strikes, before closing the deal with a wicked throw and a quick Arm Bar.
Rating: Fantastic

HW – Dave Lennon (15-4) defeats Brian Barnes (12-9) by TKO in 1:28 of rd 1
Lennon landed a huge right hand early dropping Barnes on his back. Big Bri was able to secure guard as Lennon dove in, but was soon mounted and took several brutal shots prompting the stoppage.
Rating: Great

Main Event – For the UKC Light Heavyweight Championship
LHW – Curt Kitson (21-3) defeats Michael Bannon* (9-4) by UD in 5 rds
Many thought this would be a walkover, but Bannon was more than equal to the task, making Kitson work hard on the ground and actually keeping him controlled in guard effectively. By round 4 Kitson was tired and Bannon tried and failed to get a Kimura, a Guillotine and a Triangle Choke. It would be his one shining moment however as Kitson blocked each attempt and carried the final round to take the LHW Title in a less than stellar match.
Rating: Poor

Attendance: 405 – Gate $8,100 – Show Rating: Great

Another slight drop in the gate, which puzzles me, but that is the least of my worries. As I enter the backstage area Lance Decker is there, unnannounced.

Lance: "Son, you and I are going to have a talk, well actually you are going to be listening. I am at this Hotel, I can't even pronounce the damn name bah gawd!! Be there for breakfast tomorrow."

Talk about getting deflated, we had two big debuts, people can now see we are serious about being a player in the UK and here comes Johnny Kiljoy from Texas for god knows what reason.......I would deal with that tomorrow I guess.

I then called the office to see how Merchandise orders were going after the show, but got no answer. Strange, I had specifically asked the Merch runner to stay and monitor activity. Next I called me secretary on her mobile, straight to voice mail.....What the hell???? It really didn't bode well for either of them, because I would likely take out any ass chewing I got from Decker in the morning out on them when I got to the office.

[USFLTecmo]

That doesn't sound so good....

I hope it's not the end of the line, though. I'm enjoying this.

[BYU 14]

I arrived at Lance Decker’s Hotel (The Charlemagne Arms) and was show to his suite. As I waited I again tried to call my Secretary Chloe with no luck. My day was off to a bad start and I didn’t see it getting better as “Big” Lance sauntered into the room.

Lance: “Son come up to the table, I want you to look at this.” He had the Company accounting ledger and dropped it with a large thud. “Bah Gawd, have you seen these damn numbers?”

Me: (sighing) “Yes I have seen them and why did Mr. Waugh (Our Accountant) give them to you? He is supposed to be getting merchandise numbers from Rick, at least if he has any better luck getting hold of him.”

Lance: “I don’t think you have to worry about that, I talked to Rick.”

Me: “Well great, was he asleep, I was ringing him nonstop last night, he was supposed to be answering phones and filling orders….”

Lance: “Slow down son, I let him go.”

Me: “What?? Why would you do that, we are trying to make every penny possible…..so you are happy and you send him home early? What the hell Lance?”

Lance: “I sent him home permanent like son, Chloe too and Henry, the whole dang lot of them.”

Me: “What? You fired them? You’re kidding right? You want me to handle all the business crap and put together a good product in the cage?”

Lance: “You won’t need to be fretting about any of that son. I’m shuttin her down.”

My jaw hit the floor….Lance just sat across the desk, staring at me with those beady eyes from under his ever present Cowboy Hat.

Me: “You gave me a year commitment, we had a plan, I can’t believe this….”

Lance: “Now hold on there son, this dang thing was going down quicker than a one legged Cowboy in an Ass kickin contest….”

Me: “What? What the hell does that even mean, one legged Cowboys, Rabid Possums, Sheep in you boots, forget the redneck sayings, what are you doing to my promotion?!?!?”

Lance: (A real stern look crossed his face) “You listen good right here son….This ain’t your promotion, it ain’t your money and it ain’t your name on a product that’s losing money. It’s mine Dad gummit and I don’t take kindly to being associated with anything that loses!!! Now take a squat and listen to what I am about to say!”

Me: “No, to hell with you and your money. I know I am right and I know this would have succeeded. You’re a damn Millionaire and you can’t handle losing a hundred thousand dollars….”

Lance: “One hundred and thirty five…..as we speak.”

Me: “What ever!!! Within two years you would have that back and be making 25-50 thousand a month and you damn well know it…you know it!!!”

Lance: “Now settle the hell down and listen…”

Me: “No! You listen! I don’t need you, I will find someone that believes in me and trusts me and I’ll start from scratch! And you….You can kiss my ass………Quicker than a Pig in lipstick!! There now you have it words you understand!!”

With that I stormed out as Lance called after me, I wasn’t listening to what he was saying and I didn’t care. UKC was my dream, my baby and I would find a way to make it work…Lance Decker or no Lance Decker!

UKC was not going anywhere!!!

[BYU 14]

Over the next couple of weeks I had a couple of messages from Lance Decker on my answering machine saying we really needed to “chew the fat.” God I was so sick of his Texas sayings…..I had no desire to talk to him though and he eventually stopped calling. I met with the Fighters and let them know that UKC was out of business while I looked for new funding. I thanked them and encouraged them to pursue other options as I had no idea how long it would take, if ever, to be up and running again. After I finished and said my goodbyes the UKC Welterweight Champion Jim Carpenter followed me out to my Car.

Jim: “Ace, I want you to know that I will be taking some time off to relax and pursue some business opportunities. I plan on honoring my contract and coming back if you get this thing going again. I would be honored if I could keep the Belt.”

Here was a veteran of 61 mixed martial arts fights, one of the most respected men in the game and he would be honored to keep the UKC belt. I had idolized him when I fought and hearing him say this was probably as touched as I have ever been in my life.

Me: “Champ, that belt is yours forever whether there is another UKC show or not. I am honored that someone of your stature fought for our promotion.”

Jim: Come one Ace, you can be a little, errr, too passionate at times, but you are one of the good guys in the sport. I really believed in what you were doing……we all did!”

Me: (Laughing) “Passionate, that’s good, you should have seen how passionate I was with Decker as he was telling me the doors were closing.”

We both laughed again and embraced. Carpenter promised to come back if I ever got it up and running and I promised he would be the first call. He was a smart man who trade marked his likeness and began selling MMA gear before the sport got popular. Quite frankly, he never needed to fight again if he chose not to. He just enjoyed the sport and it showed. He was a legend and a class act and I never heard anybody utter a cross word about him. I almost got teary as I watched him walk off, but there’s no crying in the cage dammit!

Dozens and dozens of calls, thousands of miles and nearly three months later I was not getting anywhere. It was tough to sell a great idea that had failed with one of the most “shrewd” business men in the world backing you. I had heard a rumor that Decker had come back to England and met with Jerome McCallum a couple of times. That would be all I needed. McCallum gets Decker to infuse some funds into his British Cage Fighting promotion and I would have an easier time walking through Hell with Gasoline slippers on than I would starting up UKC again and being able to compete with them.

Speaking of McCallum, what a condescending wanker! He was kind enough to give Blurcat an interview full of digs and backhanded compliments about myself and UKC. Some excerpts from his interview.

“UKC, even in failure, helped BCF become stronger. It made us realize that no matter how small the actual threat, you have to stay on top of your game”

“Ace Lee was a good fighter, who just didn’t measure up to the best; I think the same can be said of UKC as well.”

“I have no hard feelings toward Ace Lee, but I don’t regret anything I have said about him either. I do respect him a lot when it’s all said and done…….I respect a lot of things…….Like Fish and Chips for instance.”

The arrogant Bastard compared me to Fish and Chips and I just had to take it. I was seriously getting to the point where I needed to become gainfully employed and I did have an offer to train for the Chilton Roughneck fight club. September was 1 week away and I had one last trip planned to Europe to meet with some investors from Italy. If I didn’t close a deal with them, I would have a serious decision to make.

[BYU 14]

A total washout in Italy, it was like their mood changed over night and suddenly I begin thinking about my next career move on the flight home. I guess the life of a trainer is not too bad, though I am disheartened that I have once again come up short in the sport I love. I am also not happy that many of UKC’s former fighters are not employed. Jerome McCallum is a total bastard and is not giving our young guys a chance because they fought for me. The big players have landed on their feet for the most part, but great prospects like Renato, Sylvester Collins and Affonso Villar are still looking for a home. It is a shame that McCallum’s hatred for me is clouding his judgment on these guys; they could help take BCF to the next level.

It is raining as I step off the Plane at Heathrow (a shocker there) and start my long drive home. I make a note to call Jim Carpenter when I get to the house and let him know it is over and he should start fielding new offers. As I drive up my street I am rather surprised to see a Limo in front of my flat. It’s not prom night, so I have no clue as to who could be inside. As I pull into the driveway the door opens and out steps Jim Carpenter, in his favored attire, (sweats and Reeboks) smiling from ear to ear. I have to laugh, thinking that an hour ago I was concerned about his future. Obviously his MMA apparel was selling just fine.

Jim: “Welcome home Ace, how was the trip?”

Me: “Trip was good, outcome bad; the more important question was when did you join the royal family mate?”

Jim: (laughing) “Oh you mean this old thing? Hey Ace I really need to talk with you, I know it is rather rude to show up unannounced, but it is important.”

Me: “It’s never a problem with you Jim; you know that, anything you need.”

Jim: “Outstanding, can we go for a ride then?”

I ask him to give me a minute to drop my suitcase off and rinse my face and I will join him. He nods and tells me to just hop in when I get out. As I clean up I can’t help but feel the irony. As president of a successful MMA company I imagined traveling a time or two in limos. As a trainer for local MMA gym, this would likely be my last trip in a limo for quite a while. Despite being travel weary I felt good and as I locked my flat and headed to Jim’s limo. I jumped inside telling him how much I liked his style, suddenly freezing in mid sentence. As my ass hit the seat I was staring directly into the beady eyes of Lance Decker.

Me: “What the……?”

Jim: “Hold on Ace, I went to see Mr. Decker and he had some very interesting things to say about you.”

Me: “I cam only imagine, look, maybe I should just go.”

Jim: (Pretty much ignoring me) “like how he respected your drive and passion. How much he thought of your integrity and…..how much he genuinely liked you, regardless of what you thought.”

Me: (sarcastically) “Yeah, it really showed…”

Jim: “Ace, look, let bygones be bygones and give him 10 minutes, I think you may be surprised.”

Lance: “Son, one thing you need to understand to be successful in business is to know when to shut up and listen bah gawd!! I was trying to tell you when I shut down the company that I was going to square our debt up and reorganize and you weren’t hearing a dang thing. I tried calling you and you never answered, which is a helluva lot more than I would do for most people. After a couple of weeks I just said screw ya and was looking for another opportunity.”

Me: “You mean you weren’t closing UKC for good?

Lance: “Hell no son. I like what you put together and I liked you. You’re as ignorant as a damn Mule with a Moonshine hangover, but I still like you. If you woulda just shut yer damn mount and let me finish we would have been back in business last month! If ole Jim here hadn’t come over to see me I would probably be doing business with another company right now.”

Me: “Like BCF?”

Lance: “Hell no, that McCallum fella is a….what is it you redcoats say, a damn wanker. I knew that 10 minutes after I met him, but I cam back, because I wanted to get information I could use. Now don’t get me wrong, he was mostly full of hot air, but he did have one good point. We started off full bore, all weight classes and too many damn fighters and we let them dictate the market cause we…..actually you, were too keen on scooping up everyone you could. Now what we need to do is drop a couple of divisions, I say Lightweight and Featherweight to start and not worry so much about signing bonuses, hell son, you paid over 98,000 dollars in signing bonuses last time. To hell with that, cut to the quick and let them earn their money fighting.”

Me: “That does make sense, I also think I should have only signed the brightest young prospects to exclusive deals and signed more associate contracts, we can get them cheaper since the fighters can work elsewhere.”

Lance: “See, you’re thinking now son….and that was the damn lesson I was trying to give you. Hell, I could light 150,000 dollars on fire and piss on it and not give a damn. But I ain’t about to throw that money away when I know you could have done better. To hell with BCF, make UKC successful by being a tightass and using your damn head.”

Me: “So what do we do now?”

Lance: “Hell son, now is no time for you to get all trussed up between the brain and mouth, you know what to do. Start making some damn phone calls. You have your damn Welterweight Champ here and I already talked to Frank Sheedy, he is willing to come back as well. You handle the rest. Now here’s the deal. I am giving you another $50,000 dollars, that’s it. Ya gum this one up son and I walk. I am sending over my own accountant and you just get him figures, he’ll deal with me over money and you just do what you do best. I want as cheap as you can get with signing bonuses and if the fighter don’t like it, screw ‘em. If somebody we needs wants more money ya can go up 200 dollars, no more, they don’t like it…”

Me: “Screw ‘em.”

Lance: “Exactly, no Featherweights or Lightweights for now and no more than 15-20 fighters per division, with some on the cheap, y’all get my drift? Let’s shoot for our first show back in October, now get busy!”

We shook hands and I had some heartfelt words for Jim Carpenter, if not for him my emotional outburst and stubbornness would have ended this dream for forever. I had learned a lesson and more than anything, UKC was back!!!

I just had one more question though. "Lance, how did you know I would be here today?"

Lance: "I was talking some ol friends on Italy son and they mentioned kinda mentioned you may be."

Sonofabitch......he had sabotaged my deal with the Italian investors to set this up.......There was no way I was going to screw things up this time!

[BYU 14]

Following Lance Deckers edict to a tee, I drive a hard bargain in negotiations and let several promising fighters go, including Bill Bown and Jay Dorridge, as well as a bonified star on Curt Kitson, who was willing to come back, but not foe less than a 5,000 signing bonus. At the end of September I still have over 8,000 of the 50,000 investment to restart UKC remaing, as well as a pareddown roster and no Lightweights of Featherweights. I will look to add those division in early 2000. With the roster set, I now start working on a show for the third week of October as we start the long road back.

UK Combat Roster - October 1st, 1999

Key: Name age (record) Contract type – base pay – matches/months
Heavyweight
Major Stars
Renato 25 (6-0) Exclusive – 1290 – 8/36

Secondary Stars
Bob Dozier 31 (8-13) Associate – 800 – 6/27
Damien Jones 29 (3-1) Associate – 800 – 5/24
Graham Goodbody 38 (22-11) Associate – 800 – 7/24
Jesse Singh 29 (13-5) Standard – 1000 – 6/24

Undercard
Barry Strachan 34 (25-15) Associate – 1200 – 6/24
Eien Kawano 25 (4-0) Associate – 2000 – 6/27
Frank Sheedy 31 (23-7-1) Exclusive – 1600 – 6/24
Guy Broom 26 (0-0) Exclusive – 200 – 8/27
Jutaro Honma 25 (2-0) Exclusive – 1200 – 9/24
Keaton Spratt 27 (4-9) Associate – 600 – 8/39
Log Drake 24 (1-0) Standard – 800 – 7/30
Murilo Satinho 21 (1-0) Exclusive – 1200 – 9/36
Nate MacReary 23 (2-0) Exclusive – 800 – 6/27
Stan Still 26 (2-6) Associate – 600 – 7/33
Sylvester Collins 25 (4-0) Exclusive – 1800 – 8/33
Wilson Franklyn 26 (3-0) Exclusive – 1000 – 8/30

Light Heavyweight
Major Stars
None

Secondary Stars
Affonso Villar 22 (4-0) Exclusive – 1200 – 8/30
Conor Houghton 27 (2-5) Associate – 600 – 8/30
John Rivero 29 (15-4) Standard – 7500 – 7/30
Neville Granville 30 (0-0) Exclusive – 600 – 6/24

Undercard
Allen LaFleur 19 (1-0) Standard – 200 – 6/30
Blaze Weeks 24 (1-0) Standard – 800 – 6/24
Brett Krakowski 23 (0-1) Standard – 600 – 8/30
Edward Zahn 30 (5-10) Associate – 800 – 8/33
Eric Dartmouth 22 (1-0) Standard – 1000 – 8/30
Folee Caffatere 29 (2-1) Standard – 1000 – 6/27
Hardy Tristan 25 (0-1) Associate – 400 – 8/33
Jasper Osmond 36 (10-13) Associate – 800 – 7/24
Joseph King 29 (4-12) Associate – 400 – 8/33
Joshua Hope 24 (2-0) Associate – 600 – 8/33
Logan Sky 21 (1-0) Exclusive – 1200 – 8/33
Priti Manek 24 (2-2) Associate – 600 – 8/24
Ryuji Ganaha 24 (0-0 Standard – 100 – 7/30
Spencer Rubenstein 22 (0-0) Standard – 600 – 6/24
Titus Mostel 26 (2-3) – Standard – 800 – 5/24
Zane Wybock 26 (2-3) – Associate – 800 – 6/27

Middleweight
Major Stars
None

Secondary Stars
Atsutane Akera 21 (2-0) Exclusive – 1200 – 10/33
Billy Russell 25 (3-0) Exclusive – 1000 – 10/33
Bixente Fontaine 26 (9-3) Associate – 800 – 7/24
Paxton Brinkal 33 (4-6) Associate – 800 – 6/24
Wayne McKellen 26 (4-3) Standard – 800 – 8/27

Undercard
Barrett Fforde 30 (2-4) Standard – 1000 – 9/29
Chesney Brightman 24 (1-1) Associate – 800 – 7/24
Danny Akabaro 19 (1-0) Exclusive – 1000 – 10/33
Estaban Vega 19 (2-0) Exclusive – 1200 – 7/30
French Dancer 25 (2-5) Associate – 600 – 9/36
Holden Strant 27 (2-4) Associate – 800 – 5/24
Hunter Scribbins 23 (2-0) Standard – 1000- 7/30
Jermaine McKenzie 25 (4-1) Standard – 800 – 6/24
Kramer Mayweather 23 (1-0) Associate – 600 – 7/30
Marlon John 22 (1-0) Exclusive – 1000 – 8/27
Nick Detroit 26 (4-0) Exclusive – 1000 – 8/22
Pierce Jeeler 29 (0-4) Associate – 400 – 7/30
Santiago Tosso 35 (8-17) Associate – 800 – 8/36
Susumu Katoh 33 (18-10) Standard – 800 – 7/27
Tora Mizwar 24 (3-0) Associate – 800 – 8/36
Vagner 30 (13-5-1) Exclusive – 2000 – 7/30

Welterweight
Major Stars
Heikichi Shimizo 32 (2-0) Standard – 15000 – 6/30
Jim Carpenter 34 (50-9-2) Exclusive – 1600 – 4/15

Secondary Stars
Bret Clement 24 (5-1) Standard – 800 – 8/33
Bussho Maruyama 22 (4-0) Exclusive – 1000 – 6/24
Mikey Wallace 25 (6-0) Exclusive – 1800 – 8/33
Ray Eton 27 (7-3) Associate – 800 – 8/30
Ronan Mary 25 (8-11) Associate – 800 – 7/27

Undercard
Bosco Curbeam 22 (1-0) Exclusive – 1200 – 8/30
Brad Wyman 24 (3-0) Standard – 800 – 7/30
Brock Youdale 23 (1-1) Associate – 400 – 7/27
Chad Zoff 19 (1-0) Exclusive – 400 – 8/36
Deacon Stawford 27 (4-5) Standard – 1000 – 6/24
Diego Arteta 22 (1-0) Exclusive – 1000 – 8/30
Evan Pizzaro 19 (2-0) Exclusive – 1000 – 7/27
Felix Mattherson Jr 22 (0-0) Standard – 600 – 8/30
Fisher Kaye 26 (2-4) Associate – 800 – 9/33
Floyd Haywood 21 (0-0) Exclusive – 600 – 8/36
Grant Capelli 22 (0-2) Associate – 400 – 10/36
Isao Nagatomo 25 (1-4) Associate – 400 – 9/33
Junmal Skinner 26 (4-4) Associate – 800 – 7/24
Linton Berry 33 (6-5) Associate – 600 – 5/24
Randy Carsley 23 (0-0) Standard – 600 – 6/24
Ryder Myllart 22 (0-1) Associate – 400 – 9/36
Van Jolson 23 (0-0) Associate – 100 – 9/33

[BYU 14]

The headline in Blurcat says it all and also garners a terse no comment from BCF overlord McCallum. It is only fitting that the first main event involves Jim Carpenter, the catalyst for putting the promotion back in business. After Wallace, his only immediate threat is Shimizo and down the road possibly Maruyama. I know I am supposed to be biased, but I would like to see him remain the Champion for a while still

[BYU 14]

UKC 6 – Resurrection

Preliminaries

LHW – Allen LaFleur (1-0) defeats Edward Zahn (5-10) by TKO in 3:17 of rd 3
Rating: Good

WW – Chad Zoff (1-0) defeats Grant Capelli (0-2) by submission in 2:49 of rd 1
Rating: Fantastic

HW – Nate Macreary (2-0) defeats Stan Still (2-6) by TKO in 1:28 of rd 2
Rating: Average

Main Card

MW – Billy Russell (2-0) defeats Wayne McKellen (4-3) by TKO in 3:31 of rd 3
Things have pretty much remained status quo with Billy Russell since he last fought for us as McKellen completely outboxes him early. Russell finally scores a huge slam, then pounds out the win from mount.
Rating: Good

LHW – Affonso Villar (4-0) defeats Conor Houghton (2-5) by UD in 3 rds
This looked like it might be over quick as Villar scored an almost immediate takedown and looked to pummel Houghton. Conor fought back gamely and was able to last the distance, but was easily out worked.
Rating: Decent

WW – Bussho Maruyama (4-0) defeats Ray Eton (7-3) by UD in 3 rds
A fairly decent grappling seminar that the crowd did not appreciate at all. Eton shocked many controlling Maruyama on the ground in the 1st, but the “Nurse Shark” came on late to grab a 29-28 nod on all cards.
Rating: Awful

HW – Renato (6-0) defeats Graham Goodbody (22-11) by submission in 4:56 of rd 1
Goodbody is again hurt by lack of Jiu Jitsu skills. After they exchange punches the first half of the round. Renato takes it to the ground and secures an Arm Triangle to get the tap with 4 seconds in the round.
Rating: Decent

Main Event – For the UKC Welterweight Championship
WW – Jim Carpenter* (51-9-2) defeats Mikey Wallace (6-1) by submission in 4:03 of rd 1
Wallace had a game plan to strike, which lasting just over a minute as he foolishly believed he could use his strength to control “The Invisible Man.” The mistake saw wind up on his back before he realized it as Carpenter went to work. Passing guard the Champ hooked the Americana to retain his UKC Title.
Rating: Good

Attendance: 372 – Gate $7,440 – Show Rating: Decent

Thoughts: Not quite as smooth as I had hoped, but we got an enthuiastic response and the fighters were all glad to be back at it, as most had not worked since the close down back in June. Our popularity remained pretty much where it had been since May after the card and we needed something to get over that hump so we could score a TV deal at any hour, on any channel. Renato was impressive and his next bout will be a title shot against Sheedy, probably in January if he is good to go. We need a young star to take the mantle and he looks to be the first one ready.

I got a call from Lance Decker congratulating us on the return and I was actually beginning to think the filthy rich redneck was not so bad after all. A surprise call also came from Shane Gilchrist, my old adversary and now good friend. Of course he started off asking me how the neck was doing, but then said he was happy we were back and then said he was ready to talk about that offer for an associate deal.....I was ready, the question was, would Decker's checkbook be ready?

[BYU 14]

UKC News - November 1st 1999
Finances
October Results: - 11,281 (Overall balance: -1,584)
Back in the whole again, but these are numbers that Lance Decker can live with. I have a show set up for November and we will not be having one at all in December (Unless we get a TV deal soon) which will give us a chance to make up a little bit of ground in merchandising, which came back strong, with over $20,000 in sales for October. My only real big contract is LHW John Rivero and I am not booking him until we get a TV show, so he can get a decent spike in local popularity, which would help him draw better to a normal event.

Joining the fold
No signings and the only offers I have out are to Shane Gilchrist, Tucker Plumm and Richard Smith. I will likely only sign the cheapest and I doubt that will be Gilchrist. I plan to extend no more offers until January or February of 2000 after this.

Injuries
HW: Stan Still – Facial Lacerations, which will not keep him out at all once he is medically cleared to fight again.

October results of note
XCC – Sammy Gaffigan knocked out Luiz Machado in 0:57 of the 3rd in the main event

SIGMA – Fernando Amaro beat Hans-Peter Schneider by submission in 3:37 of the 1st to retain the SIGMA Middleweight Title.

Major Promotion Rankings
1- GAMMA
2- Alpha-1
3- SIGMA
4- British Cage Fighting (Ugh)
5- Kadena De Mano
6- WEFF (Womens)
7- XCC
8- UKC
9- Mountain States Xtreme

We have a long climb ahead again, but at least we get the chance to make that climb.

Top 10 Pound for Pound in the World
1: HW – Hassan Fezzik 27-0 (Alpha-1)
2: LHW – Tadamasa Yamada 23-1 (Alpha-1)
3: HW – James Foster 34-4-1 (GAMMA)
4: LW – Sean Morrison 27-3 (GAMMA)
5: MW – Matthew Dean 33-5 (GAMMA)
6: LW – Fiyero Lermontov 10-0 (SIGMA)
7: LHW – Roberto Aldez 44-6 (Alpha-1)
8: MW – Maarten De Vries (GAMMA)
9: WW – Carlos Da Guia 17-0 (Alpha-1)
10: HW – Jeff Carlton 34-7 (Alpha-1)

Some intriguing possibilities exist here including a HW matchup between Fezzik and Carlton in Alpha-1 and a LHW clash between Yamada and Aldez in the same promotion. Fezzik has now held the top spot for over a year.

Retirements
Jerezo – 37 years old – Career record (31-10) – Last employed by Alpha-1

Seigo Tsuda – 40 years old – Career record (38-28-2) – Last employed by KDM FC

Norbert Vinkus – 40 years old – Career record (14-9) – Last employed by GAMMA

Claude Lerond – 39 years old – Career record (19-13) – Last employed by SIGMA

Outside of Jerezo, a pretty average group of fighters, with Vinkus living on his glory days as an NFL player and Lerond, an exciting yet limited fighter overall.

Legal Blotter
Former UKC fighter Drauzio Simaan failed a Drug test after our last card in June, kind of lost in the whole going out of business for a while thing, but he is unemployed and still has nearly 8 months left to serve.

[BYU 14]

A fairly good card for November, but our main event was not met with any love from the fans. Unfortunately I didn't have a lot of choices and this will be an expensive card with Shimizu on it. I need him to get over with the fans quick as he is ridiculously expensive for his MMA experience and I need him to put asses in the seats. We are going to lose big money on this one, but I have to bite the bullet.

[BYU 14]

UKC 7 – Bad Moon Rising

Preliminaries

WW – Randy Carsley (1-0) defeats Fisher Kaye (2-5) by submission in 2:16 of rd 3
Rating: Average

LHW – Logan Sky (2-0) defeats Hardy Tristan (0-2) by UD in 3 rds
Rating: Average

MW – Atsutane Akera (3-0) defeats Holden Strant (2-5) by UD in 3 rds
Rating: Very Poor

Main Card

LHW – Neville Granville (1-0) defeats Priti Manek (2-3) by KO in 0:27 of rd 2
Manek controlled the 1st round easily with stiff kicks to the body and legs, and winning the exchanges when Granville did get close. It all turned on a dime when Granville put Manek to sleep with a wicked right hand.
Rating: Fantastic

HW – Sylvester Collins (5-0) defeats Bob Dozier (8-14) by TKO in 1:26 of rd 1
Collins, known as “The Big Show” may be the strongest fighter in UKC. He threw Dozier around like a rag doll before pounding him out from the mount with a ferocious series of strikes.
Rating: Great

HW – Eien Kawano (5-0) defeats Jesse Singh (13-6) by TKO in 2:23 of rd 1
In a performance as impressive as Collins in the previous fight, Kawano hit a huge Sumo slam on Singh, who made the mistake of trying to out grapple him. Once Kawano gained side control a flurry of hammer fists ended it.
Rating: Fantastic

WW – Heikichi Simizu (3-0) defeats Bret Clement (5-2) by submission in 2:42 of rd 1
Shimizu is such an accomplished master of Judo, that to be caught and taken down is nearly certain defeat. Today he made short work of Clement, with a hip toss and follow up arm bar in the blink of an eye.
Rating: Fantastic

Main Event – For the UKC Middleweight Championship
MW – Vagner (14-5-1) defeats Bixente Fontaine (9-4) by KO in 4:43 of rd 1
Vagner showed just how versatile he is as an MMA fighter as Fontaine was able to fend off two early takedown attempts as Vagner looked to use his strength on the ground. Undaunted, Vagner then reverted to Muay Tai, trapping Fontaine in a clinch as the round wore down and knocking him cold with a single knee to become the UKC Middleweight Champion!
Rating: Good

Attendance: 296 – Gate $5,920 – Show Rating: Poor

Thoughts: It seems the drawing power in the main event was the main problem as the matches were pretty solid. This puts us in a catch 22, I can't spend more money, but have only 4-5 guys that can carry a main right now. I really need 2-3 more guys to bust out or we will be in big trouble. No card in December, so we will break even, but we need some big shows to kick off 2000.

[BYU 14]

UKC – Quick Strikes

UKC Rankings January 1st, 2000 (© = Champion)

Heavyweight			Light Heavyweight		Middleweight
1- Frank Sheedy 23-7-1 ©	John Rivero 15-4		Vagner 14-5-1 ©
2- Renato 6-0			Shane Gilchrist 16-4		Tucker Plumm 14-8
3- Eien Kawano 5-0		Jasper Osmond 10-13		Atsutane Akera 3-0
4- Sylvester Collins 5-0	Affonso Villar 4-0		Susumu Katoh 18-10
5- Graham Goodbody 22-11	Logan Sky 2-0			Billy Russell 3-0
6- Jutaro Honma 2-0		Allen LeFleur 1-0 		Bixente Fontaine 9-4
7- Wilson Franklyn 3-0		Neville Granville 1-0		Richard Smith 18-16-1
8- Jesse Singh 13-6		Zane Wybock 2-3			Nick Detroit 4-0
9- Nate MacReady 2-0		Joshua Hope 2-0			Santiago Tosso 8-17
10- Damien Jones 3-1		Titus Mostel 2-3		Holden Strant 2-5

Welterweight			Lightweight			Featherweight
1- Jim Carpenter 51-9-2 ©		
2- Heikichi Shimizu 3-0		
3- Mikey Wallace 6-1		
4- Bussho Maruyama 4-0		
5- Junmal Skinner 4-4			
6- Ronan Mary 8-11		
7- Diego Arteta 1-0		
8- Bret Clement 5-2			
9- Evan Pizzarro 2-0		
10- Ray Eton 7-3  			

UKC News
Finances
November/December Results: November: – 43,322 & December: - 1844 (Overall balance: -46,011)
November crushed us with crappy attendance at an expensive show (thanks to Shimizu) I am on thin ice and I need to stay below 50K in debt and start showing some gains in attendance or my second chance may not last too long.

Signings
Despite the Money situation I take on a couple of healthy contracts, which I justify with low signing bonuses and the knowledge that if they don’t fight they don’t get paid, so I can pick my spots. So without further adieu, please welcome the following fighters to UKC.
LHW – Shayne Gilchrist 29 (16-4) Associate – 10000 – 4/18
MW – Tucker Plumm 32 (14-8) Associate – 1200 – 7/27
MW – Richard Smith 36 (18-16-1) Standard – 1400 – 6/27

Extensions
HW – Eien Kawano 25 (5-0) Standard – 3250 – 6/24
I hated to do this, but he is a key player and GAMMA came after him as his original deal wound down, forcing me to lay out the cash.

Sayonara
Barry Strachan – Alpha-1 cam calling and I was not getting into a bidding war over a fighter on the way out and I really had no place for him, outside of a stepping stone for the young guys so I let him go. He ended up signing a 3 fight, 12 month deal with Alpha-1 for 1600 a fight.

Injuries
None

News of the World
November/December results of note
Alpha-1 – Heiji Endo beat Petey Mack by submission at 0:39 of rd 6 to retain the Alpha-1 MW Title

GAMMA 51 – Julio Regueiro beat Agustin Gonzalez by submission in 2:50 of rd 1 to retain the GAMMA WW Title

SIGMA – Lefter Oktay beat Terron Cabal by submission in 3:06 of rd 1 to win the SIGMA HW Title

GAMMA 52 – James Foster beat Tony McCall by TKO in 4:54 of rd 1 to retain the GAMMA HW Title

Alpha-1 – Tadamasa Yamada beat Trevor Murray by submission in 6:39 of rd 1 to retain the Alpha-1 LHW title

Major Promotion Rankings
1- GAMMA
2- Alpha-1
3- SIGMA
4- British Cage Fighting (Ugh)
5- Kadena De Mano
6- WEFF (Womens)
7- XCC
8- UKC
9- Mountain States Xtreme

No change to the promotion rankings as GAMMA and Alpha-1 continue to slug it out on top.

Top 10 Pound for Pound in the World
1: HW – Hassan Fezzik 27-0 (Alpha-1)
2: HW – James Foster 35-4-1 (GAMMA)
3: LHW – Tadamasa Yamada 24-1 (Alpha-1)
4: HW – Lefter Oktay 17-0 (SIGMA)
5: LW – Sean Morrison 27-3 (GAMMA)
6: MW – Neil Napier 16-1 (GAMMA)
7: MW – Matthew Dean 33-5 (GAMMA)
8: LW – Fiyero Lermontov 11-0 (SIGMA)
9: MW – Heiji Endo 14-1 (Alpha-1)
10: LHW – Roberto Aldez 44-6 (Alpha-1)

Some new faces, with Fezzik protégé Lefter Oktay exploding onto the scene after taking the SIGMA HW strap and Alpha-1 MW Champ Heiji Endo slipping into the mix at #9 after a convincing title defense.

Retirements
Dan Halvorsen – 43 yrs old – (36-12-2) - GAMMA
Henrik Berg – 42 yrs old – (19-17) – Independents
Ralf Puce – 44 yrs old – (23-20) – MSX
Geoff Cahill – 39 yrs old – (47-25) - GAMMA
Monty Oliver – 44 yrs old – (27-29) – Independents (Won 1999 worst fight of the year honors for his painfully dull decision loss to Silvio Scirea in his last bout)
Francis O’Leary – 46 yrs old – (26-19) UKC

A couple of noteworthy retirements in Geoff Cahill, holder of most career MMA fights record with 72 and the departure of O’Leary, an original UKC signing that I had no interest in when we restarted.

Legal Blotter
Nothing – Everyone behaved through the Holiday season.

Year end Awards 1999
Fighter of the Year – Sho Kitabatake
Female Fighter of the year – Rachel McGuiness
Rookie of the year – Hyun-Shik Lim (Renato got robbed)
Rise of the year – Josh Aldarisio
Fall of the year – Francisco Jimenez
Promotion of the year – KDM FC (Chalk one up for the little guys)
Team of the year – Halvorsen’s
Show of the year – GAMMA 42 – February, 1999
Fight of the year – Eli Harris vs Wyatt Ashur (Independent show)
Worst fight of the year – Silvio Scirea vs Monty Olivier (Independent show)
Knockout of the year – Chuck Dooley vs Gunnar Nilsson (Alpha-1)
Submission of the year – Buddy Garner vs Neil Napier (GAMMA)
Main event of the year – Sukarno vs Datuk Ong Ka Ting (KDM FC)
Upset of the year – Sho Kitabatake defeats Inejiro Chilba (Alpha-1)

Not too surprising we got shut out, though Renato could have won ROTY.

[BYU 14]

The first card of 2000 feature my first big push of the young guns, with Renato set for the thoughest fight of his young career against the tough as nails UKC HW Champion. The Co-Main is an elimination bout of tow of our most promising Middleweights with the winner in line for a shot at Vagner down the road.

I have kept the payroll fairly low for this one, so I am hoping a good crowd and solid merchandise sales will keep us from slipping much deeper into debt. The fan feedback on the top two fights is positive, so I am optimistic that we will draw over 400 again for the event

[molson]

Good stuff, this is definitely tempting me to pull the trigger on this game.

How's it working for you just in the fun/game factor? Does it feel like a game, or are you just kind of watching and telling a story as a dynasty? That was my biggest concern.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by molson

Good stuff, this is definitely tempting me to pull the trigger on this game.

How's it working for you just in the fun/game factor? Does it feel like a game, or are you just kind of watching and telling a story as a dynasty? That was my biggest concern.

Thanks Molson, glad you are enjoying it. I think you would like it and I would love to see what you would do with a WMMA dynasty.

It's really funny, I am not usually a fan of fictional universes in games like this and I always play RL mods with TEW, but this is different and really has me immersed. I find myself thinking about matchups and signings for down the road and definitely rooting for certain fighters that just seem to grab my attention.

It is more simplified (interface and Financial wise) than TEW, but still manages to pull you in. I think you should give it a try, one of the more enjoyable text sims I have ever purchased.

I have put my DDS:CB dynasty on hold because this is just so much fun and I am devoting all my gaming time to it.

[BYU 14]

UKC 8 – Future Shock

Preliminaries

MW – Danny Akabaro (2-0) defeats Chesney Brightman (1-2) by KO in 1:21 of rd 2
Rating: Good

LHW – Eric Dartmouth (2-0) defeats Blaze Weeks (1-1) by UD in 3 rds
Rating: Average

HW – Wilson Franklyn (4-0) defeats Guy Broom (0-1) by TKO in 2:34 of rd 1
Rating: Fantastic

Main Card

WW – Diego Arteta (2-0) defeats Linton Berry (6-6) by KO in 4:59 of rd 2
Arteta mixes things up nicely in the 1st, winning the standup battle, but is unable to ground the defensive minded Berry. In round 2 Linton opens it up late, gets caught leaning and is starched with a brutal uppercut.
Rating: Good

LHW – Allen LeFleur (2-0) defeats Spencer Rubenstein (0-1) by UD in 3 rds
Rubenstein looks the part and immediately rushes in on LeFleur to try and outmuscle him. LeFleur survives these bull rushes with superior take down defense and enough of a standup game to eek out an uninspiring decision.
Rating: Poor

LHW – Affonso Villar (5-0) defeats Folee Caffatere (2-2) by submission in 3:45 of rd 1
Caffatere, as always comes out guns blazing, but “The Cyborg” ducks smartly under his looping shots and scores the takedown. After softening Caffatere up with elbows, Villar isolates an arm and forcers the tap out.
Rating: Great

MW – Nick Detroit (5-0) defeats Billy Russell (3-1) by UD in 3 rds
Russell again starts slow and allows Detroit to keep him on the end of his strikes in round1, then gets floored with a head kick late in round 2. No late miracle submission this time as Detroit sticks and moves to secure a comfortable unanimous decision and derail the submission master. A result that upsets my future plans a bit.
Rating: Decent

Main Event – For the UKC Heavyweight Championship
HW – *Frank Sheedy (24-7-1) defeats Renato (6-1) by UD in 5 rds
A lot was on the line for the young Renato as he has been tabbed as a future star and the pressure showed as he was tight early on. Sheedy fought smartly, but was tired after only two rounds allowing Renato to bully him. The old vet had a few tricks left however, even surprising the powerful Renato with a couple of takedowns himself and scoring some telling punches, taking a narrow 48-47 verdict on all three cards to retain his HW Championship.
Rating: Average

Attendance: 295 – Gate $5,900 – Show Rating: Decent

Thoughts: A big disappointment that both Renato and Russell go down, though Russell had been living dangerously and it was only a matter of time before he lost if he kept trying to rally for 3rd round submissions every fight. Renato was simply overcome by experience and I probably pushed him into this match too early. The other two HW prospects (Kawano and Collins) will meet later for the next shot at Sheedy.

Affonso Villar is the next in line to carry the mantle of youth to the top of the promotion. He could be special but I will not rush him into a match with Gilchrist or Rivero.....Not yet anyway.

Decker will not be happy with the attendance and we are on precarious footing again. I am going to avoid booking expensive talent as much as possible as we lose $16,876.00 in January to fall to $62,216 in the red overall. I have got to put on a breakout show so I can get a TV deal real soon!

[BYU 14]

I was really hurting for a good main event on this one, so I was happy when Tucker Plumm joined after he fullfilled his obligations to BCF. Jim Carpenter is the hardest working man in UKC and will take on the newcomer in a Catchweight fight as Plumm will campaign as a Middleweight for us.

Wallace and Muruyama is a very intriguing fight as Mikey looks to get a second crack at Carpenter down the road, while a win by the "Nurse Shark" would propel him to the top of the WW contenders list. With Billy Russell losing Akera is a logical choice as the next young Lion at MW and he has sick submission skills. This months fight should be pretty safe for "The Surgeon"

Oops: I just realized I didn't change Jones record. He comes into his fight with Satinho at 3-1.

[BYU 14]

---

UKC 9 – Hard Justice

Preliminaries

MW – Tora Mizwar (4-0) defeats French Dancer (2-6) by TKO in 1:40 of rd 1
Rating: Great

MW – Esteban Vega (3-0) defeats Hunter Scribbins (2-1) by KO in 1:52 of rd 1
Rating: Great

HW – Log Drake (2-0) defeats Stan Still (2-7) by UD in 3 rds
Rating: Average

Main Card

LHW –Joshua Hope (3-0) defeats Edward Zahn (5-11) by TKO in 1:07 of rd 1
Not much drama here as Zahn lets a few feeble punches go before Hope takes him down. From here Joshua unleashes the fury of the fists taking Zahn out in short order.
Rating: Great

HW – Murilo Satinho (2-0) defeats Damien Jones (3-2) by submission in 3:50 of rd 1
Jones had but one chance to take out the powerful Satinho and that was to remain standing, which unfortunately he managed to do for only a minute. Once on the ground Jones fought hard but was soon caught in an Arm Bar.
Rating: Good

MW – Atsutane Akera (4-0) defeats Wayne McKellen (4-4) by submission in 3:40 of rd 1
Surprisingly Akera chose to slug with McKellen early and held his own before finally shooting for the takedown. Once there, “The Surgeon” earned his nickname trapping McKellen in an Americana for win.
Rating: Great

WW – Bussho Maruyama (5-0) defeats Mikey Wallace (6-2) by submission in 3:05 of rd 1
A shocker here as Maruyama was able to counter Wallace’s striking with relative ease and after being stuffed once, took him to the ground. Wallace could not slip out and got caught in a Kimura falling again after his unsuccessful bid to unseat Carpenter. Maruyama has now established himself as a threat in the division.
Rating: Good

Main Event – Non Title Bout
Catch – Jim Carpenter* (52-9-2) defeats Tucker Plumm (14-9) by TKO in 3:12 of rd 2
The Welterweight Champion moves up to take on middleweight contender Tucker Plumm, a Karate specialist in a catch weight fight. Carpenter gets inside of Plumm’s kicks early on and takes him down in the 1st. Despite being outweighed by over 15 pounds, Carpenter controls the action and Plumm barely survives a rear naked choke as the round ends. In the 2nd round Carpenter again gets Plumm’s back and this time pounds him out with Elbows.
Rating: Decent

Attendance: 350 – Gate $7,000 – Show Rating: Good

Thoughts: Starting with the good, we finally have attendance climbing in th eright direction again and by keeping the card fairly inexpensive we won't lose too much this month. Carpenter is really a bargain and the face of the company right now, though I am a little concerned that he does not get particularly high marks from his fights. With his win tonight Maruyama has earned the next title shot and if Jim gets by that we will be set for the first "superfight" in UKC history with a Carpenter vs Shimizu matchup.

The bad goes back to my complaint with Carpenter and that is our top fights falling short in the ratings department. The Wallace/Maruyama matchup had all the ear markings of a barnburner and fell a little short, even though it scored a good. The cure will be getting some of the younger guys elevated and into main event status.

After his performance tonight one fight I would like to see down the road if they both keep winning is a matchup of Akera vs Vega at MW. Vega's KO of Scribbins tonight was absolutely brutal and though it could have been a different outcome if Scribbins had gotten him to the ground, I really like his potential.

[BYU 14]

UKC News
Finances
January/February Results: January (– 16,873) & February (- 14,882) (Overall balance: -76,384)
Still losing money, but gaining some ground on the break even mark using less expensive fighters. I am hoping the rise in attendance for the February show is a trend and not an aberration. If we can add another 75-100 fans this month we may finally be on our way. I good Show may also put me in better position to negotiate a TV show.

Signings
I can resist pulling the trigger on some signings, despite out situation and I am able to keep the signing bonuses down so I feel a little less guilty at the end of the day.
FW – Jay Dorridge 24 (6-1) Standard – 1400 – 6/24
WW – Will Kane 30 (15-7) Associate – 2000 – 6/24
HW – Mallory Bertrand 19 (4-0) Associate – 800 – 7/30

Honestly the only signing that makes sense is the young HW brawler as Dorridge will have to fight Catch weight fights as he is our only Featherweight, but he was with me in the beginning and I like him. He has won two independent fights since we closed down and I will bring a couple of cans in for him to beat on.

Extensions
None

Sayonara
Graham Goodbody – GAMMA – Another victim of my youth movement at HW, I was not prepared to bid with GAMMA for his services and he signs an exclusive 12 month, 2 match deal with them for 1025 a fight.

Injuries
LHW – Joshua Hope has a very minor wrist injury, but will be back in full training by the end of March. He is already booked for the UKC 12 card and will be in top form by then

News of the World
January/February notable fights
XCC – Manuel Silva beat Gonzalo Ramos by submission in 2:23 of rd 2 to retain the XCC LW Title (I want Silva bad for my WW division, he is definitely shortlisted.

MSX – Ranieri Fernanda beat George Laurent by submission in 4:19 of rd 1 (This has to be considered a fairly significant upset)

Alpha – 1 – Hassan Fezzik beat Hiro Arai by submission in 2:01 of rd 1 to retain the Alpha – 1 HW Title (The living legend keeps rolling)

KDM FC – Li-Kong Ho beat Cong Dun by submission in 2:21 of rd 1 to retain the KDM FC FW Title (Arguably the best “little” fighter in the world.

Alpha – 1 – Luis Basora beat Go Yamamoto by submission in 4:45 of rd 1 to retain the Alpha – 1 LW Title

No real solid cards for GAMMA as no titles are defended and their two main events so far were not exactly show stoppers.

Major Promotion Rankings
1- GAMMA
2- Alpha-1
3- SIGMA
4- Kadena De Mano
5- British Cage Fighting
6- WEFF (Womens)
7- XCC
8- UKC
9- Mountain States Xtreme

BCF slips a notch, which makes me smile, but unfortunately we didn’t gain any ground.

Retirements
Wade LeCavalier – 40 yrs old – (24-15) – Alpha-1
Luigi Kolasinski – 40 yrs old – (0-0) – Independents (Very strange, he turned pro in 1998 and retired without ever having a fight.
Silvio Scirea – 39 yrs old – (9-12) – Independents (The other half of the 1999 worst fight of the year hangs ‘em up.

Legal Blotter
Nothing – What a boring group

[BYU 14]

A key card for us, aren't they all, as a HW contenders match takes top billing over Vagners UKC MW Title defense. There is good reason for this as Kawano and Collins have positioned themselves as the top 2 HW prospects in the company after Kawanos defeat of Renato. I am looking for this main to end the card with some fireworks.

[BYU 14]

UKC 10 – Savage Serenade

Preliminaries

MW – Marlon John (2-0) defeats Pierce Jeeler (0-5) by TKO in 1:22 of rd 1
Rating: Great

WW – Floyd Haywood (1-0) defeats Brock Youdale (1-2) by UD in 3 rds
Rating: Poor

LHW – Neville Granville (2-0) defeats Titus Mostel (2-4) by KO in 0:25 of rd 2
Rating: Great

Main Card

WW – Bosco Curbeam (2-0) defeats Van Jolson (0-1) by TKO in 4:56 of rd 1
Jolson wants no part of Curbeam in close, using hit and run tactics, much to the chagrin of the crowd. Curbeam gets a takedown with a minute left in the round, gains side control and puts Jolson to sleep with hammerfists.
Rating: Decent

HW – Nate MacCreary (3-0) defeats Jesse Singh (13-7) by TKO in 2:03 of rd 1
“Big Mac”, a crowd favorite, wastes no time, springing from his corner firing punches backing Singh into the fence. From here he secures the takedown and gains mount easily, unleashing a fusillade of blows to end the fight.
Rating: Fantastic

LHW – Ryuji Ganaha (1-0) defeats Logan Sky (2-1) by submission in 4:00 of rd 3
A classic matchup of striker vs Wrestler with Sky using superior kick boxing skills to pummel Ganaha for the first two rounds. In the 3rd Ganaha takes Sky down with a slam, and then pulls it out with an Armbar as time winds down.
Rating: Excellent

UKC Middleweight Championship
MW – *Vagner (15-5-1) defeats Richard Smith (18-17-1) by UD in 5 rds
Vagner staggers Smith with a head kick in rd 1, and then drops him with a flurry of punches, but the wily vet survives the onslaught. Rounds 2-4 see Vagner control the action with his kick boxing, before dropping the challenger again with a head kick in round 5. Vagner can’t close the deal but the decision is convinving.
Rating: Decent

Main Event – Heavyweight Contenders match
HW – Sylvester Collins (6-0) defeats Eien Kawano (5-1) by TKO in 3:08 of rd 1
This is a highly anticipated match between two bright young prospects for a shot at Frank Sheedy’s Title. There are rumblings that Kawano was ill during training camp and they appear to have legs as Collins easily controls the Sumo master with his freakish strength. Throwing Kawano to the mat, Collins staggers him from half guard, slips to full mount and lands three huge shots that force the referee to step in and stop it, giving Collins an easy win.
Rating: Great

Attendance: 333 – Gate $6,660 – Show Rating: Good

Thoughts: A good job by Collins, but Kawano was without a doubt not 100%. It may not have made a difference in th end, but it was a shame to see Kawano succumb so quickly. I see a rematch with these two down the way. Vagner dominated, but could not finish the tough veteran Smith.

Again attendance dipped slightly and that continues to be a concern. I need to book one dynamite show top to bottom to get this thing rolling in the right direction and keep it there!!

[BYU 14]

I sat in my office crunching numbers for March and dreading having to talk to Lance Decker…..Amazingly, as if summoned form a lamp, Lance suddenly burst into my office, with a Japanese gentleman……

Lance: “Howdy sport, this here’s Eisaku Higashikuni, he’s agreed to a buyout and will be taking control of UKC as of April 1st, now I won’t bore with the details, but the companies debt is absolved or resolved or whatever them legal types put in there and there is some other good news I’ll share with y’all in a shake of a Lambs tail.”

I sat once again speechless, it was great news that just as we were on the verge of gaining ground again I would be free of debt, but I had never met a more spontaneous person in my life, I knew better, but it was like everything did was on a whim.

Me: “Well…..blimey, I don’t quite know what to say Lance…I mean thank you, I suppose and good luck in the future……..I was hoping we would be in this together for a long time, but I understand.”

Lance: (Laughing) That’s one of those small details son, we will be in this together for a long time. Eisaku of Suzuki or whatever won’t be hiring you. Wanted to, but I told him you hate Japanese people, probably wouldn’t work, so he gave you this severance package…”

Me: “What the bloody hell? You’re out of your mind, Mr. Higashikuni, I have a great deal of respect for the Japanese, Mr. Decker is not telling the truth..”

Lance: “Son….Hold yer tongue dammit, he understands less English than a stuffed raccoon with it’s ears glued shut. And wouldn’t you know it, I left his interpreter at the Hotel…”

Me: (Now fuming) Well we will be getting in the Car and going straight to the Hotel to sort this out.”

Lance: “Sorry, he made it clear you were not to address him, and that he wanted you gone immediately, came himself to see you out. See the Japanese are big on respect and...well he found is rude you would say that.”

I looked at Higashikuni, who was now staring sternly at me….as our eyes met he grunted something in Japanese and motioned me towards the door….

Lance: “Ah hell, ya done pissed him off now son and he’s got two big goons in the Car, we better go before it gets messy!”

Lance turned to leave and I ran after him, almost wanting to punch him….he got to his car and jumped in…

Lance: “Well come on, I am sure y’all want to know the meaning of this…”

Me: “I actually want to know how I can get away with murdering you…”

Lance: “Son, remember last time you got all riled up and never let me give you my plan…We wasted some good months there.”

Me: “To hell with your plans now, how about telling me before you do something what you are planning.”

Lance: “Not always time fer that, sometimes ya just need to strike while the irons hot or someone else brands yer Bull. Now listen, you have a great mind for the business and I saw that. Problem is son, England cant’ support two big time MMA outfits right now and I wasn’t about to wallow like this fer another year or two. Hell, if I want an expensive hobby I’d rather have it be in my own back yard.”

Me: “Again, you’re losing me.”

Lance: “Well, Texas is bigger than England and we don’t got no MMA outfits, so I figured, why not unload this damn thing and start from scratch where we are the only game in town.”

Me: “But why do I have to lose my job with UKC.”

Lance: “Cuz I want ya with me son, boy you are thicker in the head than a cows hide with calluses.”

Me: “But I don’t want to move to Texas, I heard they don’t even like Brits there.”

Lance: “Now hell son, who told y’all that? Now, we don’t like that Ozzy Osborne fella, threw him right out of the state. Ya know that Sonofabitch took a piss on the Alamo?? He’s lucky he wasn’t strung up right there. Y’all will be fine, just say you like the Dallas Cowboys and don’t piss on anything!”

Me: “But I still don’t want to leave England.”

Lance: “Well, if you want to achieve that goal of yers by putting that McCallum fella out of business it’s the only way…”

Lance went on to explain his visions, including bringing true fighting back into the sport. “Texans are tough” he stated “they don’t want no sissy fightin!!” He then talked about how he had researched the roots of MMA and wanted to go back to the old school. Three 10 minute rounds, fight to the finish or it was a draw. Championships would be three 15 minute rounds, same damn rules. He was also bringing back knees and kicks to a grounded opponents as well as stomps. “Hell Son, it’ll all be legal, everything but Eye poking, fishhooks and bitin!”

Other quirks would be only three weight classes – Lightweight, (130 – 170 lbs) Middleweight (171 – 200 lbs) and Heavyweight. (201 – 280 lbs) Then finally, the name of his new creation? Pit fighter Pro, old School indeed! His signing rules were minimum signing bonus, only exclusive contract for top young fighters and mostly Heavyweights and a few Middleweights to start. We would worry about the Lightweight division as we grew.

I realized then that he had been planning this probably since the day he reopened UKC….A bit shrewder than I gave him credit for because he recouped all his losses, plus made a 50,000 profit on the sale. This would be our initial stake, so if it failed we broke even, then I could go back and sell Fish and Chips…..What is it with everyone tying me to Fish and Chips? If we were less than 20,000 in debt by years end, he would sink another 50,000 in of his own money, because he felt we would be growing by then. He made a lot of good points and given the alternatives, I really had no choice but to follow him, even if I would probably hate him for quite a while. I opened the severance envelope and noted it contained 15,000 dollars.

Lance: “Not bad eh, y’all didn’t invest a damn penny and made a 15000% profit, enjoy it. We leave tomorrow for Texas, dress for warm weather…and bring some damn sun block; ya look like that powder fella!!

I slept that night in fits and starts, how the hell did I end up here……I gave up asking as the only thing I knew was that my journey was now….First England, then the world…..by way of Texas

[BYU 14]

I am slowly settling into my new abode in Texas, though being in a whole state of people that talk like Lance Decker can get a little mind numbing

I work to fill the roster through April and May in preparation for a July 1st debut. I am able to get some of my old UKC fighters that Higashikuni has cast off, though the ones I wanted most, Sylvester Collins (resigned by UKC) and Renato (let go and signed by GAMMA) I miss out on. I am especially upset about Renato since I had a chance.

The Initial Roster is mostly Heavyweights as Decker requested, with some decent young Middleweights and just a few Lightweights (going against my orders here, but oh well) The good thing about starting from scratch is that fighters that are known even a little will help bring fans and some of my unknown fighters (Akabaro, Kawano, Satinho) will quickly develop followings.

So...Without Further adieu, the initial Roster for Pit Fighter Pro....Based in the great state of Texas (That's what Decker calls it) is unveiled by Blurcat Magazine.

Pit Fighter Pro Roster - June 2000

Key: Name age (record) Contract type – base pay – matches
Heavyweight
Major Stars
Adrian Bradley 25 (5-1) Standard – 800 – 8
Adrian Swall 29 (4-2) Associate – 1200 – 6
Damien Jones 30 (3-2) Standard – 1000 – 6
Jack Cobblepot 38 (38-14-3) Associate – 6500 – 5
Keaton Spratt 27 (4-9) Associate – 400 – 8
Mason Archer 23 (0-0) Exclusive – 1400 – 6
Taye Burnett 22 (0-2) Associate – 400 - 8

Secondary Stars
None

Undercard
Bob Dozier 32 (8-14) Associate – 600 – 7
Bretn Baroni 20 (4-1) Satandard – 800 – 8
Brian Barnes 33 (12-11) Associate – 800 - 6
Eien Kawano 26 (5-1) Exclusive – 2500 – 8
Guy Broom 26 (0-1) Associate – 400 – 6
Jutaro Honma 25 (3-0) Exclusive – 1200 – 6
Libor Pudil 22 (0-0) Exclusive – 600 – 8
Mallory Bertrand 20 (4-0) Standard – 800 - 8
Murilo Satinho 21 (2-0) Exclusive – 1200 – 8
Nate MacReary 24 (3-0) Exclusive – 1400 – 8

Middleweight
Major Stars
Billy Russell 26 (3-1) Exclusive – 1000 – 8
Greg Atteveld 43 (37-17) Associate – 1200 – 6
Holden Strant 27 (2-5) Associate – 1000 – 8
Hunter Scribbins 24 (2-1) Standard – 800 - 6
Mac Fuller 36 (29-8) Associate – 5000 – 8
Marlon John 23 (2-0) Exclusive – 1000 – 8

Secondary Stars
None

Undercard
Danny Akabaro 19 (2-0) Exclusive – 1000 – 8
Folee Caffatere 30 (3-2) Associate – 800 – 8
Joseph King 30 (4-12) Associate – 400 – 8
Priti Manek 25(2-4) Associate – 600 - 8

Lightweight
Major Stars
Bosco Curbeam 23 (2-0) Exclusive – 1200 – 8
Marcus Speed 26 (3-2) Associate – 800 - 8

Secondary Stars
None

Undercard
Erico Gill 33 (16-11) Associate – 800 – 6
Roy Arnett 24 (1-0) Associate – 600 - 6

[BYU 14]

Two good fights up top and I am counting on them to get people talking. God knows Decker didn't do much advertising and in fact had several of the Fighters out tacking up flyers for our debut card!! For hells sake man, at least but one small radio spot of something! The HW Title fight should go to Kawano IMO. "The Bird Man" is an imposing force, but has only fought on small independent shows in Texas and is nowhere near Kawano in terms of caliber of competition. If I was a betting man I would say 4-1 Kawano takes the title, any takers?

In addition to the excitement of our first card, Blurcat is reporting the BCF is operating in the red. I have mixed feelings about that as it would serve McCallum right to go under, but I would have loved to have been the one that forced him under....stay tuned for developments on this situation.

[BYU 14]

PFP 1 – Red, White and Bruised

Preliminaries

HW – Libor Pudil (0-0-1) and Brent Baroni (4-1-1) Fight to a 3 rd draw
Rating: Decent

HW – Guy Broom (1-1) defeats Bob Dozier (8-15) by TKO in 4:06 of round 2
Rating: Great

Main Card

HW – Jutaro Honma (4-0) defeats Taye Burnett (0-3) by submission in 7:19 of rd 3
Honma dominates in the first round, grounding Burnett and rocking him with several big shots from mount. Round 2 and 3 slow considerably until Homna gets Burnett’s back and sinks a rear naked choke for the win.
Rating: Average

HW – Mason Archer (1-0) defeats Keaton Spratt (4-10) by TKO in 1:55 of rd 1
Archer lives up to his nickname as the merchant of menace, charging from the corner throwing kicks and punches, backing Spratt into the cage. From here Archer gets the takedown and destroys Spratt with vicious blows from guard.
Rating: Great

HW – Murilo Satinho (3-0) defeats Mallory Bertrand (4-1) by TKO in 1:54 of rd 1
Bertrand came in with a wild reputation as an exciting brawler, but Satinho never gave the Frenchman the opportunity to get off, grounding him easily less than a minute in. Once down, Satinho worked methodically to pass guard and then rained punch after punch down leaving Bertrand senseless.
Rating: Great

Main Event – PFP Heavyweight Title
HW – Eien Kawano (6-1) defeats Adrian Bradley (5-2) by submission in 5:30 of rd 1
Bradley is a specimen, but it is Kawano that demonstrates technical superiority. Choosing smartly to get Bradley down as quick as possible to avoid his power, Kawano tries to pound him out, but Bradley proves too strong, holding Kawano’s arms at length. Capitalizing on this opportunity, Kawano promptly takes an extended arm and traps Bradley in an Armbar, getting the submission and becoming the inaugural PFP HW Champion!
Rating: Great

Attendance: 206 – Gate $3,090 – Show Rating: Fantastic

Thoughts: I have to say I am pleasantly surprised by the turnout, because we had zero popularity and very little name recognition. Kawano is back to his old self and I am hoping both he and Satinho stay on track for a superfight down the road, possibly after 2 more fights each. After all expenses I am projecting to still be 14-16 thousand in the black by the end of July. I have a card next month and hopefully can get another 50-75 people out.

Long term I will have cards in October and November and nothing in either September or December. The main goal at this point is to get to January less than 20,000 in the red so I can get that 50,000 infusion, which will keep us going until we start breaking even. I take some time to get around a dozen offers out to Lightweights and a couple more to some Middleweights. Once this sorts out I will stand pat for the most part, only signing fighters I have shortlisted for the rest of the year. I will continue to hold off on using the higher paid fighters if possible until November or January to insure I don't go under because if it happens again, I am done with MMA as a business venture.

[BYU 14]

PFP – Quick Strikes

PFP Rankings August 1st, 2000 (© = Champion)

Heavyweight			Middleweight			Lightweight
1- Murilo Satinho 3-0		Mac Fuller 29-8			Erico Gil 16-11
2- Jack Cobblepot 38-14-3	Greg Atteveld 37-17		Bosco Curbeam 2-0
3- Eien Kawano 6-1 ©		Billy Russell 3-1		Ray Eton 8-3
4- Jutaro Honma 4-0 		Danny Akabaro 2-0		Evan Pizzaro 2-0 
5- Nate MacReary 3-0		Marlon John 2-0			Marcus Speed 3-2
6- Mallory Bertrand 4-1		Holden Strant 2-5		Houston George 2-0
7- Adrian Swall 4-2		Folee Caffatere 3-2		Beau LuPone 1-1 
8- Brent Baroni 4-1-1		Ronnie Allen Teller 3-1		Roy Arnett 1-0
9- Adrian Bradley 5-2		Barrett Fforde 2-4		Ryder Myllart 0-1
10- Brian Barnes 12-11		Hunter Scribbins 2-1		Ashton Andrews 3-9

MMA News

Pit Fighter Pro
Finances
May - July Results: May (- 6,793) June (- 6,893) July (-19,772) (Overall balance: 16,800)

I will be on pace to make it to January without folding if I can just get through September on the positive side. Easier said than done, but I will hire nobody that month and pray our merchandise sales go up by 2,000 (currently doing over 3,000 per month) Our first card cost me 15,605 in prize money and I will try and cut that by 2,000 on the August show, dropping a preliminary match if need be. I have got to get to January!!

Signings
These signings pretty much round out our roster for the rest of the year.
LW – Evan Pizarro 20 (2-0) Exclusive – 1000 – 8
LW – Chuck Brown 22 (0-0) Standard – 600 – 6
LW – Houston George 24 (2-0) Associate – 800 – 8
LW – Ryder Myllart 23 (0-1) Associate – 400 – 6
LW – Nathan Chambers 23 (0-0) Associate – 400 – 7
LW – Barrett Fforde 30 (2-4) Associate – 800 – 6
LW – Ray Eton 28 (8-3) Associate – 800 – 8
MW – Ronnie Teller 23 (3-1) Exclusive – 1000 – 6
LW – Ashton Andrews 27 (3-9) Associate – 400 – 7
LW – Beau LuPone 22 (1-1) Associate – 600 – 7

The crown jewel of this group is Pizarro, who could be a champ in my lightweight division. Houston George is decent, but not well rounded enough to be a top guy in the division. I did well with both Salaries and signing bonuses with this set and you can bet some of them will be appearing ASAP.

Extensions
None

Sayonara
None

Injuries
HW – Mason Archer – Ribs – 2 months (This shouldn’t really hurt him or us as I can use him in October)

News of the World

May through July notable fights
Alpha – 1 – Tadamasa Yamada beat Sho Kitabatake by submission in 4:16 of rd 3 to retain the Alpha-1 LHW Title (Attendance was 14,170 for a gate of $850,200 as well as 121,746 PPV buys for revenue of $486,984, I can only dream)

GAMMA 56 – James Foster beat Raul Hughes by TKO in 3:45 of rd 1 to retain the GAMMA HW Title (Highly anticipated rematch, drew 15,707 fans for a gate of $1,178,025 and 517,894 PPV buys for revenue of $2,071,576. The undercard saw Anthony LeToussier KO Lawrence Herringbone in 0:47 of round 2 in the fight of the night)

GAMMA TV – Sean Morrison beat Benny Danare by TKO in 2:50 of rd 1 to retain the GAMMA 1 LW Title (After some weak cards in recent months GAMMA comes back strong this quarter)

SIGMA – Aleksei Chekhov beat Hyun-Shik Lim by TKO in 5:59 of rd 2 to win the SIGMA LHW Title

KDM FC 21 – Sukarno beat Lucas Mueller by TKO in 1:57 of rd 1 to retain the KDM FC LW Title (Mueller had no business in the ring with him.)

GAMMA 57 – Bill Cumming beat Christian Mountfield by submission in 3:22 of rd 1 to win the GAMMA LHW Title (Notable only because Cumming is no longer an elite fighter, definitely an upset)

UKC 13 – Bussho Maruyama beats Washichi Kobayashi by submission in 4:24 of rd 4 to win the UKC WW Title (The first UKC show since the buyout, I am happy for the “Nurse Shark” well deserved. The undercard had a great LHW matchup as Affonso Villar beat Neville Granville by TKO in 2:56 of rd 1. I would not have made this match so soon, but it was a barnburner.)

XCC – Manuel Silva beat Martin Markovic by TKO in 1:57 of rd 3 to retain the XCC LW Title (One more fighter closer to being a free agent for the phenom)

GAMMA 58 – Julio Regueiro beat Darin Blood by submission in 4:27 of rd 4 to retain the GAMMA WW Title (Another quality show from GAMMA with 21,505 in attendance. Total revenue between Gate and PPV was over 8 million!!!)

UKC 14 – Atsutane Akera beat Patrick Thomas by submission in 3:53 of rd 5 to win the UKC MW Title (Another of my favorites from UKC “The Surgeon” wins his first pro title. In the Co-Main Sylvester Collins took out Eddie Whelan by TKO in 1:12 of rd 1 to become UKC HW Champion as well. A good show I must say, that only drew 346. The MMA market is not looking strong in England)

Major Promotion Rankings
1- GAMMA
2- Alpha-1
3- SIGMA
4- Kadena De Mano
5- British Cage Fighting
6- WEFF (Womens)
7- XCC
8- UKC
9- Mountain States Xtreme
10- Pit Fighter Pro

No changes here with the exception of PFP debuting at the bottom  GAMMA really sealed the top spot with some outstanding cards the last 3 months.

Top 10 Pound for Pound in the World (Last quarters rating in parenthesis)
1 (2): HW – James Foster 36-4-1 (GAMMA)
2 (1): HW – Hassan Fezzik 28-0 (Alpha-1)
3 (7): MW – Matthew Dean 35-5 (GAMMA)
4 (3): LHW – Tadamasa Yamada 25-1 (Alpha-1)
5 (UR): MW – Buddy Garner 16-0 (GAMMA)
6 (UR): WW – Julio Regueiro 18-0-1 (GAMMA)
7 (4): HW – Lefter Oktay 18-0 (SIGMA)
8 (6): MW – Neil Napier 17-1 (GAMMA)
9 (5): LW – Sean Morrison 28-3 (GAMMA)
10 (8): LW – Fiyero Lermontov 12-0 (SIGMA)

Dropped out: Heiji Endo, Roberto Aldez

Foster rides his big win over Hughes into the top spot and the clamor has begun for a Super-fight between him and Fezzik. GAMMA dominates the overall rankings with 6 of the 10 spots, which I guess is why they are #1

Retirements
No retirements the last 3 months

Legal Blotter
HW – Kevin Portman of SIGMA tests positive for a banned substance and is gone for 12 months.

[BYU 14]

After our first card it is apparent that Satinho will soon be the face of Pit Fighter Pro - MMA. He is a monster and the fans have taken to him in a big was as he is already a main eventer and our leading seller of merchandise. I am now shooting for a title fight with Kawano in the spring, assuming Satinho keeps destroying people and Kawano gets by the crafty veteran Jack Cobblepot at PFP 3 in October.

I am also excited to see how Pizzarro handles his first real test in his fight with Eton, a very capable standup fighter, on this card. Still in the black, hopefully we remain there at months end. If we do, I can say with certainty Decker will extend the 50,000 as promised.

[DeToxRox]

Love this dynasty. I am getting very close to making the purchase of WMMA 2 because of this.

Two questions:

Are you making those posters? If so, I love it.

Secondly, how long do you think you can keep Santinho?

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by DeToxRox

Love this dynasty. I am getting very close to making the purchase of WMMA 2 because of this.

Two questions:

Are you making those posters? If so, I love it.

Secondly, how long do you think you can keep Santinho?

Thanks Danny, the game is an absolute blast! Plus so much more interface "friendly" than TEW IMO.

Yeah I am making the posters with powerpoint, then saving them as JPEG files.

I was stunned Satinho didn't get scooped up when UKC was taken over. He has beastly potential and I have him signed for 6 more matches or 28 months as an exclusive, so I hoping we are making some money when his contract is up. If so I will lock him up for another 2-3 years, though it will probably cost me 10-15 K a fight by then.

[Icy]

Satinho is a monster in my game too, my heavyweight unbeaten champ.

[BYU 14]

PFP 2 – Lone Star Showdown

Preliminaries

MW – Hunter Scribbins (3-1) beat Joseph King (4-13) by submission in 0:51 of rd 1
Rating: Great

LW – Roy Arnett (1-0-1) and Marcus Speed (3-2-1) fight to a 3 rd draw
Rating: Decent

Main Card

MW – Danny Akabaro (2-0-1) and Folee Caffatere (3-2-1) fight to a 3 rd draw
Caffatere has been working his grappling skills and it shows as he matches Akabaro move for move on the ground sweeping him several times and nearly pounding him out as the fight comes to an end. A surprising draw.
Rating: Good

MW – Billy Russell (4-1) defeats Priti Manek (2-5) by submission in 8:19 of rd 1
Russell coming in at a career high 198 lbs looked smooth and after some initial difficulty got Manek down, where he unleashed an effective number of strikes. Manek gave up his back trying to escape and fell to a rear naked choke.
Rating: Great

LW – Evan Pizarro (2-0-1) and Ray Eton (8-3-1) fight to a 3 rd draw
I am not at all happy with this fight as Eton looks only to survive and initiates very little offense. Pizzarro tries, but Eton is content to defend takedowns and clinch. Finally fed up, Pizzarro unleashes some big shots in the 3rd round and drops Eton, but is too tired to finish him. The crowd lets Eton hear it afterwards.
Rating: Poor

Main Event
HW – Murilo Satinho (4-0) defeats Adrian Swall (4-3) by TKO in 3:17 of rd 1
Satinho outweighs Swall by over 30 pounds and once he corners him it is only a matter of time as “Grande Urso” ragdolls Swall to the mat. Once there he works into full mount and unleashes some horrific elbows that put Swall on dream street and force the stoppage. A good way to end the card.
Rating: Great

Attendance: 242 – Gate $3,630 – Show Rating: Excellent

Thoughts: Satinho is becoming a star and the only thing bad about that is it will be tough to keep him, but I have another 2 years to worry about that. We grew from the first card and that is all I want, 30 - 50 more people each show to start, then 75 - 100 and we will be fine.

One thing that was a fear of mine under Deckers preferred "fight to the finish" rules came to fruition tonight as Eton stunk it up. He couldn't have cared less about winning, just surviving and getting his damn check. I call Decker after the show and tell him I really don't like this possible precedent. He promises to look at it "closer than a Fox in a Chicken suit" (WTF?) and get back to me.

Originally Posted by Icy

Satinho is a monster in my game too, my heavyweight unbeaten champ.

And continues to roll for me too. I really like a matchup between him and Kawano.....Even better Sylevester Collins, if I can ever pry him a way from UKC!!

Edit: The Pizzarro/Eton fight bothered me so much I added a Poll in the Poll section to get feedback on keeping and automatic draw or going to decisions for fights that go the distance.

[BYU 14]

Kawano will be making the first defense of his Heavyweight Title against the cagey veteran Jack Cobblepot, in what will be an expensive card (due to Cobblepots salary)

A win here would really get Kawano over and make a matchup with Satinho in the spring a huge fight between two of the top young heavyweights in the game. The undercard is not extremely strong, so I really need the main eventers to perform. a concern since Cobblepot is 38 and probably not anywhere near ready to fight for 45 minutes, if it goes that far.

[BYU 14]

PFP 3 – Total Chaos

Preliminaries

LW – Chuck Brown (0-0-1) and Ryder Myllart (0-1-1) fight to a 3 rd draw
Rating: Good

HW – Guy Broom (2-1) defeats Mason Archer (1-1) by TKO in 6:29 of rd 1
Rating: Good

Main Card

HW – Damien Jones (3-2-1) and Mallory Bertrand (4-1-1) fight to a 3 rd draw
Second draw of the card of 3 fights, but in this both fighters went all out. Jones grounded Bertrand in round 1 and the Frenchman weathered a hellacious assault, fighting back over the final 2 to make it an even, exciting bout.
Rating: Good

LW – Bosco Curbeam (2-0-1) and Beau LuPone (1-1-1) fight to a 3 rd draw
LuPone, “The Prince of Darkness” is more like the Prince of Dancers as he fights Curbeam like an MMA version of Chris Byrd. Curbeam forces the action, but is unable to corner LuPone, who rides out the draw.
Rating: Average

HW – Nate MacReary (4-0) defeats Adrian Bradley (5-3) by TKO in 2:45 of rd 1
No drudgery in this one as the beastly MacReary charges straight into Bradley, taking him down and opening a cut under his eye with numerous Elbows. Transitioning to full mount MacReary proceeds to put Bradley to sleep.
Rating: Fantastic

Main Event – PFP Heavyweight Title
HW – *Eien Kawano (7-1) defeats Jack Cobblepot (38-15-3) by submission in 4:25pm of rd 1
Kawano came in charged up, due in part to questions from some that he would have trouble dealing with Cobblepots experience. After some initial feeling out, Kawano shot on the veteran taking Cobblepot to the mat and scoring several wicked shots from guard. As Kawano worked to get mount, Cobblepot rolled giving up his back and after landing several hard Elbows, Kawano flattened the challenger and secured a rear naked choke to retain the Title.
Rating: Great

Attendance: 236 – Gate $3,540 – Show Rating: Fantastic

Thoughts: Lance Decker is in attendance and when two of the first three fights go the distance and end in a draw I shoot him a glance and he has a disappointed look on his face. Granted, both fights were good and that is the problem...there deserved to be a winner, still the crowd stayed with us. The Curbeam fight was completely different as again, fighting an opponent that was trying not to get knocked out or stopped did nothing but make a good fighter in Curbeam look bad. This time when I looked at Lance he looked furious.

Fortunately the final two fights brought the crowd back and salvaged the card as MacReary put on an absolute brutal display and our Heavyweight Champion was technically solid, putting on a great display against a battle tested veteran.

As Decker leaves he pauses briefly....."Son, I really like those two big kids that finished the night, pulled our asses out of the Campfire. Now that freak with the eye makeup...(LuPone) What the hell, how many shots of rot gut had you polished off when y'all hired him?? We'll talk about things Monday, stop on by....I do think we have a good thing going here though."

I liked hearing that, but any words out of Lance Deckers mouth often didn't match his thoughts 30 minutes after they were spoken.....I was just going to have to wait and see what Monday would bring.