You wanna fight? (WMMA2 1st dynasty try)

[JonInMiddleGA]

After reading several dynasties here I decided to break down & buy WMMA2 from Greydog earlier this week. I figured I'm still one edition behind on TEW and haven't really gotten to the point of feeling so "finished" that I'm not enjoying still playing it at times so instead of moving on to the latest TEW I opted to buy WMMA for the first time.

I'm definitely not sure I know what I'm doing exactly but after one botched dry run (somehow screwed up a slightly edited new database & played six months before realizing that all of the US regions except Alabama were zeroed out completely), I'm going to let people learn from my mistakes.

I'm cautiously optimistic since the unbooked nature of WMMA results actually suits my style of creating matches better than TEW, even though I'm infinitely better versed in pro wrestling than in MMA.

I've read the threads here, I've skimmed through most of the (less than I expected) threads at the GDS forum, I think I've picked up on a few quirks of the game and some general ideas but nowhere near metagaming. Otherwise I'll just be working from the same "everything ends up in a giant Excel spreadsheet of my own" style of quantifying & decision making that I've used with every Ryland game I've played in the past and we'll see what happens.

Not sure how this will turn out and since I'm not storyline heavy it won't be everybody's cup of tea but we'll see what comes of it.

[BYU 14]

Looking forward to another MMA dynasty Jon, Adam has done a great job creating "personalities" in this game. It will be interesting to see how things play out in your universe in comparision to mine.

Are you creating your own promotion?

[JonInMiddleGA]

It's 1999, just one year away from the new millennium, but there's already a change in the air for combat sports.

Mixed martial-arts, or MMA, is the hot new thing. Not quite boxing, not quite wrestling, but not nearly the no-holds-barred barroom brawl that some still associate it with either.

As the sport has evolved, a definite pecking order has been established.

Alpha-1 is based in Japan and represents the pinnacle of MMA. With a roster led by the legendary Hassan Fezzik (25-0 lifetime) they're a dominant force.

GAMMA is the clear leader in the U.S., with quality fighters in all the major weight classes. In business since 1992, they hold a near stranglehold on the English-speaking North American markets.

SIGMA is to Europe what GAMMA is to the U.S., only not as far into their development. Fezzik protege Leftar Oktay has his sights set on Heavyweight champion Terron Cabal but unbeaten Armen "A-Game' Sarkisian stands in the way.

WEFF, the Women's Extreme Fighting Federation, is a Canadian-based promotion that has surprised most observers by steadily climbing into the public consciousness. Sarah Vaughn & Vicki Summers are their veteran mainstays but a new generation of female fighters are looking to send them into retirement.

British Cage Fighting (BCF) is committed to doing their own thing with quirky weight classes & scoring system. It's worked okay so far but their next challenge is to get beyond the point of being a regional promotion & expand into a larger awareness across Europe & the world.

In Asia, the upstart is KDM FC, Kadena De Mano Fighting Circuit. A haven for smaller fighters, their biggest asset is "Fury Awoken" Sukarno. The Indonesian lightweight is officially 3-0 in sanctioned matches but claims to be 173-0 overall. Whatever his record, he's a dangerous fighter who can & will (literally) kick your ass ... and your ribs, your head, and anything else he can get an open shot at.

In California, Xtreme Cage Combat is taking a similar approach with a focus on smaller lightweights & featherweights. Phillip Ziskie is around 140 pounds of dynamite and there's a wealth of little guys with big talent gathering on the coast.

And down in the south, there comes a new entry into the field ...

[JonInMiddleGA]

... Combat Supercell Alliance

After various startup promotions, one-off shady promoters, and money marks tried to bring MMA to the South and failed, it's an unlikely duo that's looking to take the MMA world by storm (hench the name).

28 year old Joseph Steven is a slick dressing, blow out 'fro wearing dude from New York, NY. With money made at an early age from his successful role in a pair of recording studios, Steven is both the money and the mouth of the CSA.

His opposite is the 40-something Jon Loveless, a small-town native Georgia who was looking for a new career. What he brings to the table (or at least Steven hopes he'll bring) is an ability to spot talent, make fights, and figure out how to put butts from all walks of life in seats. He may be "Southern Born, Southern Bred, and when he dies he'll be Southern Dead" but he also knows that money talks. And if he screws up too much, Joseph Steven will doubtless make it talk loud & clear. That bridge has already been crossed at least once, after someone tipped the owner to what the promotion name that the company President insisted upon harkened to when shortened to its initials. Luckily for everyone the city slicker found the humor in what the country boy had managed to pull off.
If it gets the crackers to show up for the fights in the early days, it's all good.

[Icy]

I'll be reading, but get ready for a tough start. If you read BYU's dynasty, he failed on his first attempt and in my game with a new started promo in Europe i just hit high level regional... that means the money will start to come... but just after my first show at high regional my company declared on bankrupt

If you are starting from zero, sign the cheapest rookies and develop them to grow their popularity as your company does, else you will run out of money so fast if you try to sign consolidated fighters.

[JonInMiddleGA]

January 1999

The Odd Couple agree that "It takes money to make money", so there's a cool quarter million in the CSA bank account ... but it doesn't grow on trees the goal is to keep the bleeding to a minimum in the early going in order to be able to strike as needed in the months & years to come.

The first real challenge is to build a roster that is able to help the company progress steadily with a mix of name value and raw talent, large enough to provide options ("can't have too many options" is a favorite Stevensism) but small enough to be manageable in a hands-on fashion ("if our reach exceeds our grasp by too much we'll be well & truly screwed in a hurry" is something the company President has said more than once).

So while there are quite a few relatively big names who would be happy to cash a fat check, work is underway to build a balanced roster that can both grow the company and grow with the company at the same time. Spreadsheets, a pile of DVD's that need to be filed properly eventually, and phone bills that defy imagination are all just part of the process.

The working plan is to focus on four weight classes for starters: Heavyweight, Middleweight, Welterweight, and Lightweight. There may be some Light-Heavyweight fights at times but those will come mostly from people moving up or down in weight as needed to fill out cards. For now, there won't be an official women's division as such, although the it's possible that a few could be brought in from time to time to help draw fans that might be looking for some variety with the blood & beer.

[JonInMiddleGA]

January has been a busy month as we worked like fiends to put together contracts with enough fighters to not only get our first show going but also to let us plan ahead for at least another couple of months. Although there's still a few calls out that could add to the list, without further ado it's time to meet the opening day roster:

Rankings as per Blurcat.com on Sunday Wk 4 Jan 1999

Pound for Pound (Male)
#1 Ernie Bruns (17-10, 0-0) - LHW
#2 Woody Fierstein (10-2, 0-0) - MW
#3 Petey Barnum (21-13, 0-0) - LHW
#4 Don Norman (22-14, 0-0) - HW
#5 Shuler Eigenberg (9-2, 0-0) - LW
#6 Frank Analysis (36-19, 0-0) - HW
#7 Vincent Chapin (21-14, 0-0) - HW
#8 Zachary Gilbert (11-7, 0-0) - WW
#9 Drew Jenks (6-1, 0-0) - MW
#10 Ray Eton (7-1, 0-0) - WW

Heavyweight
#1 Don Norman (22-14, 0-0) - 31 y/o from Cochrane, ON, CAN
#2 Frank Analysis (36-19, 0-0) - 32 from Shreveport, LA, USA
#3 Vincent Chapin (21-14, 0-0) - 38 from Los Angeles, CA, USA
#4 Sylvester Collins (3-0, 0-0) - 24 from Thunder Bay, ON, CAN
#5 Wilson Franklyn (2-0, 0-0) - 25 from Columbus, GA, USA
** Spencer Rubenstein (0-0, 0-0) - 21 from Toledo, OH, USA

Light-Heavyweight
#1 Ernie Bruns (17-10, 0-0) - 36 y/o from Durham, NC, USA
#2 Petey Barnum (21-13, 0-0) - 34 from Charlotte, NC, USA
#3 Rupert Dreck (4-0, 0-0) - 23 from Provo, UT, USA
#4 Titus Mostel (3-3, 0-0) - 26 from Athens, GA, USA
#5 Adrian Pascal (2-0, 0-0) - 23 from Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA
#6 Marlon John (1-0, 0-0) - 22 from Fullerton, CA, USA
#7 Jordan Flintstone (1-0, 0-0) - 21 from Albuquerque, NM, USA
#8 Joshua Hope (1-0, 0-0) - 23 from Edmonton, AB, CAN

Middleweight
#1 Woody Fierstein (10-2, 0-0) - 25 y/o from Corpus Christi, TX, USA
#2 Drew Jenks (6-1, 0-0) - 24 from Spokane, WA, USA
#3 Esteban Vega (2-0, 0-0) - 19 from Guadalajara, MEX
#4 Ed Burridge (2-0, 0-0) - 22 from Kailua, HI, USA
#5 Bill Brown (1-0, 0-0) - 21 from Riverside, CA, USA
#6 Kramer Mayweather (1-0, 0-0) - 22 from Honolulu, HI, USA
#7 Billy Russell (1-0, 0-0) - 24 from San Juan, PR
** Wes Hersch (0-0, 0-0) - 23 from Lincoln, NE

Welterweight
#1 Zachary Gilbert (11-7, 0-0) - 27 y/o from Lynn Lake, MB, CAN
#2 Ray Eton (7-1, 0-0) - 26 from Salt Lake City, UT, USA
#3 Garrison Gable (6-14, 0-0) - 29 from Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA
#4 Evan Pizzarro (1-0, 0-0) - 18 from New Orleans, LA, USA
** Gideon Navarro (0-0, 0-0) - 20 from Honolulu, HI, USA
** Felix Matterhson, Jr (0-0, 0-0) - 22 from Puerto Rico
** Nathan Chambers (0-0, 0-0) - 22 from Tacoma, WA, USA
** Randy Carsley (0-0, 0-0) - 22 from Brooklyn, NY, USA

Lightweight
#1 Shuler Eigenberg (9-2, 0-0) - 30 y/o from Jerusalem, ISR
#2 Ian Linderman (7-1, 0-0) - 30 from Denver, CO, USA
#3 Dominic Ash (5-0, 0-0) - 28 from Pittsburgh, PA, USA
#4 Kyle Sagal (3-0, 0-0) - 23 from Boston, MA, USA
#5 Sammy Newton (2-1, 0-0) - 22 from Corpus Christi, TX, USA
#6 Hinton Grey (1-0, 0-0) - 22 from Raleigh, NC, USA
#7 Rory McEnterry (1-0, 0-0) - 20 from Boston, MA, USA
#8 Gonzalo Ramos (1-0, 0-0) - 21 from Aguascalientes, MEX
#9 Brock Youdale (1-0, 0-0) - 22 from Topeka, KS, USA

[BYU 14]

Ash, Pizzarro, Brown and Collins are always good early pickups. Were you able to get them signed to long term deals?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

Ash, Pizzarro, Brown and Collins are always good early pickups. Were you able to get them signed to long term deals?

Before I answer, what's the definition of "long term" in WMMA2? I basically worked from the default asking & tried to push guys up a couple of fights longer if I could without adding dollars.

I never really paid a lot of attention to the contract lengths in anyone's dynasties I guess and it felt like cheating somehow to go back & try to look at that (or several other things, I've made myself avoid reading anything much once I decided I was going to try a campaign here, until I got set up at least).

Almost all of my contracts are in the 4-6 fight range, with one guy on a 2 fight deal and 3 guys with 8 fight deals. I've also got 10 exclusives, 3 associates, and the rest are standard. Highest opening base is $1,600 per, lowest is $600, most are $1,000.

Problem is, of course, I really don't know if that's good, bad, or average.

Now as for the guys you asked about specifically
Collins, standard, $1400 base, 6 fights
Brown, exclusive, $1000 base, 4 fights
Ash, standard, $1000 base, 4 fights
Pizzarro, standard, $800 base, 4 fights

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Now as for the guys you asked about specifically
Collins, standard, $1400 base, 6 fights
Brown, exclusive, $1000 base, 4 fights
Ash, standard, $1000 base, 4 fights
Pizzarro, standard, $800 base, 4 fights

I usually start with an 8 or 10 fight offer over 30 or 33 months with 4 or 5 fights guaranteed. To increase the odds they accept I wll also offer a +7.5/-7.5 performance incentive as well. Usually the only one I have a problem with is Brown, he really likes 4 fight deals so he can substantially raise his asking price every 12-18 months after 3 fights when people come bidding for him. He also has very little patience with me.

[JonInMiddleGA]

End of January 1999

It may take money to make money but it also takes money to make no money.

We finish the month in the red by $6,926. A little bit of marketing, some admin, and mostly ($5,400) in "we really want you to be a part of this" signing bonuses.

At one point owner Joseph Stevens asked me when I found the time to mail $100 bills addressed to "Occupant" but I'm sure he was just kidding.

[BYU 14]

One thing I will add that may be helpful is that signing bonuses are not a deal killer. I never give more than $400, with the normal being $200. Even when guys are asking for $2,000 I will drop it to $400 and rarely get a rejection. Fighters are more concerned with base pay, performance adjustments and win bonus as a general rule.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Blurcat.com rankings as of Feb 1, 1999

Promotion Rankings (next event)
1. Alpha-1 (Alpha-1: Fezzik vs Kikuchi in Hokkaido Wk 2 Feb 99)
2. GAMMA (GAMMA 42: Foster vs Hughes in Nevada Wk 2 Feb 99)
3. SIGMA (SIGMA:Amaro vs Sriyanto in Germany Wk 3 Feb 99)
4. WEFF (WEFF 20 in Quebec Wk 2 Feb 99)
5. BCF (BCF: Laurent vs Rush in London Wk 2 Feb 99)
6. KDM FC (KDM FC 6 in Eastern Asia Wk 1 Feb 99)
7. XCC (XCC: Ziskie vs Gaffigan in Calfornia Wk 2 Feb 99)
8. CSA (CSA 1 in Georgia Wk 1 Feb 99)

Pound for Pound (Male)
1. Hassan Fezzik (25-0); Alpha-1 Heavyweight Champion; faces Kunimichi Kikuchi at Alpha-1:Fezzik vs Kikuchi
2. Neil Napier (15-0); Gamma Middleweight Champion; next fight TBD
3. James Foster (32-4-1); Gamma; faces Raul Hughes at Gamma 42
4. Tadamasa Yamada (21-1); Alpha-1 LHW Champion; next fight TBD
5. Sean Morrison (26-3); Gamma Lightweight Champion; next fight TBD
6. Kunimichi Kikuchi; Alpha-1; faces #1 Fezzik at Alpha-1 Fezzik vs Kikuchi
7. Zvonimir Asanovic; Gamma LHW Champion; next fight TBD
8. Jin Katou; Alpha-1; next fight TBD
9. Raul Hughes; Gamma; faces Foster at Gamma 42
10. Roberto Aldez; Alpha-1; next fight TBD

Heavyweights
1. Hassan Fezzik; Alpha-1 Heavyweight Champion; faces #3 Kikuchi at Alpha-1:Fezzik vs Kikuchi
2. James Foster; Gamma; faces #4 Raul Hughes at Gamma 42
3. Kunimichi Kikuchi; Alpha-1; faces #1 Fezzik at Alpha-1 Fezzik vs Kikuchi
4. Raul Hughes; Gamma; faces #2 Foster at Gamma 42
5. Terron Cabal; Sigma, next fight TBD
6-10. Gunnar Nilsson/A-1, Armen Sarkisian/Sigma, Gregorz Boniek/A-1, Jeff Carlton/A-1, Rick Stanley/Gamma

Light Heavyweights
1. Tadamasa Yamada; Alpha-1 LHW Champion; next fight TBD
2. Zvonimir Asanovic; Gamma LHW Champion; next fight TBD
3. Jin Katou; Alpha-1; next fight TBD
4. Roberto Aldez; Alpha-1; next fight TBD
5. John Rivero; Gamma; faces Christian Mountfield at Gamma 42
6-10. Mike Watson/Gamma, Linfield Ballard/Gamma, Anthony LeToussier/Gamma, Elgar/A-1, Lawrence Herringbone/Gamma

Middleweight
1. Neil Napier; Gamma Middleweight Champion; next fight TBD
2. Matthew Dean; Gamma; faces #8 Leonardo da Costa at Gamma 42
3. Mac Fuller; Gamma; faces Buddy Garner at Gamma 42
4. Heiji Endo; Alpha-1; next fight TBD
5. JJ Reid; Gamma; faces Thomas Smith at Gamma 42
6-10. Petey Mack/A-1, Stuart Strange/Gamma, Leonardo da Costa/Gamma, Maarten De Vries/Gamma, Thorbjorn Rekdal/Sigma

Welterweight
1. Carlos da Guia; Alpha-1 Welterweight Champion; next fight TBD
2. Julio Rugueiro; Gamma Welterweight Champion; next fight TBD
3. Jack Humphreys; Gamma; next fight TBD
4. Gabriel Gallego; Alpha-1; faces Chojiro Goto at A-1 Fezzik vs Kikuchi
5. Ricardo Fernandes; Alpha-1; next fight TBD
6-10. Charles Stiles/Gamma, Xie Ming/A-1, Ichisake Miyagi/A-1, Noach Van Der Capellen/Sigma, Alan Kendall/Gamma

Lightweight
1. Sean Morrison; Gamma Lightweight Champion; next fight TBD
2. Go Yamamoto; Alpha-1; next fight TBD
3. Bruce Steven; Gamma; next fight TBD
4. Luis Basora; Alpha-1 Lightweight Champion; next fight TBD
5. Fumiaki Hayashi; Alpha-1; next fight TBD
6-10. Brandon Sugar/Sigma & KDMFC, Fiyero Lermontov/Sigma, Helio/BCF, Milenko Rudonja/Sigma, Giovani Silva/A-1

Featherweight
1. Lars Bohlin; Sigma Featherweight Champion; next fight TBD
2. Tomohiro Takeuchi; KDMFC; faces #4 Li-Kong Ho at KDM FC 6
3. Phillip Ziskie; XCC; faces #5 Gaffigan at XCC Ziskie vs Gaffigan
4. Li-Kong Ho; KDMFC; faces #2 Takeuchi at KDM FC 6
5. Sammy Gaffigan; XCC; faces #3 Ziskie at XCC Ziskie vs Gaffigan
6-10. Norberto/none, Manish Khan/Sigma, Colm Dee/Sigma, Azor Portela Nunes/XCC; Luiz Machado/XCC

Pound for Pound (female)
1. Sayoko Ebisawa; KDM FC Women's Champion; next fight TBD
2. Sara Vaughan; WEFF Women's HW Champion; faces #8 Wood at WEFF 20
3. Vicki Summers; WEFF; next fight TBD
4. Haley Croft; WEFF; faces Henrietta Stein at WEFF 20
5. Karen Curtis; XCC Women's Champion; next fight TBD
6. Alison Beattie; XCC; next fight TBD
7. Seka Mutsu; KDM FC; next fight TBD
8. Alisha Wood; WEFF; faces #2 Vaughan at WEFF 20
9. Roz Wareling; WEFF; faces Jennie Gill at WEFF 20
10. Chiyo Yanagimoto; KDM FC; next fight TBD

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday, Week 1, February 1999

After a small amount of local advertising, we hold a press conference to introduce the fighters for our inaugural show ... which happens to be coming up on Friday night. As in THIS Friday night. It's a sparsely attended affair with only a couple of local reporters but everything starts somewhere.

Combat Supercell presents CSA 1
Friday February 5th, 1999 in Commerce, GA

Main Event:
Welterweights
Garrison Gable (6-14) vs Evan "The Carpenter" Pizarro (1-0)
Gable is a experienced fighter with a wrestling background while Pizarro has a background in both kick boxing & judo but what he lacks is experience.

Middleweights
"The Tap Out Artist" Billy Russell (1-0) vs Wes "The Hurt" Hersch (0-0)
Russell is a submission specialist but he's green with no striking & weak wrestling skills. Hersch is even greener than his opponent but if he can use his wrestling background without having to tap he might find himself with a win in his debut.

Welterweights
"Black Superman"Nathan Chambers (0-0) vs Randy "Super Snake" Carsley(0-0)
Chambers has a kick boxing background but it's his exciting style that has observers, well, excited about his future, but he needs to stay on his feet in order to succeed. Carsley spends his time looking for an opportunity to apply his strong triangle choke but will have to survive Chambers strikes to do it.

Light Heavyweights
Adrian "The Power" Pascal (2-0) vs Jordan "Fred" Flintstone (1-0)
Pascal has a college wrestling background, Flintstone has a college wrestling background. This will either be pretty good or really dull.

Preliminary bout
Lightweights
Brock "The Spark Plug" Youdale (1-0) vs Gonzalo "The Gangsta" Ramos (1-0)
Youdale is a submission fighter who likes to isolate a body part & work it until someone taps. Ramos is an aggressive puncher who tends to come straight forward. This one might not last long but who will win is anybody's guess.

[JonInMiddleGA]

In the pre-show, company officials introduced the newest addition to the CSA roster, 42 year old veteran middleweight Greg Atteveld (37-14).

Combat Supercell presents CSA 1
Friday February 5th, 1999 in Commerce, GA

RESULTS

Preliminary bout: Lightweights
Brock "The Spark Plug" Youdale (1-0) vs Gonzalo "The Gangsta" Ramos (1-0)
Blurcat picks Youdale
Youdale defeats Ramos by submission (rear naked choke) at 4:57 of Round 1.
The match was rated as being Great.

Light Heavyweights
Adrian "The Power" Pascal (2-0) vs Jordan "Fred" Flintstone (1-0)
Pascal defeats Flintstone by submission (armbar) at 4:57 of Round 2.
The match was rated as being Good

Welterweights
"Black Superman"Nathan Chambers (0-0) vs Randy "Super Snake" Carsley(0-0)
Blurcat picks Carsley
Chambers defeats Carsley by unanimous decision (30-27 x3).
The match was rated as being Good.

Middleweights
"The Tap Out Artist" Billy Russell (1-0) vs Wes "The Hurt" Hersch (0-0)
Hersch defeats Russell by unanimous decision (30-27 x3).
The match was rated as being Poor.

Main Event: Welterweights
Garrison Gable (6-14) vs Evan "The Carpenter" Pizarro (1-0)
Blurcat picks Pizarro to dominate
Pizzarro defeats Gable by Knock Out (knee to the face) at 4:04 of Round 1.
The match was rated as being Great.

Attendance: 82 for a gate of $820
Show Rating: Excellent

[Icy]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

One thing I will add that may be helpful is that signing bonuses are not a deal killer. I never give more than $400, with the normal being $200. Even when guys are asking for $2,000 I will drop it to $400 and rarely get a rejection. Fighters are more concerned with base pay, performance adjustments and win bonus as a general rule.

I also always lower the bonus, even to $100 and they seem to be fine.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Saturday Feb 6, 1999
Morning after CSA 1

Kind of hard to be disappointed with anything except the crowd, the gate, and the impact on our bottom line.

We felt like the fights themselves were a success, with four out of five coming off good or better. Considering that 9 of the participants had 7 professional fights combined between them that speaks well of our raw talent.

On the downside our single night ledger showed us over $10k in the hole, with $11,680 paid in prize money & wages. "Takes money to make money", and owner Joseph Steven seemed happy even with the negative cash flow.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monthly Highlights for February 1999
1. Alpha-1 (Alpha-1: Fezzik vs Kikuchi in Hokkaido Wk 2 Feb 99)
Attendance: 12,646 for $758,760 gate
PPV: 80,640 buys for $322,560 revenue
Main: Hassan Fezzik beat Kunimichi Kikucki by submission at 4:45 of Round 5 to retain the Alpha-1 Heavyweight Title (Average)
Best other: Gunnar Nilsson beat Chuck Dooley by submission at 4:21 of Round 1 (Fantastic)

2. GAMMA (GAMMA 42: Foster vs Hughes in Nevada Wk 2 Feb 99)
Attendance: 4,944 for $247,200 gate
PPV: 64,051 buys for $256,204 revenue
Main: James Foster beat Raul Hughes by TKO at 1:54 of Round 1 to retain the GAMMA Heavyweight Title (Great)
Best other: Buddy Garner beat Mac Fuller by submission at 3:39 of Round 1 (Good)

3. SIGMA (SIGMA:Amaro vs Sriyanto in Germany Wk 3 Feb 99)
Attendance: 531 for gate of $10,620
Main: Bambang Sriyanto beat Fernando Amaro by unanimous decision after 5 rounds to win the SIGMA Middleweight Title (Poor)
Best other: Nicolai Mickiewicz beat Aleksei Chekhov by submission in 9:59 of round 3 (Great)

4. WEFF (WEFF 20 in Quebec Wk 2 Feb 99)
Attendance: 461 for gate of $9,220
Main: Alisha Wood beat Sarah Vaughan by unanimous decision after 5 rounds to win the WEFF Women's Heavyweight Title (Average)
Best other: Haley Croft beat Henrietta Stein by unanimous decision after 4 rounds (Average)

5. BCF (BCF: Laurent vs Rush in London Wk 2 Feb 99)
Attendance: 640 for gate of $12,800
Main: George Laurent beat Andrew Rush by TKO at 2:04 of Round 2 to retain the BCF Middleweight Title (Excellent)
Best other: Robert Darrell beat Richard Smith by unanimous decision after 12 rounds (Good)

6. KDM FC (KDM FC 6 in Eastern Asia Wk 1 Feb 99)
Attendance: 298 for gate of $4,470
Main: Li-Kong Ho beat Tomohiro Tekuchi by submission at 2:48 of Round 2 to retain the KDMFC Featherweight Title (Great)
Best other: Cong Dun beat Greg Chiang by Knock Out at 0:21 of Round 1 (Great)

7. XCC (XCC: Ziskie vs Gaffigan in Calfornia Wk 2 Feb 99)
Attendance: 254 for gate of $3,810
Main: Phillip Ziskie beat Sammy Gaffigan by TKO at 3:05 of Round 1 to retain the XCC Featherweight Title (Great)
Best other: Luiz Machado beat Azor Portela Nunes by submission at 2:35 of Round 1 (Fantastic)

8. CSA (CSA 1 in Georgia Wk 1 Feb 99)
Attendance: 82 for gate of $820
Main: Evan Pizarro beat Garrison Grable by Knock Out at 4:04 of Round 1 (Great)
Best other: Nathan Chambers beat Randy Carsley by unanimous decision after 3 rounds (Good)

[JonInMiddleGA]

March 1999 Preview

Events this month
Alpha-1 Battle (TV) - Wed March 3 in Chugoku
Main: "Brazilian Whirlwind" Giovani Silva (21-7) vs Claudio Palacios (22-6), welterweights

CSA 2 -- Sat March 6 in LaGrange, GA
Main: "The Big Show" Sylvester Collins (3-0) vs Frank Analysis (36-19), heavyweights

KDM FC 7: Sukarno vs Nutnum -- Sat Mar 6 in Eastern Asia
Main: "Fury Awoken" Sukarno (3-0) vs Teeratep "Crazy Monkey" Nutnum (8-0) for the KDM FC Lightweight Title

GAMMA Warriors (TV) -- Mon Mar 8 in Hawaii
Main: "The Islander" Neil Napier (15-0) vs Patrick "The Titan" Thomas (10-3) for the GAMMA Middleweight Title

BCF: Zaco vs Cole -- Tue Mar 9 in London
Main: Zaco (43-14) vs Alex "Ace In the Hole" Cole (9-0), middleweights

XCC: Curtis vs Watson -- Mon Mar 15 in California
Main: Karen "The Demon" Curtis (7-1) vs "The Blonde Bombshell" April Watson (5-0) for the XCC Women's Title

SIGMA: Rekdal vs Gilchrist -- Tue Mar 16 in Germany
Main: "Brickhouse" Thorbjorn Rekdal (15-1) vs Shane "The Butcher" Gilchrist (16-2) for the SIGMA Light Heavyweight Title

GAMMA 43: Regueiro vs Cahill -- Sun Mar 21 in Ohio
Main: "Spanish Silk" Julio Regueiro (14-0-1) vs Geoff "Die Hard" Cahill (47-23) for the GAMMA Welterweight Title

Alpha-1 unnamed -- Fri Mar 26 in Chubu
Main: Heiji "The Immortal" Endo (13-1) vs "The Specialist" Keith Plaice (12-4) for the Alpha-1 Middleweight Title

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday, March 1, 1999

The rest of the month was busy after fight night, with most of the time devoted to finishing out the roster. We're at 49 fighters under some form of contract now, 10 in each division with the exception of heavyweight where we're stuck on 9.

In hindsight, I kind of wish I had stopped at 8 per division but at least this way we have some leeway if there's an injury or long medical suspension.

The additions to the roster are:
HW Murilo Satinho (0-0) -- 20 from Fortaleza, BRA
HW Mason Archer (0-0) -- 22 from Kingston, ON, CAN
LHW William Harrison (3-0) -- 24 from Sterling Heights, MI, USA
LHW Allen LaFleur (0-0) -- 18 from La Tuque, QUE, CAN
MW Heath Kaladaris (0-0) -- 19 from Perth, AU
MW Francis O'Leary (26-18) -- 45 from New York, NY, USA
WW Sinali Shomen (0-0) -- 21 from Nagoya, JPN
LW Tim Oldacres (0-0) -- 23 from Coventry, ENG
LW Doug Minnelli (0-0) -- 21 from New Orleans, LA, USA

With a pretty much full stable to work with, we not only announce our next show but two additional dates after that.

CSA 2 will be in LaGrange, GA this coming Saturday March 2 with a main event featuring heavyweights "The Big Show" Sylvester Collins (3-0) vs Frank Analysis (36-19)

CSA 3 will be in Hinesville, GA (Ft. Stewart) on Sunday April 4 with a main event featuring middleweights "The Flying V" Esteban Vega (2-0) vs "The Human Takedown Machine" Drew Jenks (6-1)

CSA 4 will be in Cartersville, GA on Friday May 14 with a main event featuring lightweight "Scorching" Shuler Eisenberg (10-2) vs "Sweet Sammy Silk" Sammy Newton (2-1)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday, March 1, 1999

After a small amount of local advertising, we hold a press conference to introduce the fighters for our inaugural show ... which happens to be coming up on Friday night. As in THIS Friday night. It's a sparsely attended affair with only a couple of local reporters but everything starts somewhere.

Combat Supercell presents CSA 2
Friday March 4th, 1999 in LaGrange, GA

Main Event:
Heavyweights
"The Big Show" Sylvester Collins (3-0) vs Frank Analysis (36-19)
The ground & pound attack of the former football player will give the wily veteran Analysis all he can handle. He has to hope Collins makes a mistake otherwise if he finds himself looking up from his back it may be over in a hurry.

Lightweights
Dominic"The Smash"Ash (5-0)vs"The Colorado Cobra" Ian Linderman (7-1)
Ash comes from a boxing background while Linderman has lesser skills but is more versatile with decent boxing & karate. If either man takes this one to the ground it will be a surprise.

Heavyweights
Spencer "The Reaper" Rubenstein (0-0) vs "The Muscle Mountain" Ernie Bruns (17-10)
Promising newcomer debuts with a strong submission offense and an even better defense. Bruns brings a ton of experience & plenty of stamina to try to teach the kid a lesson.

Middleweights
Kramer "The Predator" Mayweather (1-0) vs "Mr. Fantastic" Ed Burridge (2-0)
The Battle of Hawaii features a kickboxer that struggles if he's taken down in Mayweather against a guy with a better chin but limited offense.

Light Heavyweights
"Glorious" Joshua Hope (1-0) vs "The Green Machine" Rupert Dreck (4-0)
Somebody gets their first loss of their young career and it will probably be whoever makes a mistake that their opponent can take advantage of. Dreck's facial hair isn't the only thing green in this matchup.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Combat Supercell presents CSA 2
Friday March 4th, 1999 in LaGrange, GA

RESULTS

Light Heavyweights
"Glorious" Joshua Hope (1-0) vs "The Green Machine" Rupert Dreck (4-0)
Blurcat says Dreck better have been working on his submission defense because if he gets caught it'll be all over
Hope wins by unanimous decision (30-27 x3)
The match was rated as being Very Poor

Middleweights
Kramer "The Predator" Mayweather (1-0) vs "Mr. Fantastic" Ed Burridge (2-0)
Blurcat says Mayweather wins unless he allows Burridge to get close enough to grapple
Mayweather wins by unanimous decision(30-27 x3)
The match was rated as being Decent

Heavyweights
Spencer "The Reaper" Rubenstein (0-0) vs "The Muscle Mountain" Ernie Bruns (17-10)
Blurcat picks Rubenstein as long as his gameplan is solid
Rubenstein wins by TKO at 3:37 of Round 1[/b]
The match was rated as being Good

Lightweights
Dominic"The Smash"Ash (5-0)vs"The Colorado Cobra" Ian Linderman (7-1)
Blurcat says Ash will keep the match upright & win
Ash wins by unanimous decision (30-27 x3)
The match was rated as Decent

Main Event: Heavyweights
"The Big Show" Sylvester Collins (3-0) vs Frank Analysis (36-19)
Blurcat says it'll be a long night for Analysis
Collins wins by TKO at 1:44 of Round 1.
The match was rated as Great

Attendance: 194 for a gate of $2,910
Show Rating: Excellent

[BYU 14]

Have say the Rubenstein match was a surprise, he is not that strong in my uni. Gotta love the Big Show, he might be the physically strongest guy in the game. Hope you can lock him up long term because the big boys will soon be after him.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Tuesday March 2, 1999

Can't be too disappointed I guess, not overjoyed either though. "TBS" Collins was the monster we hoped for on the high end while Hope vs Dreck was pretty much hopeless looking dreck.

On the bright side attendance was up more than double, our gate more than tripled but the gains were offset by increased prize money & production costs. The show itself loses $11,372 which was actually about $1k worse than the month before.

Takes money to make money, although I'm very happy that the main event got owner Joseph Steven excited at the end of the night. He's working just as hard as I've been lately and it can't be fun knowing you just dropped another $10k.

Everybody came out their fights relatively healthy, although the commission has informed us that based on his loss and the beating he took Frank Analysis is medically suspended for 4 months effective immediately.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

Have say the Rubenstein match was a surprise, he is not that strong in my uni.

I got exactly what I wanted out of that fight. By the numbers Rubenstein is the most all around talented guy in my heavyweight division and in my screwed up first attempt with the game he did the same thing to Petey Barnum. I fed Bruns to him and he took advantage of it.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monthly Highlights for March 1999
1. Alpha-1 (Alpha-1 Battle (TV) in Chugoku Wk 1 Mar 99)
Attendance: 3,333 for $199,980 gate
Main: Giovanni Silva beat Claudio Palacios by unanimous decision after three rounds (Decent)
Best other: Leandro Piquet beat Elgar by Knock Out at 2:16 of Round 1 (Fantastic)

1b. Alpha-1 (Alpha-1 Endo vs Plaice in Chubu Wk 4 Mar 99)
Attendance: 7,479 for $373,950 gate
PPV: 47,162 buys for $188,648 revenue
Main: Heiji Endo beat Keith Plaice by submission at 4:26 of Round 1 to retain the Alpha-1 Middleweight Title (Great)
Best other: Go Yamamoto beat Atep of Indonesia by unanimous decision after three rounds (Great)

2a. GAMMA (GAMMA Warriors (TV): in Hawaii Wk 2 Mar 99)
Attendance: 2,143 for $107,150 gate
Main: Neil Napier beat Patrick Thomas by TKO at 4:22 of Round 4 to retain the GAMMA Middleweight Title (Good)
Best other: Darin Blood beat Jack Humphreys by unanimous decision after three rounds (Average)

2b. GAMMA (GAMMA 43: Regueiro vs Cahill in Ohio Wk 4 Mar 99)
Attendance: 3,945 for $197,250 gate
PPV: 48,526 buys for $194,104 revenue
Main: Julio Regueiro beat Geoff Cahill by submission at 1:46 of Round 1 to retain the GAMMA Welterweight Title (Great)
Best other: Mike Watson beat Linfield Ballard by Knock Out at 0:29 of Round 2 (Fantastic)

3. SIGMA (SIGMA:Rekdal vs Gilchrist in Germany Wk 3 Mar 99)
Attendance: 561 for gate of $11,220
Main: Thorbjorn Rekdal beat Shane Gilchrist by unanimous decision after 5 rounds to retain the SIGMA Light Heavyweight Title (Good)
Best other: Fiero Lermontov beat Paulo Roberto Bezerra by submission in 9:38 of round 1 (Good)

4. WEFF did not run in March

5. BCF (BCF: Zaco vs Cole in London Wk 2 Mar 99)
Attendance: 523 for gate of $10,460
Main: Alex Cole beat Zaco by submission at 2:22 of Round 8 (Average)
Best other: Mick Curran beat Dave Lennon by split decision after 12 rounds (Good)

6. KDM FC (KDM FC 7 in Eastern Asia Wk 1 Mar 99)
Attendance: 340 for gate of $5,100
Main: Sukarn beat Terratep Nutnum by Knock Out at 1:39 of Round 4 to retain the KDMFC Lightweight Title (Great)
Best other: Kei Maki beat Yee Tsuji by Knock Out at 0:25 of Round 3 (Good)

7. XCC (XCC: Curtis vs Watson in California Wk 3 Mar 99)
Attendance: 253 for gate of $3,795
Main: April Watson beat Karen Curtis by unanimous decision after five rounds to win the XCC Women's Title (Decent)
Best other: Jamie Hewitt beat Marcus Speed by submission at 4:02 of Round 2 (Fantastic)

8. CSA (CSA 2 in Georgia Wk 1 Mar 99)
Attendance: 194 for gate of $2,910
Main: Sylvester Collins beat Frank Analysis by TKO at 1:44 of Round 1 (Great)
Best other: Spencer Rubenstein beat Ernie Bruns by TKO at 3:37 of Round 1 (Good)

[Flasch186]

I ONLY have a problem following this because it is fictional people

[JonInMiddleGA]

April 1999 Preview

Events this month

WEFF 21 - Tue March 30 in Quebec
Main: "Canadian Storm" Erica Page (9-3) vs "The Electrifying" Jenny DeNeuve (2-0) for the WEFF Lightweight Title

CSA 3 -- Sat April 4 in LaGrange, GA
Main: "The Flying V" Esteban Vega (2-0) vs "The Human Takedown Machine" Drew Jenks (6-1), middleweights

KDM FC 8: Ebisawa vs Watanabe -- Tue Apr 13 in Eastern Asia
Main: "The Phenom" Sayoko Ebisawa (11-0) vs Mizuki "The She-Wolf" Watanabe (7-0) for the KDM FC Women's Title

BCF: Alois vs Timms -- Fri Apr 16 in London
Main: "The Brixton Butcher" Stafford Alois (26-8) vs "British Beef' Vic Timms (16-3) for the BCF Heavyweight Title

SIGMA: Bohlin vs Kahn -- Tue Apr 20 in Germany
Main: "Ice Cold" Lars Bohlin (48-6-1) vs "Kid Britain" Manish Kahn (8-1) for the SIGMA Featherweight Title

ALPHA-1: Yamada vs Skala -- Sat Apr 17 in Kanto
Main: "The Dragon" Tadamasa Yamada (21-1) vs Daniil "Skull Crusher" Skala (19-5) for the Alpha-1 Light Heavyweight Title

Notes for April 1999
-- Alpha-1 lightweight Jin "The Tsunami" Katou (18-0) has climbed to the top of the Blurcat.com Pound-for-Pound rankings this month after his knock out win over Roberto Alvez, replacing Hassan Fezzik who slips to #2.
-- WEFF has now rescheduled their next show for this week after postponing it from the original mid-March date.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

I ONLY have a problem following this because it is fictional people

I feel the same way and would love to have at least done a mixed real/fictional fed but best I could tell there really hasn't been a rock solid mod with depth completed for this version. And since the business model for this is somewhat different than TEW, I didn't want to get into bad habits with a mod that isn't to the specs that the engine was designed to work with.

But yeah, it would have been a lot easier for immersion (not to mention the learning curve) with about 1500 real guys to choose from.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday, March 1, 1999

Combat Supercell presents CSA 3
Saturday April 4th, 1999 in Hinesville, GA

Main Event:
Middleweights
"The Flying V" Esteban Vega (2-0) vs "The Human Takedown Machine" Drew Jenks (6-1)
The rookie from Mexico brings his versatile style to the ring against the former amateur wrestler. Jenks will have to keep this one grounded to have a chance.

Light Heavyweights
Marlon "The Punisher" John (1-0)vs Petey "The Broadstreet Bully" Barnum (21-13)
John was unbeaten as a college wrestler & tries to remain unbeaten as a pro against the veteran Barnum. Youth should be served here unless Barnum find an opening & lands a big punch or three.

Welterweights
Sinali "Sho Sho" Shomen (0-0) vs Kyle "The Guillotine" Sagal (3-0)
Shomen hopes his Japanese Jiu Jitsu is ready for the cage and has worked hard on his submission defense. He'll need it versus Sagal who will look to take this one to the ground and find a chance to make Shomen tap.

Heavyweights
Don "The Rumble King" Norman (22-14) vs "The Merchant of Menace" Mason Archer (0-0)
The veteran against the promising rookie with knockout power. Is Archer ready for this? He would prefer to wonder whether Norman is still up to the task.

Lightweights
"Mr. T" Tim Oldacre (0-0) vs "The Earl" Hinton Grey (1-0)
The debuting kickboxer from Coventry, England can both give a punch and take one. Grey is only one fight removed from his own professional debut and will have to be smart enough to try to keep Oldacre off his feet to avoid the strikes.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Combat Supercell presents CSA 3
Saturday April 4th, 1999 in Hinesville, GA

RESULTS

Preliminary Bout
Lightweights
"Mr. T" Tim Oldacres (0-0) vs "The Earl" Hinton Grey (1-0)
Blurcat says Oldacres will win
Oldacres wins by submission at 4:59 of Round 1
The match was rated as being Great

Heavyweights
Don "The Rumble King" Norman (22-14) vs "The Merchant of Menace" Mason Archer (0-0)
Blurcat says Archer should walk out with the win
Archer wins by Knock Out at 1:47 of Round 2
The match was rated as being Great

Welterweights
Sinali "Sho Sho" Shomen (0-0) vs Kyle "The Guillotine" Sagal (3-0)
Blurcat says Sho Sho will win fairly easily
Shomen wins by unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
The match was rated as being Average

Light Heavyweights
Marlon "The Punisher" John (1-0)vs Petey "The Broadstreet Bully" Barnum (21-13)
Blurcat says Barnum is at a disadvantage on the ground or standing so John will win
John wins by TKO at 1:41 of Round 1
The match was rated as Great

Main Event:Middleweights
"The Flying V" Esteban Vega (2-0) vs "The Human Takedown Machine" Drew Jenks (6-1)
Blurcat says Vega will win this easily
Jenks wins by unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
The match was rated as Average

Attendance: 211 for a gate of $3,165
Show Rating: Excellent

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday April 6

Back to work after fight night, with almost identical financial results, about a $10k loss for the evening's work.

But some good fights to watch, including Archer taking out Norman in the second round.
>We are back underway!
>Moving in closer, Archer looks like he may want to wrestle Norman.
>Norman ends up grappling for supremacy with Archer.
>Archer is aiming to get Norman into a Muay Thai clinch.
>Archer manages it, and now controls Norman by the back of the head.
>From the clinch, Archer drives a knee to the chest of Norman, that has to do some serious damage!
>From the clinch, Norman gets hit with a brutal knee to the body!
>From the clinch, Archer drives a knee to the chest of Norman, that has to do some serious damage!
>From the clinch, Norman gets hit with a knee to the side of the face...and it's enough to knock him out cold!
>Archer loses his control of the Muay Thai clinch.
>By Knock Out, the winner is Archer!

Jenks over Vega also had some very good moments, including a second round where it looked like it might be over for Jenks not once but twice
>From what we could hear of his corner, it sounds like Vega has been instructed to look to finish it in this round.
>Jenks catches an attempted body kick and goes for the takedown, down goes Vega! He pulls guard though.
>Jenks looks to get past the guard.
>Vega is ready for the attempt though, and keeps Jenks firmly in guard.
>Vega attempts to lock on a triangle choke.
>The triangle is locked in deep, Jenks is in a world of trouble!
>Jenks picks him up, then brutally slams him right back down again!
>The triangle is broken and Vega is left dazed!
>Jenks dives in and gets ready to unload on Vega.
>Vega grabs Jenks into half guard as he moves in.
>Jenks fires off a few punches, but they aren't thrown with any great force.
>Vega tries to ensare an arm.
>Jenks doesn't let his arm get taken.
>We are now at the halfway point of the round.
>Jenks fires off a few punches as he catches his breath.
>Jenks fires off a few punches as he catches his breath.
>Jenks throws a few half-hearted punches as he takes a moment to plan ahead.
>Vega reaches over and tries to lock Jenks in a guillotine.
>Jenks defends it well.
>There's under a minute left in this round.
>With no progress being made, the referee brings the fighters back to their feet.
>Vega avoids a jab and scores with a sudden head kick, Jenks is knocked down!
>Time expires and we come to the end of round two.

Pretty good action in those as well as Marlon John simply destroying Petey Barnum, luckily no major injuries reported after the show.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monthly Highlights for April 1999
(in promotion ranking order)

1. ALPHA-1: Yamada vs Skala -- Sat Apr 17 in Kanto
Attendance: 11,460 for $687,600 gate
PPV: 77,420 buys for $309,680 revenue
Main: Tadamasa Yamada beat Daniil Skala by submission at 5:59 of Round 1 to retain the ALPHA-1 Light Heavyweight Title (Good)
Best other: Steve Mason beat Denbe Ekiguchi by Knock Out at 0:29 of Round 3 (Fantastic)

2. GAMMA did not run in April

3. SIGMA (SIGMA:Bohlin vs Kahn -- Tue Apr 20 1999 in Germany)
Attendance: 545 for gate of $10,900
Main: Lars Bohlin beat Manish Khan by submission at 5:14 of Round 4 to retain the SIGMA Featherweight Title (Good)
Best other: Niko Soldo beat Ralph Kohl by submission at 7:11 of round 1 (Great)

4. WEFF (WEFF 21 -- Tue Mar 30 1999 in Quebec
Attendance: 299 for gate of $5,980
Main: Jenny DeNeuve beat Erica Page by Knock Out at 2:33 of Round 5 to win the WEFF Women's Lightweight Title (Great)
Best other: Vicki Summers beat Hope Lehane by TKO at 2:41 of Round 1 (Great)

5. BCF (BCF: Alois vs Timms -- Fri Apr 16 199 in London)
Attendance: 734 for gate of $14,680
Main: Stafford Alois beat Vic Timms by unanimous decision after 12 rounds (Average)
Best other: Lenny McFadden beat Grant Shodwart by TKO at 3:46 of Round 2 (Great)

6. KDM FC (KDM FC 8 in Eastern Asia Tue Apr 13 1999)
Attendance: 620 for gate of $12,400
Main: Mizuki Watanabe beat Sayoko Ebisawa by submission at 4:56 of Round 3 to win the KDMFC Womens Title (Fantastic)
Best other: Greg Chiang beat Najib Sri Aziz bin Zai by TKO at 1:28 of Round 1 (Great)

7. XCC did not run in April

8. CSA (CSA 3 in LaGrange, Georgia Sat Apr 4 1999)
Attendance: 211 for gate of $3,160
Main: Drew Jenks beat Esteban Vega by unanimous decision after 3 rounds (Average)
Best other: Marlon John beat Petey Barnum by TKO at 1:41 of Round 1 (Great)

[JonInMiddleGA]

May 1999 Preview

Events this month

XCC: Nunes vs Bokhour - Wed May 5 in California
Main: "The Tropical Tornado" Azor Portela Nunes (21-4) vs "The Archer" Ivan Bokhour (5-0); Featherweights

GAMMA 44: Asanovic vs Herringbone -- Fri May 7 in New Jersey
Main: Zvonimir "The Croatian Sensation" Asanovic (15-1) vs Lawrence "The Law" Herringbone (15-3) for the GAMMA Light Heavyweight title

KDM FC 9: Su vs Pau -- Tue May 11 in Eastern Asia
Main: Tan Su (9-6) vs Zhao "Ka" Pau (9-4); Featherweights

CSA 4 -- Fri May 14 in Cartersville, Georgia
Main: "Scorching" Shuler Eisenberg (10-2) vs "Sweet Sammy Silk" Sammy Newton (2-1); Lightweights

BCF: Helio vs Hansen -- Sat May 15 in London
Main: Helio (20-2) vs Doug "The Nightmare" Hansen (15-3); Lightweights

ALPHA-1 Battle (TV) -- Sun May 16 in Tohoku
Main: Leandro Piquet (22-5) vs Pete "The Pain Train" Shilton (7-2); Light Heavyweights

SIGMA: Cabal vs Richelleau -- Tue May 18 in Germany
Main: "The Baddest Man in MMA" Terron Cabal (13-0) vs "The Count" Jean-Pierre Richelleau (22-7) for the SIGMA Heavyweight Title

WEFF 22 -- Mon May 24 in Quebec
Main: "The Sao Paulo Express" Janinha (7-0) vs Jennie "Bad Girl" Gill (6-0); Women's Lightweight

ALPHA-1: Atep vs Wai -- Fri May 28 in Kinki
Main: Atep of Indonesia (4-1) vs Masato "Heart" Wai (1-0);Lightweights

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday May 3, 1999

Another month in the books, another five figure loss on the books. Net loss of (-$13,713) for April, with tiny increases in both revenue & expenses. Technically speaking it was better, we actually lost $153 less than we did in March. Say it with me "It takes money to make money".

Although we haven't formally announced it yet, we've settled on the cards for both our May and June shows, at the end of which every fighter on the current roster will have made one appearance each. If you take Blurcat's rankings as gospel then we've yet to see any of our top three fighters pound for pound, and have only used 4 of our top 10 so far.

Privately, very privately as in only me & owner Joseph Steven have discussed it and then only in almost clandestine meetings, we're wondering whether we might be better served to narrow our focus to four divisions instead of the current five. Our lightweights are by far the least talented division we have in our opinion, but their name values (low though they may be) are better than our more talented welterweights. We're pretty happy with our light-heavies and middleweights, and we're hopeful about building the heavyweights.

Meanwhile, there are some appealing women fighters who aren't finding work at the moment & to be honest we're sorely tempted to see if they could provide a boost to our attendance. We're trying to hold off making a decision until we complete at least one pass through the roster but it's not easy. Right now we could sign at least a half dozen & possibly as many as a dozen women who could headline shows for us whereas a steadily growing number of our men aren't going to increase the number of butts in seats.

For now though, we've got one offer out to a heavyweight & that's only to serve as the replacement for Vincent Chapin who informed us & the world that he plans to retire after his next fight. That's coming up this month as Chapin faces the up & coming "Silent but Violent" Wilson Franklyn.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Tuesday, May 4, 1999
For immediate release:

Combat Supercell presents CSA 4
Friday May 14th, 1999 in Cartersville, GA

Main Event:
Lightweights
"Scorching" Shuler Eisenberg (10-2) vs "Sweet Sammy Silk" Sammy Newton (2-1)
The Israeli expatriate likes to bomb away & it usually succeeds as long as he avoids being taken down. That could be bad news for the kick boxer from Corpus Christi who doesn't favor a ground based offense

Heavyweights
"Silent But Violent" Wilson Franklyn (2-0)vs "The American Male" Vincent Chapin (21-14)
Franklyn is about what you'd expect from a former bouncer in his hometown of Columbus, GA. Raw power with a bad attitude. On paper it's a horrible matchup for a 39 year old wrestler who has already announced his plans to retire after the fight.

Welterweights
"The Unbreakable" Gideon Navarro (0-0) vs Zachary "Manitoba Misery" Gilbert (11-7)
There are high hopes for the well-rounded Hawaiian making his professional debut. The more experience Gilbert has a lot of heart & a solid work ethic but not much else.

Middleweights
"The Total Package" Heath Kaladaris (0-0) vs "Lightning Hands" Francis O'Leary (0-0)
Another big time prospect making his debut, the Australian of Greek descent is a cross-trained kickboxer. There was a time when the veteran's nickname was apt but that was a good bit before he reached 45 years old

Light Heavyweights
"The Chunky Monkey" Allen LeFleur (0-0) vs Titus "The Titan" Mostel (3-3)
Yet another rookie on the show, this time a Canadian who has worked hard to add striking to his wrestling background. His opponent is a native of Athens, GA known for his ring smarts & consistency but he has a very fragile jaw that makes him vulnerable at all times.[/quote]

[JonInMiddleGA]

Combat Supercell presents CSA 4
Friday May 14th, 1999 in Cartersville, GA

RESULTS

Light Heavyweights
"The Chunky Monkey" Allen LeFleur (0-0) vs Titus "The Titan" Mostel (3-3)
Blurcat says LeFleur should win without much problem as long as his gameplan is solid
LaFleur wins by TKO at 4:55 of Round 2
The match was rated as being Decent
Mostel won the first round & was doing fine until LeFleur finally got a takedown

Middleweights
"The Total Package" Heath Kaladaris (0-0) vs "Lightning Hands" Francis O'Leary (0-0)
Blurcat says Kaladaris should win without too much trouble
Kaladaris wins by submission at 4:58 of Round 2
The match was rated as being Decent
Kaladaris striking was fairly ineffective but a rear naked choke did the trick

Welterweights
"The Unbreakable" Gideon Navarro (0-0) vs Zachary "Manitoba Misery" Gilbert (11-7)
Blurcat says Navarro is superior in every way & Gilbert has no chance
Navarro wins by unanimous decision (30-27 x3)
The match was rated as being Average
Gilbert spent half the match in guard, the other half trying to stay away from Navarro.

Heavyweights
"Silent But Violent" Wilson Franklyn (2-0)vs "The American Male" Vincent Chapin (21-14)
Blurcat says Chapin goes out a winner if he's successful at putting the match on the ground early.
Franklin wins by unanimous decision (30-27 x3)
The match was rated as Good
Much closer than the judges cards might indicate. If this fight had been against a slightly younger version of Chapin he probably would have reversed the score as he outperformed Franklin in every way except raw power & in that area the rookie was dominant

Main Event:Lightweights
"Scorching" Shuler Eigenberg (10-2) vs "Sweet Sammy Silk" Sammy Newton (2-1)
Blurcat says Eigenberg wins easily if he keeps this standing up
Eigenberg wins by Knock Out after 0:53 of Round 2
The match was rated as Fantastic
Eigenberg anticipated a body kick and hit a huge punch out of nowhere that knocked Newton out cold

Attendance: 229 for a gate of $3,435
Show Rating: Excellent

[JonInMiddleGA]

I've got to try to pick up the pace here a bit or change my formatting or something. The cut & paste, try not to make a mistake, get the format tags right, figure out what's bolded, what's italicized, etc nature of how I've been doing this one is making me crazy & I suspect it's getting hard to read to boot.

I've reached the point where I'm holding back on game play just dreading the process of the updates & as we all know that's never a good thing. So try to bear with me as I figure out some format that will work better -- quarterly or something maybe -- since I don't do much in the way of roleplaying, I try to highlight the rest of the universe beyond my own company more to make up for it & will still try to do so but hopefully I'll find a better way of doing that.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I've also realized that I'm out of logical synch on things as far as calendar quarters go so I'm going to kind of roll through until July 1st and then update stuff like fighter rankings across the world.

Also, as much as I like looking at previewing the fights & then the results, the down time between notable occurrences in the game (unless I go card by card with the rest of the promotions or something) is such that they're ending up back to back and that seems sort of wasteful. I think I'm going to try something different there too, combine that into one post per card.

Not to beat a dead horse but I think this has been the toughest thing to get comfortable with that I've posted here in quite a while. I know I'm not the most compelling writer here by far but usually I'm at least personally fairly satisfied with what I put up for public consumption. I think what's throwing me off as much as anything is the much slower pace of MMA versus wrestling or stick & ball sports. Once a month scheduling & few roster changes at this stage of the game/how I'm trying to play the game combined with having only a semi-decent idea of what the heck I'm trying to do or should be doing makes this feel really awkward to me.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday May 31, 1999

So the month of May comes to a close with at least one unintentional happy development: we lost less money than usual.

We were down (- $10,689) for the month on similar revenues & lower expenses. Although we didn't really plan it that way on purpose, we had a less expensive card in salaries this month & actually had slightly lower admin costs than usual too. Granted, it's still a five figure loss but any improvement on the financial side is welcome relief right now.

Only one real change on the roster for the month, as Vincent Chapin follows through with his retirement announcement & we add 37 year old veteran heavyweight Stan Blackheath (39 rep / 60 performance) to the roster to fill his spot. He's on the backside of his career but does have better name value than most of our fighters so there at least some justification for his higher than usual $1,600 per fight base.

Monthly Highlights from May 1999

GAMMA 43 was the big show in May (5,586 in New Jersey & 78,869 PPV buys) as "The Croatian Sensation" Zvonimir Asonovic (27-1) knocked out Lawrence Herringbone (16-4) midway through the 2nd round to retain his Light Heavyweight title (Good). On the undercard veteran Lightweight "Iron Jaw" Peter Bracewell (21-7) submitted Cory Brewer at 4:43 of the final round.

ALPHA-1 put on two shows in May, starting with their TV show Battle in the second week of the month. 3,383 in Tohoku & those watching saw Leandro Piquet beat Pete Shilton by unanimous decision (Decent) but most thought the highlight was Randall Donnelly's TKO win over Chuck Dooley midway through the second round was the fight of the night (Excellent).

On the last Friday of the month ALPHA-1 drew 4,306 in Kinki & 27,506 PPV buys as Atep of Indonesia beat Masato Wai by unanimous decision (Decent). Again it was the next to last fight on the card that drew the most praise, where Hiro Arai submitted Palmer Lette midway through the first round (Great)

SIGMA's May show in Germany drew 699 to watch "The Baddest Man in MMA" Terron Cabal (14-0) retain his Heavyweight title with a second round TKO of Jean-Pierre Richelleau (22-8) (Good). On the undercard "Blood Spirit" Hyun-Shik Lim (4-0) needed just 27 seconds to TKO Jacob Matthaus (Great)

WEFF 22 drew 394 in Quebec where Janinha (8-0) knocked out Jennie "Bad Girl" Gill (6-1) 87 seconds into the fight (Great). Just a little earlier, "Yellow Peril" Rachel McGuinness (8-0) remained unbeaten with a knock out of Kerry Silverman (Great)

BCF drew 638 in London where the main event went the full 12 rounds as Helio (21-2) beat Doug Hansen (15-4) by unanimous decision in a lightweight fight (Decent). More exciting was the early second round TKO of Steven Griffin by "G-Force" Rodolphe Gygax (27-8) (Great).

KDM FC 9 drew 559 in Eastern Asia where featherweight Tan Su (10-6) TKO'ed Zhao Pau (9-5) early in the second round (Excellent)

XCC drew 593 in California as featherweight Azor Portela Nunes (22-4) knocked out "The Archer" Ivan Bokhour (5-1) midway through round two (Great). Much more disappointing was the unanimous decision for "The Black Dog" aka "Decision Dog" Anthony Ray Shenkman (16-3) over Luiz Machado (Very Poor).

[JonInMiddleGA]

CSA 5 is coming up the third Saturday in June and the card is already set as we complete our first pass through the roster. After this show every member of the roster with the exception of one recent signee will have fought once. We feel pretty good about the prospects for a good main event this month as "The Marine" Bill Brown (1-0) takes on veteran "The Master" Greg Atteveld (37-14) in what should be a solid middleweight fight.

Which brings us to the current question of who is going to be in the main event of CSA 6 in July. The more shows we run the more the fans expect, so it's a balancing act between headlining with a match that's good enough now versus wasting a match that could be even bigger down the road with the right build up.

After considering several matchups ranging from good to very poor, we finally settle on a heavyweight fight to headline July between "The Merchant of Menace" Mason Archer (1-0) and veteran Frank Analysis (36-20).

On the July undercard as a co-main event we'll see Spencer "The Reaper" Rubenstein (1-0) drop down to light-heavyweight to take on Adrian "The Power" Pascal (3-0).

[JonInMiddleGA]

Friday June 4, 1999

Sometimes an opportunity comes up that you can't resist. Such was the case as we add middleweight Joaquim Fontes to the roster, outbidding GAMMA to do so.

Blurcat.com considers him the #3 pound-for-pound fighter on our roster and he should see plenty of action over the course of his 8 fight/24 month deal which had a base rate of $1,400 per.

He's capable of going up or down in weight class so where he'll eventually fit into our plans is still up in the air but we think all the Brazilian JJ specialist needs to become a star is experience.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday June 21, 1999

Kyle "The Guillotine" Sagal will miss three months with an eye injury suffered while training at the Evolution MMA camp. He has appeared once for us so far, losing by unanimous decision to Sinali Shomen in April, and was ranked #6 in our middleweight division by Blurcat. He did not have a fight on the upcoming schedule.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Combat Supercell presents CSA 5
Saturday June 19th, 1999 in Dublin, GA

RESULTS

Preliminary Match
Lightweights
"Hollywood Player" Doug Minnelli (0-0) vs Rory "Maradonna" McEnterry (1-0)
We're privately hoping for a good fight that will provide a boost to one of these youngsters.
Blurcat says Minnelli has the clear edge on the ground but believes McEnterry will be able to keep things standing & win
Minnelli wins by submission at 3:49 of Round 1
The match was rated as being Great
McEnterry knocked Minnelli down in the opening minute but the Player survived and pulled him into a guillotine choke from the bottom of half guard

Main Show
Heavyweights
"Grande Urso" Murilo Satinho (0-0) vs Taye Burnett (0-0)
We're privately hoping that Satinho will live up to expectations & win.
Blurcat says Satinho is far too much for Burnett
Satinho wins by TKO at 0:49 of Round 3
The match was rated as being Decent
Satinho spent two rounds trying to get takedowns before opening the third with an enormous punch that floored Burnett & brought a quick end

Welterweights
Felix "The Daddy" Mattherson, Jr (0-0) vs Ray "The Enigma" Eton (7-1)
We're privately hoping that Mattherson starts his career with a bang but won't be upset at all if Eton picks up the win.
Blurcat says Mattherson will win
Mattherson, Jr wins by submission at 4:54 of round 2
The match was rated as being Decent
A close first round gave way to Mattherson dominating action in the second, finally sinking in a rear naked choke for the win.

Light Heavyweights
"Major Damage" William Harrison (3-0)vs Woody "Buzz Saw" Fierstein (10-2)
We're privately hoping that Harrison remains unbeaten as we think he's a future champion.
Blurcat says Harrison has the edge standing or on the ground & wins
Harrison wins by submission at 4:23 of round 2
The match was rated as Decent
Fierstein took a lot of punishment in the second round from solid striking by Harrison but the end came via rear naked choke

Main Event:Middleweights
Bill "The Marine" Brown (1-0) vs "The Master" Greg Atteveld (37-14)
We're privately hoping that youth is served since our internal assessment has Brown as the most talented guy in the company bar none.
Blurcat says Brown is better in every way & wins fairly easily
Brown wins by submission after 4:48 of Round 2
The match was rated as Good
Atteveld was game enough in the first round but let Brown dictate the flow in the second, eventually falling victim to an arm bar.

Attendance: 240 for a gate of $3,600
Show Rating: Excellent

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday June 21, 1999
CSA 5 aftermath

Incremental progress, I just wish the increments were bigger. Increasing attendance by 11 people is pretty faint, revenue is similarly almost flat but technically growing. I hope we're just being consistent & growing but it's hard not to feel like we're stuck in neutral.

No major injuries from the show last night, no one needing more than three months to either recover, train, or sit out mandatory suspensions from the athletic commission.

In the ring itself, we pretty much got what we wanted. I hope Brown vs Atteveld would be a little better, hoped all the fights other than the prelim would be a little better really. None were bad, just all were about one notch less than we would have liked.

But another month is in the books, one way or the other, and now we turn our attention to the second half of our first year.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Blurcat.com rankings as of July 1, 1999

Promotion Rankings (size, change since Feb 99, top PFP fighter)
1. GAMMA (Mid Level National, +1, HW James Foster)
2. Alpha-1 (Mid Level National, -1, LHW Jin Katou)
3. SIGMA (High Level Regional, 0, HW Armen Sarkisian)
4. BCF (Mid Level Regional, +1, HW Stafford Alois)
5. WEFF (Mid Level Regional, -1, FW Alisha Wood)
6. KDM FC (Mid Level Regional, 0, FW Li-Kong Ho)
7. XCC (Mid Level Regional, 0, FW Phillip Ziskie)
8. CSA (Low Level Regional, 0, FW Shuler Eigenberg)

Pound for Pound (Male)
1. Jin Katou (18-0); Alpha-1; Light Heavyweight
2. Hassan Fezzik (26-0); Alpha-1 Heavyweight Champion since April 1996
3. James Foster (34-4-1); Gamma Heavyweight Champion since June 1998
4. Tadamasa Yamada (22-1); Alpha-1 LHW Champion since October 1996
5. Neil Napier (16-0); Gamma Middleweight Champion since Nov 1998
6. Sean Morrison (26-3); Gamma Lightweight Champion since June 1996
7. Matthew Dean (32-5); Gamma; Middleweight
8. Armen Sarkisian (14-0); SIGMA; Heavyweight
9. Zvonimir Asanovic (16-1); Gamma LHW Champion since January 1998
10. Mike Watson (10-0); Gamma; Light Heavyweight

Heavyweights
1. Hassan Fezzik (26-0); Alpha-1 Heavyweight Champion since April 1996
2. James Foster (34-4-1); Gamma Heavyweight Champion since June 1998
3. Armen Sarkisian (14-0); SIGMA
4. Gregor Boniek (35-4); Alpha-1
5. Kunimichi Kikuchi (32-5) Alpha-1;
6. Raul Hughes (13-2); Gamma
7. Terron Cabal (14-0); Sigma Heavyweight Champion since October 1998
8. Jeff Carlton (33-7); Alpha-1
9. Rick Stanley (23-7-3); Gamma
10. Gunnar Nilsson (43-10); Alpha-1

Light Heavyweights
1. Jin Katou (18-0); Alpha-1; Light Heavyweight
2. Tadamasa Yamada (22-1); Alpha-1 LHW Champion since October 1996
3. Zvonimir Asanovic (16-1); Gamma LHW Champion since January 1998
4. Mike Watson (10-0); Gamma;
5. Roberto Aldez (42-7); Alpha-1
6. Nicolai Mickiewicz (21-4); Sigma
7. John Rivero (15-2); Gamma
8. Leandro Piquet (23-5); Alpha-1
9. Anthony LeToussier (14-3); Gamma
10. Curt Kitson (20-3); BCF

Middleweight
1. Neil Napier (16-0); Gamma Middleweight Champion since Nov 1998
2. Matthew Dean (32-5); Gamma
3. Heiji Endo (15-1); Alpha-1 Middleweight Champion since Nov 1998
4. JJ Reid (28-2); Gamma
5. Petey Mack (14-2); Alpha-1
6. Stuart Strange (12-1); Gamma
7. Mac Fuller (30-6); Gamma
8. Thorbjorn Redkal (16-1);Sigma Light Heavyweight Champion since Dec 1997
9. Buddy Garner (15-0); Gamma
10. Jaromir Grygera (19-5); Sigma

Welterweight
1. Carlos da Guia (15-0); Alpha-1 Welterweight Champion since Nov 1997
2. Julio Rugueiro (15-0-1); Gamma Welterweight Champion since April 1998
3. Ichisake Miyagi (30-9); Alpha-1
4. Xie Ming (22-4); Alpha-1
5. Jack Humphreys (25-4); Gamma
6. Darin Blood (13-2); Gamma
7. Gabriel Gallego (16-2); Alpha-1
8. Noach Van Der Capellen (10-3);Sigma Welterweight Champ since July 1998
9. Joe Hinchcliffe (28-6); Gamma
10. Jim Carpenter (50-9-2); BCF & Sigma

Lightweight
1. Sean Morrison (26-3); Gamma Lightweight Champion since June 1996
2. Go Yamamoto (27-8-2); Alpha-1
3. Fiyero Lermontov (9-0); Sigma
4. Fumiaki Hayashi (18-4); Alpha-1
5. Helio (21-2); BCF
6. Luis Basora (23-3-2); Alpha-1 Lightweight Champion since Jan 1998
7. Bruce Steven (20-3); Gamma
8. Milenko Rudonja (18-4); Sigma
9. Bud Brockett (19-3); Gamma
10. Giovanni Silva (22-7); Alpha-1

Featherweight
1. Phillip Ziskie (11-0); XCC Featherweight Champion since June 1998 & Sigma
2. Li-Kong Ho (19-0); KDM FC Featherweight Champion since June 1998
3. Lars Bohlin (49-6-1); Sigma Featherweight Champion since Oct 1997
4. Tomohiro Takeuchi (15-4); KDMFC
5. Sammy Gaffigan (15-2); XCC
6. Norberto (27-5); Sigma
7. Colm Dee (13-2); Sigma
8. Benedikt Street (19-5); Sigma
9. Rafael Tavares (12-2); KDM FC
10. Cong Dun (32-8); KDM FC

Pound for Pound (female)
1. Alisha Wood (6-0); WEFF Heavyweight Champion since Feb 1999
2. Mizuki Watanabe (8-0); KDM FC Women's Champion since April 1999
3. Vicki Summers (12-1); WEFF
4. Haley Croft (11-2); WEFF
5. Alison Beattie (7-1); XCC
6. Sarah Vaughan (11-2); former WEFF Heavyweight Champion
7. Sayoko Ebisawa (11-1); former KDM FC Women's Champion
8. Janinha (8-0); WEFF
9. April Watson (6-0); XCC Women's Champion since March 1999
10. Rachel McGuinness (8-0); WEFF

[JonInMiddleGA]

We know what Blurcat thinks about the MMA world overall but what do they think about our roster?

Blurcat.com rankings CSA Roster as of July 1, 1999

Pound for Pound
1. "Scorching" Shuler Eigenberg (11-2, 1-0); Lightweight
2. "The Master" Greg Atteveld (37-15, 0-1); Middleweight
3. Joaquim Fontes (11-1, 0-0); Welterweight
4. Dominic "The Smash" Ash (6-0, 1-0); Lightweight
5. Stan "The Man" Blackheath (20-9, 0-0); Heavyweight
6. "The Muscle Mountain" Ernie Bruns (17-11, 0-1); Heavyweight
7. "The Human Takedown Machine" Drew Jenks (7-1, 1-0); Middleweight
8. "The Big Show" Sylvester Collins (4-0, 1-0); Heavyweight
9. "Major Damage" William Harrison (4-0, 1-0); Light Heavyweight
10. Woody "Buzz Saw" Fierstein (10-3, 0-1); Light Heavyweight

Heavyweights
1. Stan Blackheath (20-9, 0-0); vs #4 Franklyn in August
2. Ernie Bruns (17-11, 0-1); vs #3 Collins in September
3. Sylvester Collins (4-0, 1-0); vs #2 Bruns in September
4. Wilson Franklyn (3-0, 1-0); vs #1 Blackheath in August
5. Frank Analysis (36-20, 0-1); vs #7 Archer in July
6. Don Norman (22-15, 0-1); unscheduled but ready
7. Mason Archer (1-0, 1-0); vs #5 Analysis in July
8. Allen LeFleur (1-0, 1-0); unscheduled but ready
9. Murilo Satinho (1-0, 1-0); recovering 47 days
10. Taye Burnett (0-1, 0-1); recovering 47 days incl. 19 medical susp.

Light Heavyweights
1. William Harrison (4-0, 1-0); recovering 37 days
2. Woody Fierstein (10-3, 0-1); recovering 60 days,incl. pectoral inj. 32 days
3. Petey Barnum (21-14, 0-1); unscheduled but ready
4. Marlon John (2-0, 1-0); vs #8 Dreck in September
5. Adrian Pascal (3-0, 1-0); vs #7 Rubenstein in July
6. Joshua Hope (2-0, 1-0); vs #10 Flintstone in August
7. Spencer Rubenstein (1-0, 1-0); vs #5 Pascal in July
8. Rupert Dreck (4-1, 0-1); vs #4 John in September
9. Titus Mostel (3-4, 0-1); unscheduled but ready
10. Jordan Flintstone (1-1, 0-1); vs #6 Hope in August

Middleweights
1. Greg Atteveld (37-15, 0-1); medical suspension 84 days
2. Drew Jenks (7-1, 1-0); unscheduled but ready
3. Bill Brown (2-0, 1-0); vs #8 Hersch in September
4. Kramer Mayweather (2-0, 1-0); vs #10 Russell in July
5. Heath Kaladaris (1-0, 1-0); vs #9 Burridge in August
6. Francis O'Leary (26-19, 0-1); medical suspension 11 days
7. Esteban Vega (2-1, 0-1); unscheduled but ready
8. Wes Hersch (1-0, 1-0); vs #3 Brown in September
9. Ed Burridge (2-1, 0-1); vs #5 Kaladaris in August
10. Billy Russell (1-1, 0-1); vs #4 Mayweather in July

Welterweights
1. Joaquim Fontes (11-1, 0-0); unscheduled but ready
2. Zachary Gilbert (11-8, 0-1); unscheduled but ready
3. Ray Eton (7-2, 0-1); medical suspension 84 days
4. Evan Pizzarro (2-0, 1-0); unscheduled but ready
5. Felix Mattherson, Jr (1-0, 1-0); recovering 16 days
6. Brock Youdale (2-0, 1-0); vs #9 Chambers in July
7. Gideon Navarro (1-0, 1-0); unscheduled but ready
8. Kyle Sagal (3-1, 0-1); out with eye injury 67 days
9. Nathan Chambers (1-0, 1-0); vs #6 Youdale in July
10. Garrison Grable (6-15, 0-1); vs unranked Carsley in July
un. Randy Carsley (0-1, 0-1); vs #10 Grable in July

Lightweights
1. Shuler Eigenberg (11-2, 1-0); vs #3 Linderman in August
2. Dominic Ash (6-0, 1-0); vs #8 Grey in August
3. Ian Linderman (7-2, 0-1); vs #1 Eigenberg in August
4. Doug Minnelli (1-0, 1-0); recovering 22 days
5. Tim Oldacres (1-0, 1-0); vs #10 Ramos in September
6. Sinali Shomen (1-0, 1-0); unscheduled but ready
7. Sammy Newton (2-2, 0-1); medical suspension 39 days
8. Hinton Grey (1-1, 0-1); vs #2 Ash in August
9. Rory McEnterry (1-1, 0-1); medical suspension 47 days
10. Gonazalo Ramos (1-2, 0-1); vs #5 Oldacres in September

[JonInMiddleGA]

CSA Office - July 1st 1999

So you know what the "experts" think but what about us? What about the thinking behind the scenes at CSA? Well, first of all, there's not been much "us" lately. Owner Joseph Steven is a hell of a guy and for fully funding the promotion me & a lot of up & coming fighters owe him a debt we may never repay in full (not at the rate we've been going anyway) but his physical presence has been steadily diminishing since the first couple of shows. I don't know if he's losing interest or enthusiasm along with about $10k a month or if this is his way of trying to take some of the pressure off or what it is, but what started with a very odd couple working too many hours has turned into one odd guy (namely me) working too many hours, as he spends more & more time back home in New York. "Just business", he says, "just taking care of all my business". That's fine, as long as he still considers CSA part of his business & the checks keep clearing, no reason for me to worry ... I hope.

But enough about that, what about the state of the union so to speak? Well, this certainly isn't anything I'd want any of the roster to know & it sure isn't fit for public consumption either but just between us ...

Blurcat's rankings are fine for generating a little hype and all but what really matters isn't just how some self-appointed experts see things nor ultimately what any sort of popularity contest thinks about our roster. What matters is who can get it done in the ring and put butts in seats while doing it. And privately, in the wee small hours of the morning, my thoughts about our roster can be quite different than what the press thinks about it.

I'm a numbers guy, I'll admit it. Trying to quantify things, assigning some sort of numeric value to them, finding the relationships between those values, that's what helps me keep things straight around here. It helps decide who stays & who goes, who gets a shot at making it big & who simply gets fed to the machine.

In terms of pure talent, the things that make it possible for a fighter to kick someone's ass once the bell rings, there's definitely some guys who stand out. And they're the fighters that I want to make stars of, as I'd like to see talent rewarded with great success.

1) 22 year old middleweight Bill "The Marine" Brown is the guy we think stands alone at the top pound for pound. If we've got anyone who could go toe to toe with anybody in his weight class, it's him. He's in his natural division right now but could be moved up to LHW. Currently training at the good American Cage Fighters camp.

2) 21 year old light heavyweight Spencer "The Reaper" Rubenstein. Not too far behind Brown is the tattoed wonder from Toledo. He can stand & strike, he can go to the ground and he can go up to HW if desired. A long-term member of the fantastic Animal House camp run by GAMMA lightweight champion Sean Morrison.

3) 19 year old middleweight Esteban Vega aka "The Flying V". Despite losing to Drew Jenks in his CSA debut, we think Vega is the real deal. He's got a long way to go but he's got the skills to get there. And he provides some options as he's built to go up or down in weight class. Currently training at the decent Pittsburgh Steel camp where he's a long-term member.

4) 22 year old Marlon "The Punisher" John is currently in our light heavyweight division although he prefers working at middleweight. Thing is, he can actually go all the way up to heavyweight & still be a factor. Currently training as a visiting fighter at Pittsburgh Steel.

5) 20 year old heavyweight Murilo Satinho might turn out to be the best big man ever from Brazil. Surprisingly quick for his size, he's got a lot to learn as seen in needing three rounds to finish young Taye Burnett, but his raw talent is incredible. Currently visiting the mediocre Combat Team Curitiba camp

In terms of talent we're strongest at light heavyweight & middleweight, okay at heavyweight & welterweight and much weaker at lightweight than we'd like to be. That smallest division is one that we've got to make decisions about in the months to come, whether to try to bring it up to the same standard as the others either through new additions or by combining it with the welterweights or perhaps let it begin to fade away & be replaced by some women that I'd love to have on the roster but really don't feel that we have room for at the moment.

Unfortunately, talent isn't the only thing that puts butts in seats, we have to take popularity with the fans into account. And sometimes there's just no accounting for taste. If you consider both talent & popularity equally, our own internal rankings are a good bit different than Blurcats. If you asked me privately, I'd tell you this is how we see the roster & it would tell you a lot about how we prioritize them today.

1. Bill Brown (MW)
2. Marlon John (LHW)
3. William Harrison (LHW)
4. Joaquim Fontes (WW)
5. Shuler Eigenberg (LW)
6. Spencer Rubenstein (LHW)
7. Heath Kaladaris (MW)
8. Sylvester Collins (HW)
9. Esteban Vega (MW)
10. Joshua Hope (LHW)

You see the logjam looming at light heavyweight, where four of our top ten most valuable overall fighters are currently stationed. That is going to have to change, and will, but for now that's where we're at.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Combat Supercell presents CSA 6
Sunday July 18th, 1999 in Bainbridge, GA

RESULTS

Preliminary Match
Welterweights
Randy "Super Snake" Carsley(0-1) vs Garrison Grable (6-15)
We're privately hoping for this not to suck.
Blurcat says Carlsley looks too good for Grable
Carsley wins by submission at 4:30 of Round 1
The match was rated as being Good
Carsley controlled from the opening seconds, Grable almost seemed resigned to his fate before the rear naked choke was applied

Main Show
Middleweights
Kramer "The Predator" Mayweather (2-0) vs "The Tap Out Artist" Billy Russell (1-1)
We're privately hoping that Mayweather positions himself as a contender
Blurcat says Mayweather wins by keeping it standing
Mayweather wins by unanimous decision after 3 rounds (30-27 x3)
The match was rated as being Decent
Russell spent three rounds trying to take Mayweather down, Mayweather spent three rounds countering every attempt with several punches

Welterweights
"Black Superman" Nathan Chambers (1-0) vs Brock "The Spark Plug" Youdale (2-0)
We're privately hoping that gets a hard fought win in a close match
Blurcat says Youdale will win a back & forth match
Chambers wins by unanimous decision after 3 rounds (30-27 x3)
The match was rated as being Decent
When Youdale moved in, Chambers counterpunched him. When Youdale stayed back, Chambers moved forward & punched him. Somewhat methodical but very effective performance by Chambers

Light Heavyweights
Spencer "The Reaper" Rubenstein (1-0)vs Adrien "The Power" Pascal (3-0)
We're privately hoping that Rubenstein improves his profile with a win
Blurcat says Pascal will struggle to stay afloat, Rubenstein wins
Rubenstein wins by unanimous decision after 3 rounds (29-28 x3)
The match was rated as Average
First two rounds were clearly Rubenstein's but he clearly ran out of gas after that and was somewhat lucky that Pascal didn't have a little better offense.

Main Event:Heavyweights
"The Merchant of Menace" Mason Archer (1-0) vs Frank Analysis (36-20)
We're privately hoping that Archer remains unbeaten
Blurcat says Archer is way too talented for Analysis
Archer wins by TKO at 1:05 of Round 3
The match was rated as Good
Archer pounded away in the first but couldn't get the knockout. Tiring visibily, he spent most of the rest of the fight controlling Analysis with his wrestling but finished with a sudden burst of standup offense.

Attendance: 241 for a gate of $3,615
Show Rating: Great

[JonInMiddleGA]

Monday July 19, 1999

Eh.

An attendance increase of 1 person over our last show.
Our best match was the prelim.
This was more like meh than eh.

To add to our dismal mood on the morning after we learn that Billy Russell will be out 6 1/2 months with a foot injury suffered in his loss to Mayweather.

And since things were going so well already, Greg Atteveld knocks on our door to inform us that he plans to retire after his next fight or in three months, whichever comes first.

On the bright side at least the building didn't burn do ... never mind, forget I said anything.