UK MMA Expo Press Release

UK MMA Expo Press Release 

The UK MMA Expo is the UK’s first Mixed Martial Arts Expo and is being hosted at Event City in Manchester July 20-21^st from 10am-6pm daily and an evening show on the Saturday night. EventCity is the UK's second largest exhibition space outside of London and is adjacent to the famous Trafford Centre shopping complex. It’s going to be a major event in the UK Mixed Martial Arts calendar.

The Expo aims to help raise the profile of the world’s fastest growing sport and it’s fighters in the UK. Those involved in the sport will know that MMA training offers many benefits such as fitness, discipline and self-confidence as well as being an exciting spectator sport. As well as a yearly get together for those already involved the Expo will also be a showcase for the sport helping shatter some of the misconceptions that the general public may have. It will help raise the profile of our UK fighters and get more people involved in the sport; whether as fans or actually training in MMA. We are also keen to push the health, fitness, knowledge and participation aspects of the sport.

This showcase weekend includes exhibition stands from companies in the industry, with spaces being taken up by businesses from all facets of the MMA world sampling & selling their products. There are plenty of things for visitors to see such as training seminars, star photo/signing sessions, open workouts and live events.

Another important area of the Expo will be the KnowledgeBase Theatre/Forum. In here we will be hosting free talks on all aspects of health, fitness, wellness and competition. These are to include nutrition, hydration, psychology, media interaction, Strength & Conditioning, injury management, injury prevention etc. It will also host a number of free Q&A sessions such as: "Pioneers of UK MMA" with a panel including Mark Weir, Ian Freeman, Lee Hasdall, Leigh Remedios, "Women in Combat" with Rosi Sexton (to be UK's first female UFC fighter), Helen Currie (first female in Europe to hold a black belt in Jiu Jitsu), Jojo Calderwood (Ex high lever Thai boxer now undefeated in MMA fighting for US based Invitca promotion) and Julie Kitchen (14 times World Champions, and undisputed queen of Muay Thai), “It’s a TUFF life” (about life in the TUFF house) and much more. UFC Referee Marc Goddard is hosting an "Understand the judges for fans & fighters" talk in here also, then running his official Judges and Referees full days training course on the Sunday.

Competitions including the Open British Grappling Championships, Kickboxing tournament, Muay Thai Interclub and the Ring Girl of the Year 2013 Competition will all be free to watch inside. We also have an interactive gym zone in operation over the weekend where the 2013 Male Fight Fit Awards will partly be conducted too.

We will be hosting training seminars & professional instant photo/signing sessions over the whole weekend with top level UK fighters & coaches. Seminars we have booked so far include Wolfslair Coach Dave Jackson (who has coached Chieck Kongo, Rampage Jackson, Michael Bisping), Rob Sinclair (BAMMA Champion recently signed to Bellator), Che Mills, Ian Freeman, John Maguire, Jimi Manuwa and there are still more to be announced.

In the adjoining hall we have a full professional evening promotion with some great pro fights as well as some unified amateur rules fights on the undercard. The show will be one of the best the UK has seen (outside of the UFC) in terms of entrances, effects, set up, production and of course fights too. It will be a great evening out even for those without a keen interest in MMA. The award winning "Fight Ikon" brand is returning after two years away and will really raise the bar for UK shows, becoming a highly anticipated, once yearly MMA extravaganza. For the event we have UFC Referee Leon Roberts as well as UFC official doctors, hand wrapping and cut men. It will be held in a full sized 32ft cage with walk around platform. We also have the team responsible for the X Factor Live running the sound, lighting, lasers, Co2, pyrotechnics, etc. The same set up (possibly minus the pyros) will be used during the daytime for an amateur event continuing to showcase the rising talent we have in the UK.

Entry cost to the Expo is just £10 per day or £15 for the weekend, available from www.ticketline.co.uk . Further discounts are also available on this already incredibly low price for gym owners and British Forces. Children under 14 also get free entry with paying adults.

Seminars start at just £20, evening show standard tickets start at £30 with cage side seats also available as well VIP tables with 3 course meal.

Please visit our website for more details or Follow us on Twitter and Facebook under UKMMAEXPO.

Bellator Press Release: Bellator Launches on Viva on June 19th in The UK

Bellator Launches on Viva on June 19th in The UK

Bellator MMA will now be available on television for the first time to the many passionate mixed martial arts fans in the UK, as it was announced today by Bjorn Rebney, Bellator CEO and Kevin Kay, Spike TV President. Viacom’s popular VIVA channel will begin airing live Bellator fights on Wednesday June 19 as part of the MMA league’s summer series tournament featuring a stacked card including King Mo, “Babalu” Sobral and War Machine.  In September, VIVA will telecast Bellator MMA’s 9^th season.

Bellator’s foray into the UK market increases their global reach to 116 countries and territories. Available in every one of the UK’s 26 million TV households, VIVA has one of the highest profiles amongst 16 to 34-year-olds of any UK channel, with 50% of its audience comprised of that hard-to-reach demographic and one in four of that age group in the UK – 3.7 million viewers - tuning in to the channel each month.  Bellator is the first mixed martial arts franchise to be televised on the channel.

“We are thrilled to finally bring the pure excitement of Bellator MMA to the legions of dedicated and knowledgeable mixed martial arts fans in the UK,” remarked Rebney. “Our long awaited expansion into the UK, one of the world’s MMA hot beds further illustrates our continued ascension in the MMA world.

"This deal is game changer in the UK, giving Bellator the widest and deepest distribution of any MMA promotion in the marketplace," said Kay.

Recently, Bellator MMA announced the signings of three of the UK’s top MMA fighters, Martin Stapleton, Rob Sinclair and Paul Sass. With the VIVA deal in place, Bellator will continue to aggressively pursue top British fighting talent. 

WSOF Press Release: Gracie, Huckaba, Gauthje, Cobb, Lauzon Added to WSOF 3

WSOF Press Release: Gracie, Huckaba, Gauthje, Cobb, Lauzon Added to WSOF 3  

World Series of Fighting will hit The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas with a stacked world-class MMA card, headlined by a welterweight rematch between superstars Jon Fitch (24-5) of and Josh “The People’s Warrior” Burkman (25-9) on Friday, June 14, live on NBC Sports Network, beginning at 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT.

In the light heavyweight (205 pounds) co-main event, hard-hitting, 27-year-old Tyrone “King of the Ring” Spong (1-0), a decorated champion and veteran of 77 professional kickboxing bouts, will make his much-anticipated, second start under MMA rules against fellow KO artist Angel “The Dream” DeAnda (11-2), DeAnda has scored TKOs in 10 of his 11 career victories, including his last four starts.

 “We are coming off a spectacular event showcasing some of the world’s greatest mixed martial arts athletes and up-and-coming talent of the sport and are looking forward to returning to Las Vegas with another outstanding night of world-class competition in the World Series of Fighting cage on NBC Sports Network,” said World Series of Fighting President and six-time world kickboxing champion and two-time Hall of Famer, Ray Sefo. 

The second meeting between the 35-year-old Fitch, a member of San Jose, Calif.-based Team AKA, and the 32-year-old Burkman, a winner of four consecutive fights, comes slightly more than seven years after Fitch submitted Burkman with a rear-naked choke in the second round of their initial encounter that, coincidentally, also took place at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Fitch has since gone on to become one of the top-ranked 170 pound fighters in the world, defeating the likes of Thiago Silva, twice as well as Diego Sanchez, Mike Pierce, Ben Saunders and Erick Silva and fighting all-time great B.J. Penn to a draw. Burkman is coming off his second consecutive win under the World Series of Fighting banner, a highlight reel, first round (3:04) TKO (knee and punches) of Aaron Simpson in Atlantic City, N.J., on March 23. At the inaugural World Series of Fighting event last Nov. 3, Burkman earned a unanimous decision over Gerald Harris.

Also slated for battle on the four-bout TV card is heavyweight rising star and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Rolles Gracie (8-1), who will face off with Dave Huckaba (21-4).

Undefeated prospect Justin Gaethje (8-0), fresh off a first round TKO (doctor stoppage due to cut) of J.Z. Cavalcante at the World Series of Fighting event on March 23, will collide with Brian Cobb (20-7), in a lightweight (155 pounds) contest. In his last effort at the first World Series of Fighting event, Cobb took a split decision over Ronys Torres.

In preliminary card action, battle-tested submission specialist John Gunderson (34-14) will be pitted against Dan “The Upgrade” Lauzon (16-4) in a lightweight scrap. All 16 of Lauzon’s professional career victories have come by way of TKO or submission.

Fellow undefeated prospects Krasimir Mladenov (8-0) and Kendrick Miree (5-0), will square off at middleweight (185 pounds)