With millions of viewers watching on Spike TV, Karo Parisyan won a unanimous decision over Drew Fickett (30-27 on all three scorecards) after three grueling, bloody rounds at Ultimate Fight Night 7 on Wednesday night at the Miramar Marine Corps Base in San Diego.

Parisyan is best known for his highlight-reel judo tosses, but “The Heat” stood with Fickett for most of the fight and was able to control the pace while landing the heavier strikes. When it did go the ground, both fighters showed their ability to scramble as the nearly 3,000 Marines inside the spacious airplane hangar roared with each change of position. The UFC honored it as the “Fight of the Night,” with Parisyan improving his UFC record to 6-2, and 16-4 overall. Read the rest of this entry »

By Henry Stewart: It’s hard to believe that it’s been 8 long months since we last heard from former two-time heavyweight champion Chris Byrd (39-3-1, 20 KO’s), yet it’s true. After being brutally destroyed in a one-sided, 7-round destruction by Wladimir Klitschko in April 2006, Chris Byrd has seemingly disappeared, almost as if he is hiding his head in the sand like an Ostrich, perhaps ashamed. However, there’s no shame in losing his title to Wladimir, for he is considered the best fighter in the heavyweight division. Anyway could see going into this fight that Byrd was going to have a tough time because of his lack of size and power. Read the rest of this entry »

(HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – Dec. 14, 2007) — At a jam-packed press conference Thursday at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, SHOWTIME and Pro-Elite, Inc., officially announced the formation of Elite Xtreme Combat (EliteXC). Beginning Feb. 10, 2007, Los Angeles-based EliteXC will exploit the growing phenomenon of mixed martial arts by staging world-class live events on SHOWTIME.

Legends Frank Shamrock, regarded by many to be the first true mixed martial artist in combat sports, and Renzo Gracie, a prominent member of the most famous family in martial arts, will make history when they collide in the featured attraction on SHOWTIME at the Desoto Civic Center in Mississippi. Their match will mark the first time an MMA event has aired live on premium television. Read the rest of this entry »

NEW YORK, December 14, 2006- Two of the International Fight League’s (OTC.BB: IFLI) legendary coaches, Renzo Gracie, world Jiu-Jitsu champion and coach of the IFL’s New York-based Pitbulls team, and Pat Miletich, coach of the IFL’s Moline, Illinois-based Silverbacks team, were prominently featured in Scott Pelley’s report on the growth of Mixed Martial Arts on “60 Minutes” on Sunday, December 10, on CBS. The show earned a top-five ratings finish for the week. The show also finished first in its time period in households, viewers and adults 25-54. Read the rest of this entry »

By Richard Rodriguez: Roy Jones Jr. (50-4, 38 KO’s), the former middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight champion, has expressed an interest in fighting Wladimir Klitschko, according to the latest boxing news around the net, further saying “No one can whoop me.” Jones, 37, last fought on July 29, 2006, easily winning a 12 round decision over Prince Badi Ajamu, in Boise, Idaho. However, before this, Jones had lost his last three bouts, suffering horrific knockout loses to Antonio Tarver, (2nd round stoppage loss) in May 2004, and Glen Johnson (9th round stoppage loss), in September 2004. Read the rest of this entry »

By Henry Stewart: According to the Russian website “Kommersant,” a fight is being arranged between Oleg Maskaev (34-5, 26 KO’s), the WBC heavyweight champion, and Wladimir Klitschko (47-3, 42 KO’s), the IBF heavyweight champion, with the fight possibly taking place in Moscow, Russia. Apparently, the promoter of Maskaev, Dennis Rappaport, is trying to arrange for the bout to take place, possibly in April 21, 2007. At this point, however, nothing has been ironed out. Before this fight can take place, it needs to be approved by both the WBC and IBF, since both fighters have mandatory challengers that they are required to fight early in 2007. Read the rest of this entry »

By Jason Kim: Unknown to many boxing fans is a hidden gem, a fighter by the name of Ivan Calderon (27-0, 6 KO’s) who fights in the Minimum weight class (formerly known as the “straw weight division), the lowest weight class in boxing, with an upper weight limit of 105 lbs. Much like the Junior Flyweight (108 lbs.), Flyweight (112 lbs.), Super Flyweight (115 lbs), Bantamweight (118 lbs), Super Bantamweight (122 Lbs), and Cruiserweight division (200 lbs), these weight classes are largely ignored by the fans mostly because of their inability to identify with fighters of such small stature, many of whom are smaller than the average fan’s Mother. Read the rest of this entry »

HOLLYWOOD, CA (December 11, 2006) — SHOWTIME and Pro Elite will host a Hollywood news conference This Thursday! December 14, at Cinegrill at The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (7000 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90028) to announce the highly-anticipated new generation of mixed martial arts plus details on the very first SHOWTIME broadcast of the MMA event, which is scheduled for Saturday, February 10, 2007. Read the rest of this entry »

SANTA ANA, California (December 11, 2006) – New Era Fighting (NEF), the fledgling mix martial arts organization, featuring combat fighting legend Kimo Leopoldo, has scheduled fighter and female model tryouts for this weekend (Dec. 16-17) at the South Coast Martial Arts Facility in Cosa Mesa, California. Read the rest of this entry »

WBA light middleweight champion Shane Mosley (43-4, 37 KO’s) has an open date on his fight calender for February 10th, with only the prospects of fighting either Carlos Baldomir or Kermit Cintron during that open date. Previously, Mosley had slim hopes of fighting either Floyd Mayweather or Antonio Margarito. However, Mayweather opted for a fight with Oscar De La Hoya, while Margarito injured his wrist in his fight with Joshua Clottey. Like I said, it was a long shot, at best. Other than those bouts, Mosley has a chance to fight Cory Spinks, the IBF light middleweight champion. Read the rest of this entry »

Pavia, Ciscone & Associates, LLC, in conjunction with www.MMAagents.com, is pleased to announce the signing of Falaniko Vitale. A native of Honolulu, Hawaii, “Niko” has compiled a 21-6 professional MMA record, including wins over Matt Lindland, Dave Menne, Masanori Suda, Yushin Okami and Aaron Riley. Read the rest of this entry »

NEW YORK, December 8, 2006- Two of the International Fight League’s (OTC.BB: IFLI) legendary coaches, world Jiu-Jitsu champion and coach of the IFL’s New York-based Pitbulls team Renzo Gracie, and Pat Miletich, coach of the IFL’s Moline, Illinois-based Silverbacks team, will be featured as part of Scott Pelley’s report on the growth of Mixed Martial Arts on “60 Minutes” on Sunday, December 10, at 7 p.m. EST/PST on CBS. Read the rest of this entry »

NEWPORT BEACH, CA, December 7th – Unprecedented in its scope and far-reaching in its impact, Roy Englebrecht’s Fight Promoter University set the fight world upside down when it launched in February of 2006 with the intention of educating a new generation of individuals in the art of promoting a fight event.

Demand was so great for this knowledge that a second FPU was launched in August with a 15% increase in enrollment, the addition of the ever-growing sport of mixed martial arts to the curriculum, and a Who’s Who of the fight game – such as Jim Lampley, Emanuel Steward, Marc Ratner, Richard Schaefer, Ray Mancini, and Jackie Kallen, to name a few, agreeing to appear as guest speakers. Read the rest of this entry »

NEW YORK, December 6, 2006- The International Fight League (OTC.BB: IFLI), the world’s first team-based professional mixed martial arts league, today announced that it has received permission from the Nevada State Athletic Commission to conduct MMA events in the state, beginning in 2007. IFL Commissioner and co-founder Kurt Otto and President and co-founder Gareb Shamus met with the commission on Tuesday in Las Vegas, Nevada. Read the rest of this entry »

SANTA ANA, California (December 5, 2006) – Combat fighting legend Kimo Leopoldo returns to the ring as the undisputed superstar of New Era Fighting, a fresh mixed martial arts fighting organization determined to drive MMA to another level of sports entertainment.

“New Era Fighting signals the new age of real fighting,” New Era Fighting president Ron Kort explained. “Picture UFC meets WWE – entertainment, drama, sexiness and violence together. Fighting will be real but the storylines outside of the ring or cage will be scripted. What the UFC and WWE are missing is that their markets are the same. UFC fans really like some of the WWE’s entertainment but won’t watch it because the fighting is fake. WWE fans may enjoy the UFC’s brutal fighting, but many aren’t into it because a fight could last only 30 seconds and then there’s no other entertainment value. Read the rest of this entry »