Press Release
MMA Events on GFL COMBAT SPORTS NETWORK
5 MMA / 2 BOXING / 2 WRESTLING / 1 MUSIC CONCERT/RAGGAE
– Friday, April 27, 2012 7:00pm ET featuring NAAFS – Caged Fury 17 at Mylan Park Expo Center, Morgantown, West Virginia. Travis Clark is currently 12-0 and trains at Evolve where the facility is remarkable and the coaches are world class. He also trains with and prepares other MMA juggernauts like UFC fighters Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Cheick Kongo. He has won titles while defeating some pretty tough dudes (including current NAAFS Light Heavyweight Champ and Bellator veteran, Dan Spohn). He now has the perfect opportunity to snag a super-sized victory that will likely result in some big doors being opened. I’d also add that Travis is rather hungry for this win. He has certainly encountered his fair share of adversity over the last year and I can imagine he’ll take all that emotion and frustration and make his next opponent the prime target. Travis will defend his NAAFS middleweight championship against Bellator veteran Hector Urbina. The 24 year-old Hector Urbina brings his 23 fight resume to West Virginia in hopes to defeat Clark. His resume includes an overall 16-6-1 fight record which consists of opponents like UFC fighter Jason “Mayhem” Miller, Bellator’s Lyman Good, Strikeforce’s Tim Kennedy and former NAAFS champion Brendan Sequin. He seems to have difficulty putting a string of wins together though. The last time he was able to put more than 2 wins in a row together was back in 2008. He needs a win just as bad as Travis does. You can expect this fight to end before regulation time expires. In fact, I’d bet it’ll be over before the second round. Both fighters have impressive statistics that show they like to end fights and in powerful fashion. Clark has stopped 11 of his 12 opponents in a variety of methods including 3 by TKO/RSC, 5 by submission and 3 via the crowd pleasing Knock Out. Similarly, Urbina finished opponents 13 times in his 16 wins. These have come via 7 TKO/RSC, 2 Knock Outs and 4 submissions. Needless to say, there’s going to be two big bulls with big horns who both want the same thing.
– Friday, April 27, 2012 8:30pm ET featuring Ring of Combat – ROC XL from the Tropicana Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. In a featured bout, Uriah Hall (6-2) faces Dominique “Non-Stop Action Packed” Steele (7-2) in a light heavyweight scrap. Former ROC Champion, Hall, is a ROC fan favorite as the New Yorker always brings it. His last bout he won via the seldom used heel hook submission and is in the midst of a 2-fight win streak. All of Hall’s wins have come via stoppage either KO or submission so he will look to do the same against Steele in their hotly anticipated battle. Steele is a veteran of Strikeforce and looks to get back in the win column after losing a tough decision in his last outing. Steele has only had 1 of his 9 bouts go to a decision so his fight with Hall is shaping up to be a barnburner as neither man likes to go for the decision. Don’t blink as Hall and Steele have the power and technique to end the fight early. Also on the card, former UFC fighter Marvin “The Beastman” Eastman (17-14-1) fights Dmitry Zabolotny (5-2) in a light heavyweight showdown. Eastman is traveling from Las Vegas and for the veteran fighter, this is an opportunity to get back in the win column against a tough up and coming East Coast prospect. Eastman has fought everyone from Quinton Jackson to Vitor Belfort in his impressive career and this will be one more top fighter on his list. Eastman is hungry to prove he still belongs in the upper echelon of fighters in the 205 lb division. Zabolotny is one of the new breed of Russian fighters, though he currently trains and lives in New York. Zabolotny has a varied arsenal of attacks including a great submission game. Winning all of his last 5 fights, Zabolotny looks to add a UFC veteran’s name to that list on April 27. It will be Eastman’s striking versus Zabolotny’s ground skills.
– Friday, April 27, 2012 9:00pm ET featuring CutThroat MMA Invasion Chicago. The 2012 WKA North American Champion and CGT fighter Axel Mendez will take on a California native Anthony Pazmino. The last Muay Thai fight that Axel had under the CutThroat banner he won by KO, so he is looking to end Anthony’s night the same way. The 17 year old will be looking to continue his Muay Thai dominance. The other 2012 WKA North American Champion in the Carlson Gracie Team MMA camp Dorothy Schultz will also be in action at Invasion Chicago. She immediately jumped at the opportunity to fight on the card, and will be facing another champion. Dorothy’s opponent for Invasion Chicago will be the Arizona Muay Thai champion Desiree Brandt. This will be an exciting fight between highly skilled Muay Thai practitioners and champions. The Co-Main event of the night has seen a slight change. Danny “the Machine” Morales will be defending his CutThroat Welterweight title, but it will not be against his original opponent, David Booth. Danny will now be defending his title against Shane Grenko. Shane is fighting out of White Buffalo Warrior in Washington. Tom Shoaff will be the Main Event of the night. He was originally scheduled to fight Eric Rasmussen for the CutThroat Lightweight title. But that quickly changed soon after the fight was officially announced. It took several weeks to find a replacement to fight in Eric’s place. Fighting in his place will be Warren Roberds. Warren is coming into Invasion Chicago from Las Vegas, Nevada where he trains out of UFC fighter Wanderlei Silva’s camp, Wand Fight Team.
– Saturday, April 28, 2012 7:00pm ET featuring Cage Fighting Extreme (CFX) presents Japan VS Minnesota at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In the main event, Strikeforce veteran Jeremy “The Hawk” Hamilton (8-1) fights UFC veteran Yoshiyuki Yoshida (12-6) in a welterweight showdown. Hamilton is a tall welterweight standing 6’3″ and uses his long limbs to submit opponents as well as keep them at a distance with his striking. Hamilton has a great finishing percentage as he has stopped 7 opponents out of 8 and looks to make a statement against the gritty Japanese fighter who can withstand tons of punishment. A victory for Hamilton here puts him in elite standing and will no doubt make promoters from around the world take notice. Yoshida is a world-class judoka and is coming off a victory against former UFC fighter Phil Baroni. Yoshida also holds wins against Dan Hardy and War Machine and looks to finish Hamilton in front of what will no doubt be a partisan crowd in Hamilton’s favor. This matchup will answer a lot of questions for both fighters and for one of them a victory here will send his career up the ladder. In co-main event, Travis Perzynski (13-5) battles Yoshihiro Koyama (12-2-1) in a lightweight matchup. Perzynski is a Midwest veteran and has fought for all the top organizations in the area. On a two-fight winning streak with both fights ending in the first round, Perzynski has proven to be a fast started with excellent standup and grappling skills. A victory over the Shooto and DEEP veteran will be the biggest victory of Perzynski’s career. For Koyama, this will be his first fight in the United States and will be the first time most fans have a chance to watch the wrestling wizard in action. MMA is truly a global sport and fans get the opportunity to watch two different fighters who only a few years ago would have never had the opportunity to be matched up against one another fight in a cage in Minneapolis and broadcast worldwide on GFL.tv. This fight could be fight of the night as both men will come out guns blazing and look to make an example out of the other and gain a greater fan following at the same time.
– Saturday, April 28, 2012 8:00pm ET featuring Spartan Fighting Championship 14(Free Airing) at The Arena at Montgomery County High in Mount Sterling, Kentucky. In the main event, it will be Ohio versus Kentucky as Chris “The Samurai” Bennett (6-3) fights JP Felty (2-3) for the Professional Spartan Fighting Championship Lightweight Title. This is Bennett’s first fight back since recovering from neck surgery due to an injury sustained in training last year. Bennett is a grappling wizard as all 6 wins of his have come via submission. He has finished half of his opponents by guillotine choke so if and when the action hits the mat look for Bennett to attack Felty’s neck. For Felty, he too likes to grapple as both of his wins have come via submission, so fans could be in for a chess match in this bout. It also could turn in to a striking free-for-all as often times grapplers prefer to settle their differences in the standup as opposed to trying out their grappling on another strong submission specialist. However this bout goes, someone is walking away with gold and for that very reason this fight should steal the show. SFC 14 will also feature more of the Ohio Valley’s toughest fighters including, Robert Montgomery, Michael Cockerham, Ben Cook, Mark Jones and Tyler Ingram. All these fighters will be look to claw and scrape their way to the top and eventually find themselves in the same place Bennett and Felty are and that’s going for professional gold!
Other events this week:
Pro-Wrestling: Melbourne City Wrestling – New Horizons 2012: Apr 27, 9:00pm ET.
Impact Zone Wrestling (Weekly Free show): Apr 27, 8:00pm ET.
Boxing: Omar Sheika vs Yusa Mack, Resorts Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City, NJ: Apr 27, 7:30pm ET.
WBC Title – Senchenko vs Malignaggi – Donboss Arena, Donetsk, Ukraine, Apr 29, 1:00pm ET.
Concerts: Gulfster Presents Live Reggae Sunday Finale – HOR!ZEN, THE SHEFFIELD CREW, BURNING TREE, THE HOBBIES AND MORE(Free): Apr 29, 7:30pm ET.
GFL now offers full access to over 6,000 fights for the low monthly price of $9.99 subscribe now at www.GFL.tv
***GFL is a pioneer in Internet Sports Broadcasting. Over the years GFL has broadcast more than 1300 live events with over 6000 combat sports videos in 196 countries. GFL is especially proud to have served greater than 5 million public viewers over the years with more than 250 combat sports related website affiliates in its network. GFL is also available on Roku, Android, IPhone, IPad, as well as other internet ready devices. Check the event page for details.
If Combat Sports is your game…Go Fight-Every Night with GFL Combat Sports Network