9 Weekend events range from Madison Square Garden in the New York to Canada, Thailand and Australia
Press Release – Friday, March 16, 2012 7:30pm ET featuring “Muay Thai at the Mecca” presented by Take-On productions at Madison Square Garden, New York City, NY. One of the most anticipated fights of 2012 will headline the 24 bout card when Rigel “Cool Heart” Balsamico (Cool Hearts Muay Thai) takes on UFC veteran Ryan “The Lion” Madigan (Evolve MMA). Balsamico, a native of Ireland, is a veteran of 30 professional Muay Thai fights (24-6, 11 KO’s). He lived, trained, and fought out of Thailand for many years before coming back to the United States to open his Muay Thai gym in Philadelphia. Madigan is a seasoned combat sports veteran with UFC experience, having fought at UFC 96 in 2009. Now focusing his professional career on Muay Thai kickboxing, he holds a professional record of 26-6. An explosive fight card also includes the best professional and amateur Muay Thai fighters. The Finals of the 8-man “Rising Stars” Lightweight Tournament will feature Andrilo Juarez (3-0; American Killer Bees) vs. Freddy Cheung (2-1; Sitan NY) and Prairie Rugilo (3-1, 1KO, Girl Fight MMA), the only amateur female to ever score a KO in the TaKe On ring will face the very tough Angie Babel (3-0, Five Points Academy).
– Friday, March 16, 2012 9:00pm ET featuring Cutthroat MMA at the Congress Theater, Chicago, Ill. This will be a stacked card that will feature the quarter finals for the vacant Cutthroat Bantamweight Championship. The title is now vacant, with Jake Nauracy making his professional debut on March 9th for Bellator. In the first bout, it will be the return of Manny Camacho, who will be facing Anthony Guerrero. The Full Mount MMA fighter has recently taken time off from the sport, but has found that motivation to get back in the cage. He will be facing CUMMATA’s Anthony Guerrero, who looks to take advantage of Camacho’s layoff. The second quarter final match up will feature Team No Ego’s Jerald Williams and the powerful striker Sean Gee. Gee is coming off a tough loss to Chuck Olena but this was at 145 pounds and he will certainly be a force to be reckoned with in this tournament. Can the strong wrestling of Williams negate the power punches of Gee? Come out to the Congress Theater and find out who will advance in this exciting tournament.
– Friday, March 16, 2012 9:00pm ET featuring School Of Hard Knocks 22 at the Century Casino, Calgary, AB, Canada.
– Saturday, March 17, 2012 4:00am ET featuring DARE 2/2012 at Club Insomnia Bangkok, Thailand. DARE features both Thai and International fighters who compete to become the MMA Champions of Thailand and the first winners of the DARE Grand Bonus of 1 Million Dollars. The 7 fight card includes: “THE GAME – Arnaud Lepont and HAJA – Krysztof Hajtalowicz” This fight was initially scheduled to take place at DARE 1/12 in January but, to the fury of The Game, Haja pulled out citing a rib injury. These are two of the best known fighters in Thailand, Haja, from Poland, is a BJJ expert with a perfect 3-0 record whereas The Game, from France, is currently 7-1 and riding a four fight win streak. At DARE 2/11 ONE SHIN – Shannon Wiratchai defeated another Thai fighter DK Panjabutra by unanimous decision, putting a beating on the experienced Judoka to progress to the DARE tournament quarter finals. In what will be the ultimate grudge match he has been scheduled to face DK’s brother TDR – Tondamrong Panjabutra, who progressed to the quarter finals courtesy of a second round stoppage win over EZ2DJ – Teerapak Saetae. Family pride will be at stake for TDR who is determined to gain vengeance for his brother and has said he won’t be happy with a decision win over One Shin, he wants to knock him out.
– Saturday, March 17, 2012 8:30m ET featuring World Combat Series 3 at the famous World Gym Vista, California. The main event pits lightweights, Oscar Gonzalez (5-2) out of Victory MMA against Trevor Gray (2-0) from USSD. Gonzalez is on a 2-fight winning streak with both victories coming via submission. In fact, all of Gonzalez’ 5 wins have come via stoppage (either KO or submission). The undefeated Gray already holds a submission win in 2012 and the San Clemente fighter looks to stay very active this year as he makes his way up through the California amateur ranks. A victory over Gonzalez would propel Gray’s career to the next level and make him a popular commodity with the Southern California MMA scene. But that’s easier said than done as Gonzalez is a veteran of more than double the fights and has fought much stiffer competition during his career. Look for these two 155 lb fighters to come out blazing and looking for opportunities to end the fight via KO or submission throughout the entire fight. This should be a barnburner. The co-main event features a pair of bantamweights as Victory MMA’s Coby Hollier (1-2-0-1) fights Lightning MMA’s Dara Ahmadnia (1-0). Hollier has an odd record as his first bout ended in a no contest. Since then, he has went to decision 3 times, losing two hard fought fights, including one split decision. Hollier looks to take it out of the judges’ hands on March 17 and finish Ahmadnia before the final bell. Ahmadnia is very new to MMA and had his only fight 10 month ago, a submission victory. Since that time, Ahmadnia has been honing and refining his skills and will be a completely new fighter when he shows up in the cage against Hollier. With both fighters having something to prove, don’t blink as these two 145 lb gladiators will look to steal the show from the get go.
– Saturday, March 17, 2012 9:00pm ET featuring ROC AMXII from the Rahway Recreation Center in Rahway, New Jersey. In the main event, Eddie Lenoci (5-1) battles Rick Guerrieri (0-0) for the ROC Amateur Welterweight Title. Lenoci won the title in 2011 at AMXI by choke and looks to defend the belt for the first time at AMXII. All of Lenoci’s victories have come via KO or submission, and even his lone defeat has come via stoppage so expect this bout not to do to the distance. Lenoci has been very successful with his fast paced, high risk/high reward style and fighting in the main event will only sharpen Lenoci’s resolve to put on an entertaining show for the fans. For Guerrieri, he makes his debut after a successful career as an amateur wrestler. After wrestling collegiately for West Virginia, Guerrieri looks to transition into MMA and he has a tough fight on his hands in his first outing. But Guerrieri has a track record of dominating his wrestling matches with a strong takedown and relentless pressure. If he can transfer that skillset over to MMA he will be a tough draw for any fighter. In other action, Scott Krampetz (4-4) takes on Ronnie Torres (2-2) in a featherweight showdown. Krampetz is suffered back to back losses, but looks to get back on the winning streak and eventually title show at 145 lb. Torres is coming off a hard fought decision win and goes for two in a row at ROC AMXII. This bout is where both men are looking to take the next step in their fight careers, but at the other’s expense. Krampetz and Torres should be in line for fight of the night as both men have everything to prove.
Other events this week:
Pro-Wrestling: Impact Zone Wrestling: March Mayhem (PPV): Mar 17, 2012 8:00pm ET.
Boxing: Harbour City Havoc(Australia) – International HW Boxing: Mar 17, 4:00am ET.
Boxing at Bally’s: Ennis vs Savage: Mar 17, 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 1200 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