ShoFight 20 poster
Press Release – Springfield, Missouri (USA): The sport of mixed martial arts is tough. There is no disputing that. Fighters experience ups and downs, wins and losses, and make sacrifices to be the very best they can be. Staying committed when you’re winning can be easy. It’s when losses come that combat athletes find out how committed they really are to the fight game.
Two fighters in such a position are former UFC stalwarts Karo “The Heat’ Parisyan and Kendall “Da Spyder” Grove. On June 16th in Springfield, Missouri, both will tangle with ultra-tough opponents, as Parisyan will battle fellow UFC vet John Gunderson, and Grove will lock horns with UFC/Strikeforce vet Terry Martin. The winner of the Parisyan-Gunderson tilt will be awarded the first ShoFIGHT welterweight belt, while either Grove or Martin will go home with ShoFIGHT middleweight strap. In short, it’s a big fight for all the competitors involved.
PPV broadcast details will be announced soon.
Karo Parisyan (20-8-0-1) has been fighting professionally since 1999, and has faced many top welterweights during his time in MMA, including Sean Sherk, Antonio McKee, Georges St-Pierre, Shonie Carter, Nick Diaz, Chris Lytle, Matt Serra, Nick Thompson, Diego Sanchez, Ryo Chonan, Thiago Alves, Dong Hyun Kim, and Dennis Hallman. Few in the fight game can boast such a resume. At one point, he was right on the cusp of a UFC title shot, but after some tough losses, he is looking to right the ship and get back to the top of the mountain. Fighting in the main event of ShoFIGHT 20 provides “The Heat” with the opportunity to do just that.
Kendall Grove (14-10-0-1) grew up in Hawaii, and is the prototypical Island boy: a scrapper who is afraid of no man. The 6’6” middleweight made his pro debut in 2003, and soared to heights few reach in the fight game when he won the 3rd season of the UFC’s Ultimate Fighter competition. Over the next few years, Grove became a mainstay in the UFC, gathering victories over Ed Herman, Alan Belcher, the late Evan Tanner, Jason Day, Jake Rosholt, and Goran Reljic during his time with the promotion. However, he also suffered several setbacks, and was released in 2011 after two straight losses. Since that time, he has downed both Joe Riggs and Ikuhisa Minowa, but then lost to fellow UFC vet Jay Silva in February. Now, he’ll look to get back in the win column against UFC/Strikeforce vet Terry Martin with the gold on the line.
ShoFIGHT, one of the top rising MMA promotions in North America, will bring ShoFIGHT 20 to the O’Reilly Family Events Center in Springfield, Missouri on Saturday, June 16th. The event will host twenty UFC, PRIDE, Strikeforce, and Bellator veterans, including Parisyan, Grove, Gunderson, Martin, Lyle “Fancy Pants” Beerbohm, Marcus Aurelio, Shonie Carter, Drew Fickett, Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett, Aaron Rosa, Matt Lucas, and others.
Tickets to “ShoFIGHT 20” are now available for purchase at ShoFIGHT.com or at the O’Reilly Family Event Center Box Office.
Since its inception in 2009, ShoFIGHT has rapidly established itself as one of America’s top amateur fight promotions, quickly garnering a reputation for putting on exciting events that electrify Midwest fight audiences. With the primary goal of growing the sport of mixed martial arts in the central U.S., promoter JT Tilley has spent the past four years developing a network of top amateur talent from across the country. The organization has consistently maintained eleven active weight classes, helping develop some of the top pro prospects in the Midwest.
For more information on ShoFIGHT, please visit http://shofight.com/. ShoFIGHT can also be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/ShoFight-MMA/113079148732416, and on Twitter @ShoFIGHT.