Life Lesson: If you’re getting tattoos to look cool, but can only come up with “barbed wire + tribals + first name in graffiti”, you’ll look so much cooler without tattoos. Props: MMAWeekly.com
You know how you felt when your friend found out that he got accepted into Princeton, and then you found out that you got accepted into the local D3 university? How you realized that your announcement was nowhere near as big as his, but hey, you still felt pretty good? Well, this is something like that: MMA Weekly reports that yesterday, Fight Now TV obtained the exclusive rights to Colorado based promotion Ring of Fire MMA.
Don’t sleep on Ring of Fire MMA just because it may be the first time you’ve heard of it. Ring of Fire is the former stomping grounds of current UFC fighters Shane Carwin, Brendan Schaub, Donald Cerrone, Diego Sanchez and Duane Ludwig. The promotion is currently home to UFC/WEC veteran Tyler Toner, Serbian MMA fighter Bojan Velickovic, who won his contract with the promotion on Europe’s answer to The Ultimate Fighter, Put Ka Venronom Ringu (English: The Road to Ring of Fire),as well as Anthony Njokuani’s unfortunately nicknamed younger brother, Chidi “Chidi Bang Bang” Njokuani.
Life Lesson: If you’re getting tattoos to look cool, but can only come up with “barbed wire + tribals + first name in graffiti”, you’ll look so much cooler without tattoos. Props: MMAWeekly.com
You know how you felt when your friend found out that he got accepted into Princeton, and then you found out that you got accepted into the local D3 university? How you realized that your announcement was nowhere near as big as his, but hey, you still felt pretty good? Well, this is something like that: MMA Weekly reports that yesterday, Fight Now TV obtained the exclusive rights to Colorado based promotion Ring of Fire MMA.
Don’t sleep on Ring of Fire MMA just because it may be the first time you’ve heard of it. Ring of Fire is the former stomping grounds of current UFC fighters Shane Carwin, Brendan Schaub, Donald Cerrone, Diego Sanchez and Duane Ludwig. The promotion is currently home to UFC/WEC veteran Tyler Toner, Serbian MMA fighter Bojan Velickovic, who won his contract with the promotion on Europe’s answer to The Ultimate Fighter, Put Ka Venronom Ringu (English: The Road to Ring of Fire), as well as Anthony Njokuani’s unfortunately nicknamed younger brother, Chidi “Chidi Bang Bang” Njokuani.
The promotion’s next event, tonight’s Ring of Fire 41: Bragging Rights, will be aired on Fight Now TV via tape delay. ROF 41 was set to feature a welterweight title fight between Brandon Thatch and Chidi Njokuani, but has been demoted to a non-title fight due to Njokuani missing weight by two pounds.
Brandon Thatch (169.8) vs. Chidi Njokuani (172.8)
Tyler Toner (144.4) vs. J.R. Sims (146.4)
Jason Lee (184.4) vs. Bojan Velickovic (185.4)
Ryan Martinez (259.8) vs. Brandon Endriss (264.8)
Brian Wood (145.8) vs. Jarred Mercado (145.6)
Vinnie Lopez (169.6) vs. Santana Martinez (168.8)
Justin Gaethje (158.2) vs. Kevin Croom (154.4)
Shannon Culpepper (135.4) vs. Lindsay Jones (135.4)
Cody Mumma (184.6) vs. Adam Gonzalez (181.6)
David Treanor (167.8) vs. Tito Solis (171)
Kirk Piatt (168.4) vs. Kris Hocum (170.4)
Filed under: DREAM, UFC, Strikeforce, FanHouse Exclusive, Bellator, News, Sports Business and MediaTo hear Mike Garrow tell it, starting a new channel is something like giving birth. It takes time, there are brief moments of pain and others of terror, …
To hear Mike Garrow tell it, starting a new channel is something like giving birth. It takes time, there are brief moments of pain and others of terror, but behind it all is a genuine labor of love. After a two-year process of planning and execution, Garrow’s project, a 24-hour combat sports channel called Fight Now TV, will launch on Tuesday morning on Cablevision systems in the New York, tri-state area.
While Fight Now TV is dedicated to more than just mixed martial arts — boxing, grappling and kickboxing will also be featured, among others sports — MMA is expected to be a major component of programming. Among the channel’s minority owners is UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture.
According to Garrow, the company has signed deals with several promotions in the U.S. and around the world to air events. Fight Now TV will launch two franchises. One, “American Made MMA,” will showcase regional promotions like Ring of Fire and Extreme Challenge. Another, “Global Impact MMA,” will turn the spotlight on international offerings, like BAMMA and Cage Warriors. It also has obtained rights to historical events, and can offer retrospectives on current stars. For example, they might show current UFC welterweight champ George St-Pierre’s last fight before joining the UFC, or Quinton “Rampage” Jackson years before he became a superstar.
The channel also plans to cover the world’s top promotions like the UFC, Strikeforce, Bellator and DREAM, in news programs, with original interviews, and taking fans behind the scenes. All in all, it’s an extremely ambitious plan for a channel that took just over two years from thought to launch.
“I want people to understand we’re trying to put our best foot forward,” Garrow told MMA Fighting in a recent interview. “There are going to be growing pains, but we will grow. Look at ESPN. When they first launched, it was with darts and softball and strongman competitions. I’m a fan, too. I want this to be as strong as we can possibly make it. If people are supportive and value it, I look forward to serving those fans for a long time.”
For Garrow, it’s his second shot at a virtually identical goal. He was the creative vision behind The Fight Network, a Canadian combat sports channel that once hoped to penetrate the U.S. market. But the two sides later split over differences, and the Fight Network’s growth eventually stalled. Garrow politely declines to talk about the situation due to ongoing litigation between the sides, but Couture — who previously worked with him at the Canadian channel — said The Fight Network’s loss is Fight Now TV’s gain.
“I think The Fight Network existed because it was Mike Garrow’s vision and his dream,” Couture said. “And when they did what they did to him, that dream and vision went somewhere else. You’re seeing it come back with Fight Now TV. He’s the guy who had all the pieces. He still has the original napkin he wrote the idea down on when he first came up with it. He has the passion to connect the dots and make this happen.”
While Fight Now TV will initially launch only on Cablevision — ironic given that New York and Connecticut are two of the few remaining states that have yet to sanction MMA — Garrow hopes to aggressively expand around the country in rapid fashion, saying they are likely to be announcing other deals quite soon.
“Like anything, we want to get it in as many homes as possible,” he said. “We’re realistic in our approach. We’ve got our internal projections. I can’t get into specific numbers but I’m pretty confident large pockets of the U.S. will be experiencing Fight Now TV by at least the middle of the summer.”
While the channel has no existing business deal with UFC and Strikeforce parent company Zuffa, there is hope that Couture’s involvement might help forge a relationship. Couture acknowledges the potential importance of such a development and says simply, “I expect we’ll be able to do it.”
Garrow, meanwhile, notes that with a 24-hour, 7-day a week existence, the channel will be able to offer major coverage of major events with analysis, features and interviews. MMAJunkie.com’s daily radio show will also be simulcast Monday through Friday, giving fans access to many major fighters and insiders. A weekend show, Fight Central hosted by JT McCarthy, will break down major fights and events. Couture will also provide expert analysis.
With 52 weeks a year in a sport that has no off-season, Garrow believes there will always be great fights to be found. Somewhere around the world, someone will be fighting, and Fight Now TV will be on the lookout for it. What SPEED is to auto sports, Fight Now TV wants to be to combat sports.
Right now though, things are still in a controlled state of chaotic anticipation. There is much to be done before the switch is flipped and Fight Now TV goes live at 11 am eastern on Tuesday. Garrow half-jokingly says that he randomly wakes up at 2:30 in the morning on most nights as the channel makes final preparations.
“Overall, our mission is to create an outlet for combative sports, not just MMA,” Couture said. “For example, there’s a huge grappling movement, not just nationally but internationally with things like Abu Dhabi, NAGA, and U.S. Pankration. And there’s always a void for amateur wrestling, no place to find or watch these dual meets. There is a ton of stuff in the combative sports genre, and we can provide that kind of programming to fans. There is a ton of opportunity and need for this kind of channel.”
MMAPayout is reporting that Couture, who wasted little time in diversifying his post-retirement portfolio is now a minority owner of the new Fight Now! TV combat sports-themed television network and will be involved with the specialty channel to an unknown degree moving forward.
(Is there anything Randy can’t do? No wonder he’s Joe Rogan’s hero)
MMAPayout is reporting that Couture, who wasted little time in diversifying his post-retirement portfolio is now a minority owner of the new Fight Now! TV combat sports-themed television network and will be involved with the specialty channel to an unknown degree moving forward.
I spoke with someone I know who is involved with the start-up station a few months back and he indicated at the time that Randy was attached to the project, but didn’t indicate to what degree.
The network is actually the brainchild of the founder of The Fight Network, Mike Garrow and is backed by Channel Zero, an independent Canadian broadcasting and media group whose properties include several specialty movie and XXX channels. Both Couture, who worked at the station during his first short-lived retirement and ‘Big’ John McCarthy were on-air analysts with The Fight Network.
There’s no word as to what programming will be licensed to the channel, but Garrow helped secure multiple contracts to air PRIDE, K-1, Affliction and Bodog events while with TFN, so there is a good chance he’ll follow suit with his latest project.
According to the MMAPayout story, the first cable service to offer the channel will be Cablevision in New York who will start carrying Fight Now! TV on May 24. The report quotes a story from the Sports Business Journal that states that, like its predecessor, Fight Now! “will include all combat sports — including boxing and wrestling — but will focus on mixed martial arts”
The SBJ story states that the offices of the station will be based out of New York, but from what I’ve heard they will have two offices — one in Las Vegas and one in Toronto.
MMAPayout is reporting that Couture, who wasted little time in diversifying his post-retirement portfolio is now a minority owner of the new Fight Now! TV combat sports-themed television network and will be involved with the specialty channel to an unknown degree moving forward.
(Is there anything Randy can’t do? No wonder he’s Joe Rogan’s hero)
MMAPayout is reporting that Couture, who wasted little time in diversifying his post-retirement portfolio is now a minority owner of the new Fight Now! TV combat sports-themed television network and will be involved with the specialty channel to an unknown degree moving forward.
I spoke with someone I know who is involved with the start-up station a few months back and he indicated at the time that Randy was attached to the project, but didn’t indicate to what degree.
The network is actually the brainchild of the founder of The Fight Network, Mike Garrow and is backed by Channel Zero, an independent Canadian broadcasting and media group whose properties include several specialty movie and XXX channels. Both Couture, who worked at the station during his first short-lived retirement and ‘Big’ John McCarthy were on-air analysts with The Fight Network.
There’s no word as to what programming will be licensed to the channel, but Garrow helped secure multiple contracts to air PRIDE, K-1, Affliction and Bodog events while with TFN, so there is a good chance he’ll follow suit with his latest project.
According to the MMAPayout story, the first cable service to offer the channel will be Cablevision in New York who will start carrying Fight Now! TV on May 24. The report quotes a story from the Sports Business Journal that states that, like its predecessor, Fight Now! “will include all combat sports — including boxing and wrestling — but will focus on mixed martial arts”
The SBJ story states that the offices of the station will be based out of New York, but from what I’ve heard they will have two offices — one in Las Vegas and one in Toronto.
MMAPayout is reporting that Couture, who wasted little time in diversifying his post-retirement portfolio is now a minority owner of the new Fight Now! TV combat sports-themed television network and will be involved with the specialty channel to an unknown degree moving forward.
(Is there anything Randy can’t do? No wonder he’s Joe Rogan’s hero)
MMAPayout is reporting that Couture, who wasted little time in diversifying his post-retirement portfolio is now a minority owner of the new Fight Now! TV combat sports-themed television network and will be involved with the specialty channel to an unknown degree moving forward.
I spoke with someone I know who is involved with the start-up station a few months back and he indicated at the time that Randy was attached to the project, but didn’t indicate to what degree.
The network is actually the brainchild of the founder of The Fight Network, Mike Garrow and is backed by Channel Zero, an independent Canadian broadcasting and media group whose properties include several specialty movie and XXX channels. Both Couture, who worked at the station during his first short-lived retirement and ‘Big’ John McCarthy were on-air analysts with The Fight Network.
There’s no word as to what programming will be licensed to the channel, but Garrow helped secure multiple contracts to air PRIDE, K-1, Affliction and Bodog events while with TFN, so there is a good chance he’ll follow suit with his latest project.
According to the MMAPayout story, the first cable service to offer the channel will be Cablevision in New York who will start carrying Fight Now! TV on May 24. The report quotes a story from the Sports Business Journal that states that, like its predecessor, Fight Now! “will include all combat sports — including boxing and wrestling — but will focus on mixed martial arts”
The SBJ story states that the offices of the station will be based out of New York, but from what I’ve heard they will have two offices — one in Las Vegas and one in Toronto.
To hear Mike Garrow tell it, starting a new channel is something like giving birth. It takes time, there are brief moments of pain and others of terror, but behind it all is a genuine labor of love. After a two-year process of planning and execution, Garrow’s project, a 24-hour combat sports channel called Fight Now TV, will launch on Tuesday morning on Cablevision systems in the New York, tri-state area.