ProElite and DREAM have entered into a partnership that will see fighter exchanges and possibly co-promoted shows.
T. Jay Thompson, the head of fighter operations for ProElite, leaked the news while stopping by Tuesday’s installment of The MMA Hour.
“We will be partnering with DREAM not only with a fighter exchange program,” Thompson told host Ariel Helwani. “But some serious talks about bringing DREAM to the U.S. and bring ProElite to Japan.”
On Saturday, UFC veteran Kendall Grove will take on popular Japanese fighter Ikushia Minowa in the main event of ProElite 3 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Thompson said DREAM officials will be in attendance and another DREAM competitor, light heavyweight Tatsuya Mizuno, has joined Saturday’s card to face Ilima Maiava.
Thompson plans on establishing ProElite as a fun company and is excited with its matchmaking options now that there’s a strong possibility of fighters such as Shinya Aoki and Tatsuya Kawajiri entering the fold.
“With the brain power and relationship between (ProElite matchmaker) Rich Chou and I, we’re going to put on high-quality MMA cards,” Thompson said. “And the matchmaking styles leads into some of these great Japanese fighters.”
ProElite is expected to announce details of its fourth card, most likely in early April, during Saturday’s event.
Filed under: MMA Fighting Exclusive, News, ProEliteProElite will be returning to Hawaii on the Saturday night before the NFL Pro Bowl, Jan. 28, 2012, T. Jay Thompson, ProElite’s head of fight operations, confirmed the news with MMAFighting.com on Frida…
ProElite will be returning to Hawaii on the Saturday night before the NFL Pro Bowl, Jan. 28, 2012, T. Jay Thompson, ProElite’s head of fight operations, confirmed the news with MMAFighting.com on Friday.
The event will take place at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, site of ProElite 1 last month. No fights have been signed for the card just yet.
What is unclear is whether the event will be the organization’s third or fourth since relaunching. The second will take place on Nov. 5 and there are preliminary talks to hold another event in December. No final decision has been made.
Pro Bowl weekend, which will be held a week before the Super Bowl, is a popular one in Hawaii, as the state hosted the all-star game for 30 consecutive season before it moved to Miami in 2009 and 2010. Thompson has promoted multiple events on that weekend for the other promotions he has worked with in the past.
Our friends over at The Fight Nerd caught up with Gary Shaw recently and they asked the former EliteXC live events president what he thought about the latest incarnation of ProElite. Not surprisingly, Shaw didn’t hold back when describing the promotion’s chances in the current MMA landscape dominated by the UFC.
“I think it’s laughable. The people running it are jokes. It’s not real and the only game in town is the UFC. I wouldn’t have been [interested in being involved with ProElite again]. All of my time is with boxing. Like I said, the only game in town is the UFC. You can’t beat them any longer. They are too entrenched,” Shaw explained. “They bought the next best thing, which was Strikeforce. Fedor’ s gone from the scene. So, right now it’s only the UFC. They’re miles ahead of everyone right now. It’s like us coming up with some fast food franchise and beating McDonald’s and Burger King. It’s not gonna happen.”
(Video courtesy of TheFightNerd)
Our friends over at The Fight Nerd caught up with Gary Shaw recently and they asked the former EliteXC live events president what he thought about the latest incarnation of ProElite. Not surprisingly, Shaw didn’t hold back when describing the promotion’s chances in the current MMA landscape dominated by the UFC.
“I think it’s laughable. The people running it are jokes. It’s not real and the only game in town is the UFC. I wouldn’t have been [interested in being involved with ProElite again]. All of my time is with boxing. Like I said, the only game in town is the UFC. You can’t beat them any longer. They are too entrenched,” Shaw explained. “They bought the next best thing, which was Strikeforce. Fedor’ s gone from the scene. So, right now it’s only the UFC. They’re miles ahead of everyone right now. It’s like us coming up with some fast food franchise and beating McDonald’s and Burger King. It’s not gonna happen.”
Needless to say, Shaw isn’t a fan of new ProElite president T.Jay Thompson, who became a five-year executive consultant with the company after it purchased his Icon Sport promotion back in 2007 for $350,000 U.S. and “hundreds of thousands” of PELE shares, and for good reason. Thompson, whose role in the promotion was downgraded after Shaw stepped down from the organization, has openly criticized both Shaw and his son Jared for mismanaging EliteXC and was the individual who first made mention of Shaw paying Seth Petruzelli to not take Kimbo Slice down. The accusations led to an investigation by the Florida Athletic Commission and some say prompted CBS to sever ties with the struggling organization.
Filed under: MMA Fighting Exclusive, News, ProEliteVeteran MMA manager and promoter Monte Cox is in talks with ProElite to become a consultant for the upstart organization.
Both ProElite’s Vice President of Operations T. Jay Thompson and Cox confirmed…
Veteran MMA manager and promoter Monte Cox is in talks with ProElite to become a consultant for the upstart organization.
Both ProElite’s Vice President of Operations T. Jay Thompson and Cox confirmed with MMA Fighting that talks are ongoing but no deal has been struck just yet.
“I’m excited about the prospect of working with T. Jay and ProElite,” Cox wrote via text message. “We’ve been friends for a long, long time and think we work well together. It would be fun to get in on the ground floor and help build something.”
Cox has managed some of the biggest names in MMA, including Rich Franklin and Tim Sylvia. He entered the sport in 1995 and has also promoted close to 600 local shows.
The role being offered to Cox is simply that of a consultant. Should he accept, he would not have to quit his manager or promoter jobs and would not be involved in ProElite’s matchmaking process.
“Monte and I have worked together on many projects through the years,” Thompson said. “I would love to have him on board. He would be an incredible asset to the company
“He’ll be in Hawaii for the ProElite show and maybe after taking his money on the golf course, if he’s not too grumpy, we’ll come to an agreement.”
Cox was famously named CEO of M-1 Global in 2007 but left the organization in 2008.
ProElite: Arlovski vs. Lopez is scheduled for Aug. 27 in Hawaii.
Filed under: MMA Fighting Exclusive, News, ProEliteProElite 2.0, as Vice President of Fight Operations T. Jay Thompson likes to call it, is set to get back on track on Aug. 27 in Hawaii. The organization is looking to reinvent itself after crumbling in…
ProElite 2.0, as Vice President of Fight Operations T. Jay Thompson likes to call it, is set to get back on track on Aug. 27 in Hawaii. The organization is looking to reinvent itself after crumbling in 2008 following Kimbo Slice’s loss to Seth Petruzelli in Florida.
So with its first show in almost three years less than three weeks away, here are some news and notes about MMA’s newest — or not so new depending on how you view them — kid on the block.
* Thompson vehemently denied a Cage Potato report that the organization was close to signing a TV deal with Viacom to broadcast its events on CBS and Showtime in the near future.
“There is absolutely no truth to the report that we are close to a deal with CBS and Showtime,” he said.
Thompson said they are talking to “everyone” in the TV world but stopped short at saying who was the frontrunner. The organization’s Aug. 27 show will stream live on Sherdog.com, but Thompson hopes he will have a TV deal in place by the promotion’s second show.
* Speaking of its second show, Thompson said “early November” in Atlantic City, N.J., is when ProElite’s sophomore event will take place. No specific date or location has been finalized yet.
* One of the main attractions scheduled for the event will be the start of a heavyweight grand prix. But before you roll your eyes at the idea of another heavyweight GP, Thompson says this one will feature mostly “unknown” big men from around the world. Andrei Arlovski and Mark Ellis, who are scheduled to fight in different bouts in Hawaii, could be a part of it if they win their debut fights.
“It will outperform whatever people are expecting,” he said. “I’m very excited about that.”
* Ticket sales for the Aug. 27 event at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, HI, have been “strong,” according to Thompson. The long-time promoter says he expects to sell at least 5,000 tickets to the event. A sellout would be approximately 7,800 fans.
* When asked about the recent Golden Glory free agents, Thompson said he was “very interested” in having Marloes Coenen fight on the November show. And while he admitted that Alistair Overeem is probably out of his price range, he said Jon Olav Einemo could be the perfect fit for the aforementioned GP. According to Thompson, the lines of communication between himself and Golden Glory head trainer Martijn de Jong, who fought for Thompson in 2002, have just been opened. He sounded very excited at the prospect of signing Coenen.
* Don’t expect any title fights in ProElite any time soon.
“I hate when events do world championship fights with no world championship fighters,” he said.
That’s not to say Thompson is down on the quality of his fighters, but he explained that he needs to build the fighters first before putting them in title fights. And if you followed Thompson back when he was promoting SuperBrawl and ICON Sport, you’ll recall that title fights in those promotions were scarce.
Check out the full lineup for ProElite: Arlovski vs. Lopez and the organization’s new Web site here. A promo for the Aug. 27 can be seen below.
ProElite and DREAM have entered into a partnership that will see fighter exchanges and possibly co-promoted shows.
ProElite will be returning to Hawaii on the Saturday night before the NFL Pro Bowl, Jan. 28, 2012, 
Veteran MMA manager and promoter 
ProElite 2.0, as Vice President of Fight Operations