Adrenaline MMA officially announced its debut event, which takes place at the Sears Centre in Chicago, Ill., on June 14, featuring the heavyweight showdown between former UFC number contender, Jeff Monson, and relatively unknown but talented local product, Mike Russow.
According to the press release, 12 other bouts are slated for the show that will feature some familiar names and faces.
Here’s the rest of the card:
Terry Martin vs. Daiju Takase
Brian Gassaway vs. Tony Fryklund
Alberto Crane vs. Clay French
Jeff Cox vs. Bart Palaszewski
Taiwon Howard vs. Rory Markham
Jame Giboo vs. Mark Miller
Herc Hayes vs. Kerry Schall
Rob Kimmons vs. Hector Urbina
Aaron Rosa vs. Ron Fields
Dom O’Grady vs. Mike Stumpf
Joe Jordan vs. Ryan Williams
Christian Reynosa vs. John Hosman
Not bad at all for an inaugural event. And that more than likely has much to do with longtime MMA manager and Adrenaline MMA CEO, Monte Cox.
He and others started the promotion after M-1 Global collapsed without ever staging an event, enlisting the services of former UFC heavyweight champion ,Tim Sylvia, and undefeated IFL star, Ben Rothwell, to anchor the organization.
In addition, it appears that Adrenaline MMA is in cooperation with the IFL — Bart Palaszewski, Mark Miller and Zac George were all granted permission to compete on the card. And, according to the release, EliteXC provided striker Aaron Rosa and all-around standout Hector Urbina.
Sylvia and Rothwell, on the other hand, will be loaned out to other organizations such as the new Affliction upstart brand. In fact, “The Maine-iac†is expected to fight the last man to hold the Pride FC heavyweight title, Fedor Emelianenko, at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., on July 19.
It’s apparently all about sharing.
Doors for the first ever Adrenaline MMA event will open at 5:30 p.m. ET and fights are set to begin at 6 p.m. ET. To purchase tickets click here or call (888)-SEARSTIX.
For more information head over to the official Adrenaline MMA Web site right here.
Russow eyes biggest test in debut of Adrenaline MMA
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — As a Chicago policeman, Mike Russow has become accustomed to dangerous situations.
So, it is understandable when Russow only smiles and refers to fighting veteran Jeff Monson in a professional mixed martial arts bout as a “great opportunity.” Russow, 9-1 in his pro career, [...]
— A heavyweight superfight between Josh Barnett and Jeff Monson has been announced as the main event of Sengoku II (May 18th, Tokyo); the card will also feature fights between Kevin Randleman and Ryo Kawamura, and Roger Gracie taking on an opponent to be named later. In recent weeks, Monson has also been reportedly booked to face Mike Russow at Adrenaline MMA’s debut event (June 14th, Chicago), as well as Kevin Randleman at a Global Fighting event on June 21st in Charlotte, N.C. With those three fights so close together, expect at least one to fall apart. Monson most recently defeated Hakim Gouram at a Ring of Fire event last December.
— Speaking of Adrenaline MMA, Monte Cox has been scurrying around trying to fill its first card. Besides Monson/Russow, the June 14th show is expected to feature IFL vet Bart Palaszewski taking on King of the Cage/UFC vet Jeff Cox, and ex-UFC fighter/boxer Terry Martin taking on Daiju Takase.
— The UFC officially added three fights to UFC 86 (July 5th, Las Vegas): Josh Koscheck vs. Chris “Lights Out” Lytle, Patrick Cote vs. Ricardo Almeida, and Cole Miller vs. Jorge Gurgel. Lytle and Almeida are coming off of impressive stoppage wins at UFC 81 in February, where Lytle picked up the “Knockout of the Night” bonus. UFC 86 will be headlined by the light-heavyweight title scrap between Quinton Jackson and Forrest Griffin, and is also expected to feature bouts between Joe Stevenson and Gleison Tibau, Frank Mir and Justin McCully, and Ben Saunders vs. Jared Rollins.
— As for the Ultimate Fighter 7 finale on June 21st, the UFC has confirmed that Evan Tanner vs. Kendall Grove will be the show’s main event — not Diego Sanchez vs. Luigi Fioravanti, which will get secondary status. Also officially booked are Spencer Fisher vs. Jeremy Stephens, Josh Burkman vs. Dustin Hazelett, Marvin Eastman vs. Drew McFedries, and Jeremy Horn vs. Dean Lister. And of course Tim Credeur vs. CB Dollaway (one would assume).
A fight between former UFC heavyweight champion and current Adrenaline MMA fighter, Tim Sylvia (24-4), and the last man to hold the Pride FC heavyweight strap, Fedor Emelianenko (27-1), is in the works for July 19 at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas, according to Sherdog.com.
The blockbuster showdown would be promoted by Affliction and air on Mark Cuban’s HDNet network.
Here’s a snip from the Russian:
“[Sylvia] is a good fighter, a strong fighter, the former UFC heavyweight champion, which is important. I am looking forward to fighting him and training hard for this fight.”
Sylvia recently parted ways with the UFC in a split that has been categorized by both parties as amicable. The decision came after a submission loss to Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro: Nogueria at UFC 81: “Breaking Point” for the interim heavyweight championship in February.
With just one fight remaining on his contract — and another crack at the belt in the not so near future — “The Maine-iac” was granted permission to sign on with his long time manager, Monte Cox, who runs the upstart Adrenaline MMA promotion.
Prior to that Cox was the President and CEO of M-1 Global — a failed partnership between Russian and American backers that never staged a single event. The promotion was centered around Emelianenko; however, the two sides were at reportedly loggerheads when it came to compensation and competition.
Emelianenko became a free agent once he returned a $1.5 million signing bonus. And now he’s apparently set to kick-off 2008 with a fight against the 6′8″ Miletich-trained product, which would certainly be his biggest test since a fight with Mirko Cro Cop back in 2005.
Indeed, Emelianenko — once widely regarded as the most formidable pound-for-pound mixed martial artist on the planet — has taken a beating from critics because of his inability to take on top-level competition in recent years.
Hong Man Choi (freak show), Matt Lindland (a middleweight), and Mark Coleman (past his prime) are three of his last four opponents — not exactly the worthiest opponents for an individual who has been described as unbeatable in a sport in which anything can and often does happen.
Fedor, however, somehow seems to find ways to overcome those unpredictable odds … at least up until now.
It’s more than likely the case that Emelianenko will look to takedown “Big Tim” early and often to avoid that reach and his big punching power. Not to mention Emelianenko cuts very easily — it is the reason behind his only career defeat, in fact.
Sylvia has demonstrated decent takedown defense in the past; however, he has been susceptible to submissions throughout his seven-year professional career.
Definitely a very interesting match up if it comes to fruition. Randy Couture — the man who defeated Sylvia in March but is now embroiled in a bitter legal battle with the UFC because he wanted to fight Emelianenko — has got to be going nuts with this latest news.
Stay tuned for more updates on this developing story.
“I’m the CEO, so I’m going to make the matches. Well, they wanted a say. They wanted to be able to say, ‘we don’t like that match … we want to do something else.’ … I couldn’t make money with him. There was just no way we could make money with that kind of overhead. That became apparent. To take all of our investors’ money and put it around Fedor, it just didn’t make business sense…. I think people understand that I tried everything possible to make this happen. In business, sometimes it just doesn’t work. We bounced back, I think, very well. Getting Tim Sylvia is a huge coup for us. Without him, what would we have? We locked onto him. We locked onto Rothwell. Now, I actually feel better about where we’re headed than I did before. I would trade Fedor for Rothwell and Sylvia every day.”
– Monte Cox — CEO of Adrenaline MMA and former CEO of the now defunct M-1 Global — tells Brawl Sports that Tim Sylvia and Ben Rothwell are better for business than Fedor Emelianenko. The report goes on to reveal that Sylvia will earn more than $300,000 per fight under his new deal. Check out a video of Big Tim and Monte regarding their partnership after the jump.
That’s right, former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia, as well as former IFL heavyweight Ben Rothwell have both signed with the new Adrenaline MMA company (formerly M-1 Global). Here is the official press release from Adrenaline MMA:
Adrenaline signs MMA heavyweight standouts Sylvia and Rothwell
NEW YORK — Adrenaline MMA announced today that heavyweight stars Tim Sylvia [...]
NEW YORK — Executives at M-1 Global announced today they have started a new promotion called Adrenaline MMA and will begin promoting major events in the U.S. beginning in June.
Adrenaline will replace M-1 Global in the U.S. immediately. The change also includes the release of Russian fighter Fedor Emilianenko, who is free to seek fights [...]
Former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia on Adrenaline MMA:
“Adrenaline is a new promotion, but it allows fighters to fight for other organizations … that’s huge. I’ve got 3 to 4 years left and want to fight as much as possible, so this is the perfect choice for me at this time.”
Former undefeated IFL star Ben Rothwell on Adrenaline MMA:
“Adrenaline will give me the chance to take things to the next level. I’m ready to see how I fare against the best heavyweights in the world.”
– Recent quotes contained within a press release from the newly-minted Adrenaline MMA promotion that shares some thoughts from its two biggest stars, Tim Sylvia and Ben Rothwell. Both fighters train at Miletich Fighting Systems in Bettendorf, Iowa, and are managed by Adrenaline MMA chief, Monte Cox. Dumb, smart or just plain strange decision making going on here?
Bad Indian food, maybe? Check out the 0:16 mark to see him swallow it back down. Lovely.
Oh, and about Timbo’s “huge news”: Yeah, it actually was pretty huge. Here are the brass tacks:
— Tim Sylvia has left the UFC in a “mutual separation” and is officially a free agent.
— He has signed a non-exclusive contract with Adrenaline MMA (formerly M-1 Global). Between his fights with Adrenaline, events in Japan (likely referring to Sengoku and DREAM), and “the Affliction show,” he expects to fight 5-6 times per year.
— Adrenaline plans on holding its first event on June 14th in Chicago. Ben Rothwell has also signed to the organization.
— Notable Tim quote #1: “I’m out of the UFC for a couple years, and maybe I go back. I want to end my career in the UFC…Right now, this is the best thing for me.”
— Notable Tim quote #2: “There’s a guy out there named Fedor who I’d like to fight, and I think the only way that’s gonna happen is by me leaving the UFC.”
Holy crap! Can you imagine if Tim got a crack at Fedor before Randy Couture? It seems a little shocking that Dana White would let Tim leave the UFC without putting up a fight (Sylvia had one match left on his current contract), but maybe this is just an elaborate scheme to screw Randy. Dana, you brilliant asshole!
