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Pro Elite Presser - Choi, Lesnar, Gracie, Morton Written By Hail Cesar Garcia Photos By Mariano Alvarez
On the day when the landscape of MMA changed with the announced purchase of Japan’s largest and arguably the world’s best MMA promotion , PrideFC by the owners of the UFC, ProElite and FEG which operate the EliteXC and K-1 respectively, today announced Dynamite!! USA, a fight card that will take place at the 90,000+ seat Los Angeles Coliseum on June 2. The initial three bouts will be aired on Showtime and then will be immediately followed by six bouts aired on Showtime pay-per-view. And while the bouts that will feature WWE superstar Brock Lesnar, 7 foot 2 South Korean Hong Man Choi, MMA legend Royce Gracie, and former USC and Detroit Lion Johnnie Morton, is definitely news worthy, the fact that the promotion will team with various other organizations from around the world to try and break the North American attendance record of 19,000 is bigger news, especially when coincidentally (or not) it was announced the same day that Zuffa announced its takeover of Dream Stage Entertainment owned PrideFC.
Aside from EliteXC, Heros (Japan), BODOG Fight (Russia), Strikeforce (USA, and current North American attendance record holder), Cage Rage (UK) and Spirit MC (Korea) will team up to create a “Superleague” that will try and put a dent in the near monopoly being headed by Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, known as the UFC and Pride FC or now, Pride Worldwide. Definitely a tall order.
But with the backing of
Showtime the new Superleague should make some noise in
the MMA world, and unlike the UFC which calls every
other promotion not run by it’s parent company of Zuffa
a joke, and refuses to cross promote, officials of the
new joint venture seem to welcome any and all
promotional companies that choose to work with them, and
hope to spearhead a petition to make a World Cup style
tournament in the future as well as making MMA an
Olympic sport.
This is my first MMA
fight in the United States and I am very excited about
it. I feel privileged to be on this show. The Coliseum
is a big place, just like me. I have studied my opponent
and know he is a very good fighter. I plan to give my
best. I hope I can live up to the expectations.
Pro wrestling ran its
course and I wanted to do something else. I tried pro
football and visited the Minnesota Vikings camp in 2004.
When that didn’t pan out and I saw how MMA was
exploding, I said to myself, hey, there’s something here
for you. This is my first MMA event and I am very
excited. I am happy to be part of this sport. I feel
fortunate to have my health and I am ready to go. I have
a good feeling about this. My opponent is obviously
very, very large. But size doesn’t matter. It just gives
me a huge target to hit. I think they are making a big
mistake by fighting me. Choi has more experience, but
when it comes time for me to put his butt on the mat, he
will be like a fish out of water. I want to thank
everyone involved. This is a heck of an opportunity and
a chance to get back to my amateur wrestling roots. I’ve
been training a year and feel very comfortable. This is
going to be a great event and I can’t wait for when it’s
time for lights, camera and action. I am looking to make
a huge impact on the MMA today.
I am pleased to be
fighting in California again. I live in Torrance
(Calif.) so this is like a home game for me. I don’t get
too many of those. I am very excited to be part of an
MMA event that will be the biggest and largest ever in
American history. I have fought in Japan in front of
95,000 fans, so I am used to huge crowds. But this is
going to be a fantastic and memorable event. I hope the
fans who can’t be at the Coliseum will watch the
pay-per-view. It will be very exciting.
This is my first pro fight. No, I don’t know of many other NFL players doing this. But I got beat up all those years playing football so I decided to give this a try. I stay in shape year round. So in the off-seasons, I would train in kick-boxing gyms and learn new moves. I am going into this totally blind. The big thing is, this is a new challenge in a sport I have never done before. My whole life, I played team sports. This is a chance to do an individual one. This sport is nuts. But football was nuts, too. At least in football, you do get hit sometimes, too. I feel my strengths are heart, courage, strength and competitiveness. I feel extremely strong in my upper body and on my feet. I’ve watched MMA from the very start and always found it interesting. It was my favorite sport to watch. Now, I am going to be in the biggest MMA event in American history. Sure, I will be a little nervous. But if you are not nervous, you should not be here. I am proud to be involved in this big event. I am looking forward to making a mark.
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