Battlegrounds MMA “One” Lineup Set for Friday October 3rd – Breaking MMA News
Prolific, 25-year-old finisher Randall “Buddy” Wallace (9-2) of Oakdale, Calif. will replace David Mitchell (15-4) of Sacramento, Calif. in the highly-anticipated BattleGrounds MMA one-night, eight-man welterweight (170 pounds) tournament that will award its winner a grand prize of $50,000 and headline a live Pay-Per-View telecast from the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla. on Friday, October 3.
In addition, a new, lightweight (155 pounds) co-main event between submission ace Jonny “The King of Late Night” Carson (11-6) of Broken Arrow, Okla. and Danny Navarro (11-4) of Riverside, Calif. has been inked for the event. Navarro is riding a spectacular 11-fight winning streak dating back to Aug. 15, 2009 and is coming off a first round submission (guillotine choke) victory over Ray Cooper III on Aug. 30.
Former NCAA Division I All-American wrestler for Oklahoma State University and undefeated featherweight (145 pounds) Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) upstart Jamal Parks (3-0) of Tulsa, Okla. will look to extend his perfect run in the cage in a Superfight with Ruben Warr (3-3) of Whittier, Calif.
In another Superfight contest, bantamweight (135 pounds) finisher Tyler Shinn (6-2) of Stillwater, Okla. will square off with KO artist and rising star Chris “El Guapo” Gutierrez (4-1) of Greenville, Texas.
To date, all but one of Wallace’s victories have come by way of (T)KO (3) or submission (5). He began a run to four consecutive wins with a first round (2:39) submission (rear-naked choke) of D.J. Roberson on May 25, 2013, a streak that ended in his last start when he was submitted with a rear-naked choke by Max Griffin in the second round (2:20) of battle.
Carson, a 28-year-old member of MMA superstar Gilbert Melendez’s San Francisco, Calif.-based Skrap Pack fight team, will make his first start of 2014. In his last effort, he earned a unanimous decision over Marcio Navarro on April 12, 2013.
The 26-year-old Parks produced his best collegiate wrestling results in his senior year, earning a fifth place finish at the NCAA Championships. With a career record of 89-22, Parks made his professional MMA debut on April 27, 2013, scoring a second round (2:47) TKO on Danny Toszon with a barrage of punches.
Parks has since registered two additional victories – a second round (3:00) TKO (retirement) of Josh McCracken on June 7, 2013 and a unanimous decision over Javier Obregon on August 2, 2013.
Warr, 25, is looking for his second consecutive win after notching a unanimous decision over Jordan Isordia on August 10.
The 28-year-old Shinn is looking to regain his stride, after his three-fight win streak was suddenly halted on February 28 with a close, split decision defeat at the hands of Aaron Phillips. Prior to his latest result, Shinn produced two first round finishes – a stunning, 15-second armbar submission of Alex Ureba on April 27, 2013, and a monstrous, 58-second TKO of Jeremiah Castillo with an onslaught of punches.
Shinn extended his win streak to three straight fights on August 2, 2013 with a unanimous decision win over Laramie Shaffer.
Gutierrez is aiming for his third victory and a perfect 2014 after a first round (2:50) TKO (punches) over Justin McNally on March 7 followed by a unanimous decision over Evan Woolsey on April 5. In three of his four career victories to date, the 23-year-old Gutierrez has vanquished his opponents with barrages of punches.
The welterweight tournament field is comprised of an elite collection of fighters in submission wizards Cody “AK Kid” McKenzie (15-4) of Spokane, Wash and Jesse “JT Money” Taylor (27-10) of Murrieta, Calif.; streaking finisher Joe Ray (11-3) of Miramar, Fla.; two-time, one-night tournament winner Brock Larson (37-8) of Brainerd, Minn.; hard-hitting brawler Luigi “The Italian Tank” Fioravanti (24-11) of St. Louis, Mo.; Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert Roan “Jucao” Carneiro (16-9) of Atlanta, Ga.; and Trey “That Just Happened?” Houston (11-2) of Bixby, Okla.
BattleGrounds MMA ‘O.N.E.’ will be distributed at a price point of $19.95 in the United States and Canada by Integrated Sports Media for live viewing, beginning at 10 p.m. EST/7 p.m. PST on both cable and satellite pay-per-view carriers iN DEMAND, DirecTV, DISH and Avail-TVN in the United States and Bell TV, Rogers, SaskTel, TELUS, MTS and SHAW PPV in Canada. A pre-show will begin at 9 p.m. EST/6 p.m. PST. In addition, the event will be available online as an iPPV at a price point of $19.95 on Go Fight Live (www.gfl.tv).
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross and recently retired UFC superstar Chael Sonnen will call the action live from cageside.
Tickets for the event, priced from $65, can be purchased online at www.bokcenter.com as well as at Arby’s Box Office at the BOK Center, all ticket outlets, or by calling 1-800-7-BOKCTR.
Doors at BOK Center open at 6 p.m. CST on Oct. 3. The first preliminary bout will begin at 7:15 p.m.
About BattleGrounds MMA
BattleGrounds MMA (www.battlegroundsone.com) is a world championship professional Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) promotion designed to place combative sports athletes on a major stage in the most challenging and exciting format possible: one-night, single-elimination tournaments that reveal the toughest competitors in their respective weight divisions. Launched by Olympic wrestling legend Kenny Monday and Bryan O’Rourke in 2012 as a regional organization in Tulsa, OK to unearth promising new talent in one of MMA’s biggest hotbeds, the promotion is quickly capturing the hearts of fans nationwide as it brings about an exciting new era in the world’s fastest growing sport.
About the BOK Center:
The BOK Center is Tulsa’s state-of-the-art sports and entertainment venue that opened in fall 2008. The 19,199-seat arena is home to the WNBA Tulsa Shock and the CHL Tulsa Oilers. The BOK Center was designed to host major concerts, family shows, ice shows, and other world class entertainment. Owned by the City Of Tulsa, the BOK Center is part of Vision 2025, a project to grow economic and community infrastructure for future generations. In 2011, the BOK Center won the prestigious International Association of Venue Managers (IAVM) Venue Excellence Award.
About SMG
Founded in 1977, SMG provides management services to more than 230 public assembly facilities including convention and exhibition centers, arenas, stadiums, theatres, performing arts centers, equestrian facilities, science centers and a variety of other venues. With facilities across the globe, SMG manages more than 14.4 million square feet of exhibition space and over 1.75 million sports and entertainment seats. As the recognized global industry leader, SMG provides venue management, sales, marketing, event booking and programming, construction and design consulting, and pre-opening services for such landmark facilities as McCormick Place & Soldier Field in Chicago, Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, Houston’s Reliant Park and the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. SMG also offers food and beverage operations through its concessions, catering and special events division, SAVOR, currently servicing more than 100 accounts worldwide. For more information visit www.smgworld.com.