Declaration of Independents for May

Fedor returns to M-1 in June.jpg

(Fedor returns to M-1 in June)

All the fans know the UFC and all the press report on that promotion but wheredo their fighters come from? What else is going on now? Perhaps mostimportantly what shows should fans watch to see tomorrow’s stars develop? TheDeclaration of Independents is a monthly snapshot of what is going on in thenon-UFC or “independent” scene.

The spring season is winding down with Bellator and TUF wrapping up over thenext two weeks and the finals of the Strikeforce GP finally over.  This slight upcoming lull in the weeklybroadcasting is a good time for the independents with June weekends beingfilled with ROC, CFFC, and TFC to name just a few.

At this time HDNet’s rebranding under the name AXS TV (pronounced “access”)this summer is expected to have minor changes to the MMA schedule on that cablechannel however details at this time are not available.  HDNet has been broadcasting MFC, TFC, and LFCevents live as well as Inside MMA, arguably the top MMA news program.  Keep an eye on this issue to be one of thedefining ones in the independent scene this summer.

Here is a list of confirmed MMA events onTV and the internet for the next five weeks:

May 25th Bellator 70 (MTV2)
May 25th Titan FC (HDNet)
May 26th UFC 146 (pay-per-view)
June 1st Ultimate Fighter Finale 15
June 8th UFC on FX 3 (FX)
June 15th ROC (GoFightLive)
June 15th TFC (HDNet)
June 22nd BFC 71 (MTV2)
June 22nd UFC on FX 4 (FX)
June 23rd UFC 147 (pay-per-view)
June 30th CFFC (GoFightLive)

Televised shows:

British Association of Mixed Martial Arts(BAMMA)-March 24th was the most recent show with Tom Watson retaining theMW title, no further information is available.

Rick Hawn fights in the Bellator lightweight finalsBellator Fighting Championship (BFC)-Season6 wraps up this weekend with a heavyweight title fight, the finals of thelightweight tournament, and the semifinals of the bantamweight tournamenthowever the finals at welterweight and bantamweight will have to wait until the2012 summer series which starts June 22nd. Arguably the biggest news this season has been middleweight champion HectorLombard leaving for the UFC, no word is available on the future of EddieAlvarez at this time.

Rosi Sexton will apper in Cage Warriors in IrelandCage Warriors Fighting Championship(CWFC)-What started out as one of the first British MMA shows has turnedinto one of the first truly international shows breaking into new markets withshows this year so far not only in England but also Ukraine, United ArabEmirates, Jordan, and Bahrain.  Next upCWFC head to Dublin June 2nd before returning to Kentish Town in July and Ammanin October.

King of the Cage (KOTC)-The pay-per-viewfor Greatest KO’s #10 debuts this weekend while #11 starts June 22nd.  On the live front KOTC have five shows inJune before slowing down with one in July and two in August (so far).

Jay Heiron moves to LFC in JulyLegacy Fighting Championship (LFC)-LFChave four shows confirmed for the rest of the year starting with July 13 onHDNet.  Surprisingly Jay Hieron isco-headlining the show as he takes on Mike Bronzoulis.

Maximum Fighting Championship (MFC) –Inthe archives is a report on MFC 33 May 4th where Nathan Coy defeated RyanMcGillivray for the vacant welterweight title. Next up MFC 34 takes place August 10th with the vacant lightweight titleon the line between Adam Lynn and Mukai Maromo.

ProElite-Following ProElite 3 inJanuary Head of Fight Operations T.J. Thompson announced a deal with DREAMwhere both promotions would share fighters. As of this writing no information is available on either promotion.

Score Fighting Series (SFS)-In thearchives is a report from SFS March 16th. At this time no further information is available.

Jorge Santiago returns to TFC June 15thTitan FC-Two shows are in the worksfor TFC, first Friday with Anthony Johnson vs. David Branch headlining thenJune 15th with Jorge Santiago vs. Jay Silva. Both are expected to air on HDNet.

Webstreamed shows:

Aggression MMA-In the archives is areport on AMMA 9 February 11th.  Noinformation is available on the next show.

Cage Fury Fighting Championships-Nocard for the June 30th show is available at this time, just the location ofResorts Casino in Atlantic City.

Shayna Baszler headlines Invicta 2 in JulyInvicta MMA-The way some of thefights turned out at Invicta 1 can’t be held against the promotion which isarguably doing the best job so far of the few all-women format promotions (asin two, arguably three others in 12 years). The July 28th show is already looking good with Sara McMann vs. ShaynaBaszler as the main event, the only downside being lack of word so far on if itwill webstream for free as the first show did.

M-1 Global/Challenge/Selection (M1C)-TheMay 16th show with Kenny Garner defeating Magomed Malikov didn’t make manyheadlines but still kept this important Russian promotion growing until theFedor vs. Pedro Rizzo show June 21st.

Kyle Baker defends NAAFS title June 2ndNorth American Allied Fight Series(NAAFS)-It has been a busy period of growth over the past year for NAAFSbut at this time the only upcoming show is June 2nd’s Fight Night in the Flats8 in Cleveland.   On that show Kyle Baker defends his titleagainst Chris Lozano.

Uriah Hall returns at next ROCRing of Combat (ROC)-Sixteen fightsmake up the card for ROC 41 on June 15th, Uriah Hall vs. Nodar Kuduxashviliheadlines.  Although not confirmed yetthe show is expected to be webcast as a pay-per-view on GoFightLive andhighlights are expected to air on HDNet’s Inside MMA.

Tachi Palace Fights (TPF)-In thearchives is a report on the May 10th show webstreamed on Sherdog.  At this time there is no information on thenext show.

Other:

Pure MMA-the second event for thisPennsylvania promotion was impressive with the fight teams involved and thenews the promotion was expanding into TX has potential.  The downside is at this time there is no moreinformation available.