Duffee vs Monson to Headline Super Fight League 4

Duffee vs Monson to Headline Super Fight League 4

Published on July 5, 2012 by The Sandman in NEWS, Super Fight League

Superfight League Announce; Duffee Vs Monson at SFL 4

Jeff Monson will take on Todd Duffee at SFL 4 on 8 Sept in Bengaluru, India, CEO Ken Pavia announced on MMAJunkie.com Radio.

Pavia also announced that SFL 5, which will take place in Chennai on 6 Oct, will be headlined by Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou and Trevor Prangley. Satoshi Ishii will also make his debut against Jimmy Ambriz.

Heavyweight Monson (46-13-1) has had a busy 2012 since his decision loss to Fedor Emelianenko late last year. He beat Alexey Oleinik (M-1 Challenge 31) in March before fighting in 3 bouts in the space of just over a month. First, a draw against Chaban Ka on May 11 (100% Fight 11) and then a mere week later beating Jim Yorke by unanimous decision at Cage Fighting Championship (CFC) 21.

His most recent fight was a quick submission victory over Denis Komkin at M-1 Global – Fedor vs. Rizzo on June 21. As mentioned by The Sandman on the MMANewsAsia podcast, SFL’s cards are pretty easy to predict and making Monson fight Duffee (7-2) was obvious and makes perfect sense stylistically.

Rameau Sokoudjou (12-10) was a rising star in PRIDE, with two first round knockouts of Ricardo Arona and “Little Nog“. When UFC bought PRIDE, Sokoudjou found himself unable to compete with the top UFC talent. He left UFC with a 1-2 record including a loss to future UFC Light Heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida.

Since then, Sokoudjou has found form hard to come by. He’s performed well at smaller promotions but has been unable to perform on the big stage, losing fights at Affliction and Strikeforce. Sokoudjou lost his last two fights and will see SFL as a chance for a fresh start. Fighting Strikeforce veteran Prangley (25-9-1) was predictable, but again, made sense considering the lack of depth in the SFL’s Light Heavyweight division.

Ishii (4-2-1) is an up-and-coming Japanese fighter who got thrown into the lion’s den at DREAM’s New Year’s Eve 2011 event on Dec 31 where he got destroyed by Fedor Emilianenko. This choice of opponent does surprise though. Jimmy Ambriz (16-18-1) is a huge Super Heavyweight with a lot of power and very little gas. I expected Ambriz to fight James Thompson who is equally as big but with a much better gas. I expect Ishii to do a lot of running in this fight.

As reported by The Sandman a couple of weeks ago, Monson and co have signed 4-fight contracts. The fight announcements certainly aren’t over though as Bobby Lashley, James Thompson and The Black Mamba Kultar Singh Gill have yet to receive fights.

For thoughts and discussions on MMA, follow The Sandman at @MsianGooner on twitter. The Editor @joebahru and The Coffee Boy @seth_borges

Super Fight League to air TUF-style reality show

Super Fight League to air TUF-style reality show

Published on June 8, 2012 by The Sandman in Super Fight League

Super Fight League Will Air TUF Style MMA Reality Show

As details begin to emerge of Super Fight League’s (SFL) reality show in India, The Sandman (still in third person) is here to bring you some links,  quotes and opinions of what this reality show that Dana White calls a TUF ‘rip-off’ has to offer.

Raj Kundra, who is married to Bollywood star and Big Brother UK winner Shilpa Shetty, says that his wife has helped him create the reality show and that “he discusses the show” with her. 

He told the Hindustan Times:

"Initially, we had jointly decided that it’s going to be a 16 male fighters /contestants show. Then, we thought of combining eight male and female each, to make it more interesting and add masala for the public."

One can only assume that ‘masala‘ is codename for a curry-based sex orgy.

He then told the Times of India:

"For any new sport other than cricket, you need to have some Bollywood guys. I hope that a year down the line, I won't have to show so much entertainment and Bollywood."

Back to the Hindustan Times:

"It’s going to be 50-day long series. The concept is that every week people will vote for two people they want to see fight, and Friday will be the elimination night. The fighters will also be given tasks throughout the week."

So, to update you guys- its TUF meets Big Brother with a little The Voice on the side. Will be interesting to see how the voting system works; a really boring fighter could win, I can only imagine the excitement when Cesar Gracie says, “Don’t be scared, Bhaiya.” Jokes aside, experienced trainers are expected.

The reality show will start recording by July 1st according to the Hindustan Times. The Times of India story reports that if everything goes according to plan, the show will start airing in August.

Since those articles were published a few updates have surfaced. Opposing Views has confirmed that the show will air on Viacom 18′s Colors, the same channel that owns SFL events’ TV rights. Opposing Views also adds that the winner will earn “20 lakhs and a 3-year contract (worth 50 lakhs)” with SFL.

For additional reading, check out what CEO Ken Pavia had to say about the reality show (not much) and also what he thought of Dana White’s comments regarding SFL (more interesting, but still meh.) on Fight Bulletin.

The Sandman’s thoughts:

Overall, despite my disdain for ‘masala‘, SFL just might be able to pull this off. Kundra seems to know his audience well, but planning will be the major hurdle. It seems a little rushed and with the recording starting in less than a month we still don’t know that much about the show.

It will also be interesting to see how SFL’s reality show stacks up against UFC’s Ultimate Fighter India which will also take place this year. My prediction is this, Indian MMA fans will probably watch both anyway. TUF India doesn’t take place until November (rumoured). So both reality shows will probably be reasonably successful.

On a side note (to SFL):

WTF SFL?! Where the hell is your marketing team? I had to scan through Google and combine a bunch of different articles just to make this story. Have a fuckin‘ press conference instead of giving different sources different quotes at different times. It almost seems like you wait for someone from the media to contact you guys and you just give them a quick response and move on. You can spend millions on an event but can’t spend a few bucks on a press conference to hype up your next ‘project’?! C’mon!

for more rants and opinions, feel free to follow the Sandman at @MsianGooner on twitter.

More From Super Fight League – India’s MMA Super Organisation

More From Super Fight League – India’s MMA Super Organisation

Published on January 26, 2012 by The Editor in Super Fight League

Following an interview on MMAjunkie.com Radio yesterday with Ken Pavia the Chief Executive Officer of Super Fight League, we have much more information on this exciting new opportunity for Asian MMA fans and fighters that is possibly set to be the biggest MMA organisation in Asia.

Apparently there were over 300 press present at the initial announcement of the SFL.

There are Six shows planned for this year and Twelve shows planned for next year. The shows will have an 8 fight card and will have some International names, also the events will  have a short concert by chart topping bands both before and after the event bringing a bit of bollywood glamour and atmosphere to MMA. Ken Pavia described it as ‘Pridesque’ with over the top production, in decent sized venues.

The potential in India is simply amazing, Indian Premier league has changed world cricket for ever and it tw went the whole showbiz and glamour route, however it’s lustre is fading due to many scandals, but even so, it still is an impressive spectacle with a large fan base.

The recent Indian Formula One race was a great success and all who took part had good things to say about the organisation.

The many Indian cities are desperate for their own slice of the glamour pie and MMA could provide that. I think fighters will soon be queuing up for a chance to fight in India and India should experience an explosion of interest including a slew of MMA gyms opening up.

In case you are wondering who will watch these events think on this, there are more 18-34 year old males in India than there are people in America (according to the press releases).

There are also plans for a reality MMA reality TV show on mainstream TV to help pump up the excitement.

Ken Pavia did also say that the second and third events should feature some bigger names from the North American scene.

He suggested there will be a 2 or 3 further ex UFC fighters on the first card .

He also hinted that the events will be able to be seen live in North America for free but was not able to release the information yet.