Recently there has been a lot of talk emanating from a new MMA company called American Fight League. You may have read that they signed former WWE wrestler Bobby Lashley. But the big news for female fight fans is they have signed former Bodog champ Tara LaRosa to a four fight contract. According to her management, Tara could receive half a million bucks if she wins all four fights. There have also been rumours that AFL is signing Kim Couture AKA Mrs. Randy Couture. She will have her first pro fight tomorrow. I wasn't going to write about all this until there's more concrete information but something came up today that makes me want to take a closer look at AFL.
American Fight League CEO BJ Santiago confirmed to John Morgan of MMA Junkie that Kim Couture will sign with AFL. He also claims that they will sign 20 to 30 female fighters over the next two months and they plan to have four different weight divisions for women. Of course this could be a very good thing for womens MMA...if the AFL is for real. That remains to be seen. They haven't announced a date or location yet but it's been rumoured that their first PPV will be in the fall. The company is based in Louisville, KY so they're familiar with the venues there.
The main guy behind this company is CEO Jon Hatton. He promoted a series of events in Louisville called Caged Inferno. BJ Santiago has zero MMA experience and used to work for Lexmark. Of course as fans we want the promotion to be successful especially since they plan to invest heavily in womens MMA. But taking a local promotion to a national level and expecting to sell PPVs immediately is a big step. And as we've already seen with the upcoming Affliction PPV, the 800 pound UFC gorilla will take no prisoners in trying to crush upstart promotions. It would be great to have another regular place for women to fight but the MMA dead pool is littered with companies who made a lot of noise only to die quietly. Remember Bodog? I will be following this story closely.
American Fight League CEO BJ Santiago confirmed to John Morgan of MMA Junkie that Kim Couture will sign with AFL. He also claims that they will sign 20 to 30 female fighters over the next two months and they plan to have four different weight divisions for women. Of course this could be a very good thing for womens MMA...if the AFL is for real. That remains to be seen. They haven't announced a date or location yet but it's been rumoured that their first PPV will be in the fall. The company is based in Louisville, KY so they're familiar with the venues there.
The main guy behind this company is CEO Jon Hatton. He promoted a series of events in Louisville called Caged Inferno. BJ Santiago has zero MMA experience and used to work for Lexmark. Of course as fans we want the promotion to be successful especially since they plan to invest heavily in womens MMA. But taking a local promotion to a national level and expecting to sell PPVs immediately is a big step. And as we've already seen with the upcoming Affliction PPV, the 800 pound UFC gorilla will take no prisoners in trying to crush upstart promotions. It would be great to have another regular place for women to fight but the MMA dead pool is littered with companies who made a lot of noise only to die quietly. Remember Bodog? I will be following this story closely.
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