Declaration of Independents for July

Braulio Estima makes MMA debut in Titan FC

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

The Olympics have started but the MMA scene is still for the most part on holiday.  Most of the news has centered around Bellator’s summer series and Invicta FC’s second show but the other big MMA shows like ROC and TPF are off until September.  Some of the smaller shows like NAAFS and CFFC are booking several shows in this time and stealing the spotlight that is otherwise filled out with the AXS TV (formerly HDNet) standbys MFC, TFC, and LFC.  There are some great fights going on, just not as covered.

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

July 28th Invicta FC 2 (InvictaFC.com webstream)
August 4th UFC on Fox 4 (Fox)
August 10th MFC 34 (HDNet/AXS)
August 11th UFC 150 (pay-per-view)
August 17th LFC (AXS)
August 18th Strikeforce (Showtime)
August 24th CFFC (GoFightLive)
August 24th BFC 73 (MTV2)
August 24th Titan FC (HDNet)
September 1st CWFC (MMA Junkie)
September 1st UFC 151 (PPV)
September 7th TPF 14 (unconfirmed Sherdog)
September 14th LFC (AXS)
September 14th ROC (GoFightLive)

Televised shows:

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

Bellator Fighting Championship (BFC)-Only three fights have been confirmed for BFC 74, the final show of the 2012 Summer Series, but they are the finals of the BW and HW tournaments as well as a FW title fight.    In the weeks to come look for more on this show which takes place August 24th.

King of the Cage (KOTC)-For what was once the second-biggest show the pay-per-views are basically down to just “greatest KOs” instead of whole shows.  The live front however is packed with events August 4th, 11th, 18th, 23rd, and 30th plus eleven more for the rest of the year.

Legacy Fighting Championship (LFC)-August 17th, September 14th, and November 16th are the current dates for the AXS-broadcast Texas show.  The August show is headlined by Will Campuzano vs. Jimmy Flick.

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

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

Resurrection Fighting Alliance (RFA)-The June 30th RFA show was impressive even if it was a webstream in conjunction with Fight Now! TV.  In the archives is coverage of the event where Dakota Cochrane defeated Joe Stevenson, no information on the next show is available.

Rig of Fire-FIGHT NOW TV broadcast the June 2nd show, no further information is available.

Score Fighting Series (SFS)-Off since March the Score Fighting Series returns August 25th with John Fraser vs. Josh Hill and Alex Ricci vs. Jesse Ronson.

Titan FC-Finally, after scheduled MMA debuts in other promotions ADCC Worlds Superfight Champion Braulio Estima steps into a cage and it is at Titan FC 24 on August 24th!

Webstreamed shows:

Sean Santella defends CFFC title in AugustCage Fury Fighting Championships-With shows scheduled for both August 24th and November 3rd CFFC are one of the more active shows right up there with NAAFS.  In the main event of the August show Tim Williams fights David Branch while BW champion Aljamain Sterling and Flyweight champion Sean Santella are also on the card.  At this time there is no information on CFFC 17 on November 3rd.

Cage Warriors Fighting Championship (CWFC)-No confirmation is available on if CWFC Fight Night 7 will webstream on MMA Junkie as CWFC 48 did, what is confirmed is John Phillips faces Pavel Kusch in the finals of the middleweight tournament for the vacant title while Conor McGregor makes his first defense of the featherweight title.

Invicta MMA-With the second Invicta show taking place this weekend look for more in separate articles.

Jessica Eye returns to NAAFS in AugustNorth American Allied Fight Series (NAAFS)-Three shows are in the works for NAAFS with Caged Vengeance 11 August 4th (amateur show), Rock and Rumble 6 on August 17th, and Caged Fury 18 on August 25th.  All are expected to webstream on GoFightLive but the August 17th show looks the most important with the return of Bellator vet Jessica Eye.

One FC-definitely the fastest growing promotion is now on ESPN STAR Sports in Asia but is still webstreamed on Facebook in the US.  The June 23rd show saw Zorobabel defeat Roger Huerta while Renato Sobral took an armbar victory over Tatsuya Mizuno.  At this time no further information is available on the next show but watch for it to be on the level of Sengoku.

Deividas Taurosevicius headlines ROC in SeptemberRing of Combat (ROC)-Another show to take the summer off ROC’s last show was June 15th (see archives), the next one is ROC 42 on September 14th.  ROC 42 is headlined by Deividas Taurosevicius vs. Mike Santiago and also features Ed Gordon vs. Marvin Eastman.

Tachi Palace Fights (TPF)-One of the shows taking the rest of the summer off TFC return September 7th.  No information is currently available on the card itself or if Sherdog will again webstream the show.  In the archives is a report on the May 10th show where Joe Soto defeated Chad George.

Other:

Luis Santos makes CFA debut in AugustChampionship Fighting Alliance (CFA)-a new entry to the list the Florida-based promotion caught the attention of many with the June 30th show where Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante was defeated by Luis Palomino.  Now CFA have three shows lined up with August 10th, September 28th, and November 2nd all confirmed so far.  The August show features Bellator vet Luis Santos vs. Valdir Araujo, no further information is available.

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