via collegecageseries.com

Shane Corbin Promotions will present their first high profile mixed martial arts event on March 19th featuring a headliner with The Bodyshop gym owner and current MFC lightweight champion Antonio McKee (22-3-2). He'll take on Rodrigo Ruiz, a top Brazilian prospect with a record of 12-1. Despite a supporting cast that includes Lodune Sincaid (15-8), EliteXC and M-1 veteran Giva Santana (13-1), Bellator and MFC veteran Jesse Juarez (13-5), and K-1 veteran and Millenia MMA's own "Mighty Mo" Siliga (3-1), that's not the biggest news concerning the promotion, not by a longshot.

MMA Recap was able to confirm through Shane Corbin earlier today that "College Cage Series" is not just the moniker for their MMA competitions, it is also the name of an upcoming reality T.V. series based on the sport that will debut in May on Fox Sports Net, a network that is quickly becoming a juggernaut of televised combat sports.

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via mmarecap.com

King of the Cage has been a busy promotion, almost since its inception in 1998. 12 years later, a slow start has yielded to an influx of fight card announcements that extend into July, hot on the heels of various whispers of a Mark Burnett and HDnet television deal. I will be cageside for their February 25th show near the promotion's Inland Empire home. But first, a rematch of a bout that was hotly contested last December heads up a New Mexico offering.

The next few KOTC events have been scheduled for Minnesota, New Mexico, Okinawa, and the usual San Manuel Casino venue in San Bernardino, CA. Limited information is available regarding the fight cards but the stock of these events seems to have risen in the past year. The participants in various KOTC events are of a higher caliber since Trebilcock regained control of the promotion from ProElite last year.

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Gladiator Challenge has been a staple of MMA since 1999. As with Tedd Williams' "other" promotion, King of the Cage, they pride themselves on providing regional MMA to fans and are based mainly in (Southern) California.

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Before we get to see the next stage in PFC's climb towards Strikeforce's arguable dominance over the western U.S. MMA scene, we are treated to the current chapter of their rise. Regional MMA doesn't get any better than this.

Over the past 3 years and especially the last 3 months, Palace Fighting Championships has grown from a local MMA promotion to Central California's premier source for regional and international combat. Based out of Lemoore, CA or more specifically, Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino, PFC is now drawing attention with stacked fight cards (by regional MMA standards), inking deals with international talent and now a big name prospect in Bobby Lashley. But before we get to see the next stage in PFC's climb towards Strikeforce's arguable dominance over the western U.S. MMA scene, we are treated to the current chapter of their rise.

PFC's 12th installment features no less than 5 Championship bouts and a few more intrigues. We'll be taking a look at the title bouts and one notable "pre-lim."

In a true battle of up and coming talents in one of the more underlooked divisions in MMA is the ever-popular flyweight torunament conclusion, crowning an inaugural PFC Flyweight champion. Rambaa "M-16" Somdet (6-2) of Thailand who has rattled off 5 consecutive victories, 4 by decision with his most recent win over Ulysses Gomez (2-1) of Las Vegas, NV. in PFC's flyweight tournament "semifinal" in November, will look to continue his impressive streak of victories. He has been tested in both DEEP and Shooto in Japan and his Muay Thai styling, although a bit conservative, has served him well thus far. He'll be facing Pat Runez (1-0 pro, 3-0 amateur) who made his MMA debut at PFC 11 with a unanimous decision victory over Luis Gonzalez and brings a more rounded game to the table.

Though Somdet clearly carries a stronger resume of victories than Runez has managed in his short professional career, this clash of styles seems to favor Runez. If Runez can avoid the tried and true Muay Thai that Somdet will almost assuredly impose and perhaps sprinkle in some takedowns of his own, expect him to break "M-16's" streak of decision victories and take this fight in 3. Runez wields more weapons than his Muay Thai-styled opponent and will likely attempt a submission or 2 if he gameplans well. Somdet, of course, has a background that can devastate Runez at range but don't expect him to be able to keep that distance for long. More than likely this fight will go the full 3 rounds, resulting in a decision victory for Pat Runez.

The PFC Lightweight belt will be on the line as Brian Cobb (14-4) looks to extend his current win streak to 9 while attempting to overcome another hot lightweight in Lance Wipf (8-1). Cobb is a PFC veteran in his first title defense with notable victories over John Reedy (twice, once in ShoXC's Elite Challanger Series), Diego Saraiva, and most recently Marcus Levesseur at War Gods in November of '08. Cobb's style favors Brazilian Jiu Jitsu but he can hold his own on the feet. He is one among a horde of current generation Mixed Martial Artists in that he trains in every aspect of the game. Wipf is in a similar boat, though he began his MMA career with some impressive TKO's, he primarily views himself as a ground fighter.

These guys have similar abilities on paper, though Cobb shows more ground prowess in action. Wipf, on the other hand, swears by his "new striking ability" which is an obvious plug to his recent training at Xtreme Couture. Expect Lance Wipf to try and exhibit his "newfound" striking while Cobb plays an evasion game, waiting for the opportunity at a takedown. If the opportunity arises before Wipf has the chance to test his hands and legs, Cobb should take him down and then it's anybody's ballgame, advantage Cobb, who should be able to exploit some lackluster BJJ training and win by an early round submission.

In welterweight action, Bryan Travers (11-1) will make his first title defense against Mike Moreno. Travers is a HUGE 170 lbs. and fighting a less then stellar opponent in Moreno. An early round TKO stoppage is a likely outcome with Travers retaining his belt.

For the Bantamweight title, reigning 135 lb. champ Shawn Klarcyk (9-2) tries his hand against a seasoned veteran out of Japan, Masahiro "Jackal" Oishi (19-10-7). Oishi has managed to submit 12 of his opponents but has never fought in North America to this point. It remains to be seen how he fares against the more well rounded opposition that he will face in Klarcyk, who is more likely to win this one by decision.

The featherweight title will be decided by a match between Jorge "The Bull" Evangelista (8-2-1) and and Diego "The Octopus" Saraiva (12-8-1). Saraiva is a UFC veteran (0-3) but has struggled to retain the momentum he had leading to his signing with Zuffa in 2007. He does, however, have a win over possibly the most popular (and skilled) fighters in PFC, Poppies Martinez. Evangelista, on the other hand, has impressed over the past year, reeling off 4 victories in PFC to earn the featherweight belt, his last loss coming in 2005 to Tyson Griffin. "THe Bull's" popularity among Central California MMA fans is swelling exponentially based on his stellar performances thus far in PFC. He looks to be climbing toward bigger and better things but in the meantime, expect yet another impressive victory to retain his belt.

Prior to 5 championship matchups is what could be the main event for the PFC 12 undercard, or possibly the opening fight for the main card. Cyrille "Snake" Diabate has won 6 of his last 7 fights, his only loss came at the feet of Maurilo "Ninja" Rua in Pride. Many in the MMA communities consider Diabate to be quite the underrated talent. He takes on TUF alumnus Lodune Sincaid (14-6) who has been less than stellar since his days in "the house" but has managed victories over Alex Schoenauer, Kenny Ento, and most notably James Irvin. Make no mistake, Sincaid is more than a can here, but Diabate MAY make him look like one. Snake's striking is much better than average and Sincaid has never shown any real "elite" skill in one area or another throughout his career. His saving grace may be his BJJ but Diabate is weathered enough in that area to avoid in real trouble, even if this fight makes it to the ground by any other means than a Snake strike. It will be interesting to see how Diabate fares in a return to higher level competition. He had trouble with Jaime Fletcher, who is a good striker, but maaged to pull out a lopsided decision. Sincaid is a step above Fletcher, though. Hopefully this isn't the last we've seen of either of these guys in PFC.

A final look should place eyes upon the PFC debut of Billy Evangelista (8-0). His stellar record is only tarnished by a couple nail bitingly close victories over other highly touted fighters including Nam Phan and Luke Caudillo. His win over Caudillo was a bit more impressive and many think Evangelista is only beginning to realize his talent. That assumption will be tested against against Harris Sarmiento (25-18), a Hawaiian who has fought in virtually every "minor" MMA promotion west of the Mississippi and beyond. All things considered, Sarmiento seems to be a can meant to pad Evangelista's record but his 43 fights of experience tell a tale of warning against underestimation. The outcome of this fight will answer many questions about Billy Evangelista's legitimacy and could serve as a springboard to bigger things.

Rounding out the event:
Xavier Foupa-Pokam (19-9) vs. Kasey Uscula (15-12)
Lavar Johnson (10-3) vs. Dave Huckaba (9-2)
Evan Dunham (6-0) vs. Dustin Akbari (3-0)
John Gunderson (16-6) vs. Alexander Crispim (3-2)
Tito Jones (5-2) vs. Justin Smitley (5-2)
Jason Georgianna (8-3) vs. Michael McDonald (6-0)
Joey Cabezas (3-0) vs. Joe Morales (3-0)
Phil Davis (1-0) vs. Josh Green (0-0)

Tachi Palace is quickly making a name for themselves in combat sports. They've held small time boxing events for years and began hosting MMA a few years ago as well. With PFC growing as fast as they have since their initiation and an upcoming Boxing/MMA hybrid event coming up featuring names like Bobby Lashley co-featured with Andre Ward (of up and coming boxing fame), their 12th event, stellar in and of itself, seems to be an appetizer for things yet to come. Even the undercard features some rising stars and some of the best in the Pacific MMA scene. PFC 12 is streaming live and free (as did PFC 11) on sherdog.com for all eyes to see. Regional MMA doesn't get any better than this.

Seems like this happens almost daily but I, again, feel the need to vent publicly...perhaps I'll turn this into a ritual...bonez is burning? Perhaps bonez is breaking...

Look, I am a hardcore MMA fan. This means I read no less than 5 MMA news sites/blogs everyday, top to bottom. I also watch MMA in my free time. My problem is this: Luke Thomas, Sam Caplan, Brian Knapp...I understand what your job entails, I'm an aspiring journalist myself, but must we feed the fire that IS controversy, especially when it relates to what you and I call "our sport" of MMA?

Last night's UFN: Fight For The Troops was an AWESOME card. Back to back goldmines for both UFC and MMA, if you ask me. Excitement, every kind of finish imaginable INCLUDING a decision that delivered in the entertainment category. What more could a casual or hardcore MMA fan ask for?

However, UFN also delivered an awakening to the reality of...not MMA...but professional sports in general. A broken bone, a dislocated limb, a brutal knockout...All in one night. No, I'm not talking about the NFL (though it sure sounds like it, doesn't it?) I am speaking of MMA. Get the irony here? Sure, MMA CAN be brutal but no more so than the NFL or even, at times, NBA and even MLB. We won't even get INTO rugby or soccer (soccer has more dislocated kneecaps and broken shins DAILY than any sport on the planet...well, so they claim )

MMA is not unique in televising brutality. This is professional sports. Professionality breeds intensity breeds aggression breeds everything that comes with those, including injury. UFC may have shown us a medley of what MMA can deliver in the negative sense, but it also gave us an EXCITING card of a sport that defies the economic odds.

The long and short...quit your whining, MMA journalists. Perhaps a few casual fans or first time viewers were a bit put off by what was shown last night. But rest assured that frequent "oh my God the casual fan is appalled by what they saw!" comments strewn across the internet has a MUCH larger impact than even the event itself. Don't make a big deal out of nothing. MMA as a sport is growing and unless unsportsmanlike conduct becomes commonplace, it will continue to do so. But as with ANY media, the journalists and reporters can sway the public. Please, use that power for MMA's BENEFIT, not its detriment.