FOX Sports journalist Colin Cowherd revealed that he has heard from various sources that McGregor vs. Mayweather boxing match will happen and that it will take place in September. He also weigh-ins in on the fight itself as a spectacle.
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IAPA reveal a new National Governing Body for amateur MMA in Ireland
The IAPA on Monday evening posted the following status via their official facebook page in regards to the setup of the Irish Mixed Martial Arts Association (IMMAA):
To date the Irish Amateur Pankration Association (IAPA) has acted as an associated body of the Irish Amateur Wrestling Association (IAWA) which is the National Governing Body for grappling arts in Ireland. The IAWA and its committee have provided invaluable support for the IAPA to date but now is time for us to start the recognition process with Sport Ireland for MMA under its own National Governing Body.
The IAPA would like to take a moment to thank the IAWA, in particular Michael McAuley and Daniel and Keith Kennedy. Without their advice and guidance we would not be in the position we are today. The IAWA have been a tremendous source of support, but we feel that it is now time to establish our own National Governing Body to enable the recognition and regulation of our sport in its own right.
This National Governing Body will be called the Irish Mixed Martial Arts Association (IMMAA). It will be a member of the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) and agrees to follow IMMAF's rules and guidelines. The following working committee has been set up to establish the IMMAA:
John Kavanagh - President
Andy Ryan - Vice President
Paul Cowzer - Chairman
Dean Wade - Secretary
Owen Roddy - Child Protection Officer
Clive Staunton - Anti Doping Officer
Barry Oglesby - Sport Ireland Liaison Officer
Ray Butcher - Treasurer
Liam-Og Griffin - Assistant Treasurer
David Jones - Progression Development Officer
The IMMAA will act as an advisory body for promoters looking to run amateur MMA events in Ireland. Our recommendations include but are not limited to:
Referees and judges to be appointed by the IMMAA
Pre -event medical checks to be controlled by IMMAA
Event medicals to be cleared by http://codeblue.ie/
Full IMMAF rules and regulations to be followed as listed here http://www.immaf.org/about/competition-rules/
All athletes to be registered to the IMMAA via the MyNextMatch registration system at https://www.mynextmatch.com/
Rhys McKee's next fight announced for June 11th
Next Gen NI's Rhys McKee (2-0) was left without a fight after the cancellation of UXC recently. Now the prospect has been assigned his next fight. On June 11th he will head to England to face Shaun Luther (1-1) on the Warlords 2 fight card.
McKee had the following to say via facebook:
"So next fight has been released I'm fighting in less than 3 weeks in England.. After 8 weeks preparation for UXC I was eager to get back in ASAP !! So 11th June WARLORDS 2 western super mare !! I'm ready to go now another W coming home !!"
McKee made a splash since turning pro as a late replacement against Irish MMA veteran. John Redmond at BAMMA 22. Against the odds and a significant size disadvantage McKee got the submission win to stun the arena. He followed this up with a stunning head kick KO over the dangerous Alex Masuku at BAMMA 24. Now he will aim to make it three for three as a pro on June 11th.
Luther is an experienced amateur fighter and made his pro debut earlier this year. He lost his first fight via submission but followed it up with a TKO win over a fighter who was 4-1 on Brad Pickett's ROC show.
No rest for Ryan Sheehan as he fights Italy this weekend
Just two weeks after his heroics in Japan where he fought the World ISKA Champion to a draw (click here to read more) Ryan Sheehan will head to Italy this weekend to face Vyorel Vintu from the Ukraine.
The fight will serve as the main event of the Wolf of the Ring (WTR) show on May 28th in Milan, Italy.
Sheehan posted the following on his facebook page regarding the fight:
"Saturday night I'm ready to take on fighter from Ukraine as the main event in Italy. I fly out Friday evening. Yes this is my second fight in two weeks! Yes I am crazy! After the my fight in Japan last week I wasn't happy with how I fought so this fight will be different!"
Mixed results for Irish MMA abroad over the weekend
A number of Irish MMA representatives were competing abroad over the weekend in countries as far as China. Here is a round-up of how they got on.
ICE FC 14 - England
Ali Maclean - the Liverpool based Northern Irishman won his second straight fight since returning from an 18 month layoff by beating Cage Warriors veteran Ellis Hampson in he main event of ICE FC 14.
Fabio Viti - the Ryoshin fighter was called upon as a relative late replacement and lost via armbar in the second round to Mick Gerrard.
Superstar Fights 3 - China
Jeanderson Castro - the Brazilian is based out of Cooper's MMA in Navan and faced very tough opposition in China against Changxin Fu. Castro ultimately lost the fight (exact result to be confirmed).
Venator FC 3 - Italy
Peter Queally - the SBG fighter came down with an undisclosed sudden illness and was unable to compete at the massive event in Milan, Italy.
SOMMA - Scotland
Jacek Jackowski - the IFS product won his MMA debut defeating Marc Simpson via unanimous decision.
Team Ireland win three gold medals at ISKA World Championships in Germany
Over the weekend Team Ireland descended on Stuttgart, Germany for the ISKA World Championships and amassed an impressive tally of seven medals including three golds.
Dylan Moran, Liam Alford and Paul Hayden went the distance in their respective weight divisions to win gold for their country.
Moran, who won his second world title, expressed his thoughts via facebook:
"#2 times champion of the world, being able to say that is a dream of mine since I'm a kid !! Just smashed the Ukrainian champion in the final of the world championships. Words Can't describe the feeling! There's too many people to thank I've the best team and supporters in the world, but the main man is my father/coach/best friend, we're travelling the world busting heads everywhere we go, dreams do come through, work hard, stay humble, peace."
Adam Doyle captured silver while Brandon Morrissey, Kalem Sullivan, Morgan McEnroe secured bronze medals. Connor Doyle and Glen Power both stepped up two weight divisions and reached the quarter final.
Team Coach Owen said that he was very proud of what everyone achieved and he is looking forward to an even bigger success to next competition in Italy.
Here is a list of the medal winners:
Dylan Moran -67kg World Champion
Liam Alford -60kg World Champion
Paul Hayden -54kg World Champion
Adam Doyle -60kg Silver
Brandon Morrissey -75kg Bronze
Kalem Sullivan -60kg Bronze
Morgan McEnroe -54kg Bronze
MMA returning to Dublin on June 26th
Today Irish promotion WCFC have announced that their next event will take place on June 26th in Dublin and will feature both K1 and MMA bouts.
MMA fights have not happened in the Republic of Ireland since the tragic passing of Joao Carvalho a few days after his fight on April 9th.
WCFC had a show scheduled for the weekend after and even had the blessing of Carvalho's family. But the event did not receive the support from the IAPA (Irish Amateur Pankration Association), who voted against it and withdrew their support of the show according to their Chairman.
Regardless, WCFC still decided to move forward with the event but unfortunately their insurance company pulled out unexpectedly forcing the show to be cancelled just hours before the doors were to open.
Since April 9th we have seen the cancellation of WCFC, Celtic Gladiator, UXC, Cage Kings and the postponement of BAMMA, all for various reasons.
WCFC promoter Pawel Tomczyk spoke to us about the upcoming show and said that the event will have a couple professional K1 fights, a few amateur K1 fights, a couple of ADCC superfights and a few amateur MMA fights, which will happen under the IAPA's supervision and under their new safety standards. There will be no pro MMA fights on the card.
Tomczyk also said that the safety for fighters in paramount to the organisation and will have the proper medical staff, cutmen, referees and doctors in place for the night of fights.
First matchup announced will be a rematch between Nathan Kenna and Ross Quearney for a WCFC amateur title, Ross won their last fight via footlock in April.
CRC 1 Results: Hormanski gets the title & Borim submits Mulpeter
CRC 1 took place Friday night from Dublin and was a night of K1 and ADCC rules grappling matches.
The main event saw a very close encounter where Zbigniew Hormanski just edged Daragh Kennedy on the judge's scorecards to walk away with the title.
Brown belt Hugo Borim submitted the very popular SBG MMA fighter Philip Mulpeter via knee bar in the evening's ADCC Superfight co-main event.
Main Card
Pro K1 95kg Title Fight- Zbigniew Hormański def. Daragh Kennedy via split decision.
ADCC Superfight- Hugo Borim def. Philip Mulpeter via knee bar.
Pro K1 63kg- David Ryan def. Darren Jordan via unanimous decision.
ADCC Superfight- Dariusz Świerkosz def. Conor Dillon on points.
Pro K1 70kg- Szymon Kozak def. Jose Vieri via KO, round 2.
K1 Undercard
Mark Fairman def. Ernest K Ashman via unanimous decision.
Kamil Janik def. Daniel Malicki via split decision.
Tomislav Smolić def. Calr Sherlock via TKO, round 2.
Andrei Jentimir def. Darren Cummins via KO, round 1.
Cian Heffernan def. Michał Wolski via unanimous decision.
Julia Górka vs Ciara Murphy - Draw.
Darek Paluszkiewicz def. Sean Bergin via KO, round 3.
Grappling Matches
Rafał Pietka def. Kacper Danicki via armbar.
Jezry Migasik vs Paddy Gibons - draw.
Alexander Yankov vs Mateusz Filip - draw.
Grzegorz Kopeć def. Kamil Łach via guillotine.
Andrious Norkumnas vs Damian Chaber - draw.
Wojciech Tomaszewski vs Graham Sapateiro - draw.
Darragh Caffrey vs Ben Judge - draw.
Ali Maclean victorious in ICE FC main event
Northern Ireland's Ali Maclean (15-8-1) won his second straight fight since returning from a long layoff. He defeated Cage Warriors vet Ellis Hampson (5-3, 1 NC) via unanimous decision (29-28 x 3) in the main event of ICE FC 14 in the UK.
"Win number two tonight after my lay off. Enjoyed it, felt improved. Thanks to everyone that supported and helped me," he said via Twitter following the win.
The TUF veteran, as previously mentioned, has won two straight fights in 2016. His previous win came in February with a unanimous decision over David Johnson. Before that Maclean had lost back to back fights against Brendan Loughnane and Artem Lobov.
The Team Kaobon fighter will be looking to pull together a string of wins and make a push towards the UFC. Despite making his pro debut in 2007 he is still only 26-years-old. Time and experience is on Maclean's side.
Paul Redmond to fight at FCC 16 on June 18th
It was confirmed earlier today by MMA Latest News that UFC veteran Paul Redmond (10-6) will face Callum Jones (7-1) at FCC 16 in Bolton on June 18th.
Redmond was scheduled to make his first post-UFC appearance at BAMMA 26 against Jack McGann in July but the promotion postponed that event until September. This move left many fighters, who were in the middle of camp, without fights and uncertain of their fights being rescheduled in September.
The Team Ryano fighter went 0-2 in the UFC. Redmond was called upon as a last minute replacement to face Mirsad Bektic. After putting in a valiant effort with so much going against him he lost via unanimous decision. Then he lost to Robert Whiteford six months later via TKO.
Before that Redmond was on a fantastic 7-1 run that saw him claim wins over the likes of Damien Brown, Ryan Roddy, and Lewis Long and in the process secure an unprecedented three toe hold submissions.
24-year-old Callum Jones will come into this fight having won his past five fights but hasn't been in action in over two years. In total Jones has an impressive six of seven wins coming via TKO/KO.
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