ProElite announced today that they would be revealing more details on their “ProElite 2.0” 8/27 event during a conference call this Friday morning.
WHAT: PRO ELITE MMA – PRESS CONFERENCE
WHEN: FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2011 – 10:00AM
WHERE: RUM FIRE, SHERATON WAIKIKI BEACH, HAWAII
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LOS ANGELES, CA–Jul. 26, 2011— ProElite, Inc. (PELE:PK), today announces a press conference scheduled for Friday, July 29th in Honolulu to reveal the matchups on the upcoming August fight card.
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“It’s exciting to have the MMA community on the edge of their seats awaiting the next ProElite news,” stated Paul Feller, President and CEO of Stratus. “I am confident that MMA fans will not be disappointed with the matchups, which will be announced later this week.”
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The August 27th fight marks the third time ProElite has staged an MMA event in Hawaii.
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T.Jay Thompson, head of Fight Operations said, “This is just the start of ProElite’s return to a dominant player in the industry.” “We look forward to regaining the support of the MMA global audience.”
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Tickets can now be purchased at the Blaisdell Arena box office, or online at ticketmaster.com. Reserved seats are $28, $40, $65, and $90; Cage side seats are priced at $150 and $200.
Rumored ProElite 8/27 Card:
Andrei Arlovski (15-9) vs Ray Lopez (5-2)
Kendall Grove (12-9) vs Joe Riggs (34-13)
Kala Hose (7-5) v Drew McFedries (9-6),
Raquel Pa’aluhi (3-1) v Sara McMann (2-0),
Mark Ellis (Debut) v Jake Huen (1-0)
Reagan Penn (Debut) vs TBA
Payout Perspective:
ProElite’s August 27 event from Hawaii has been building up nicely in the past couple of weeks. T.Jay Thompson and Rich Chou have done a great job of piecing the card together with a good mix of recognizable veteran names along with young prospects. The additions of Kendall Grove, Reagan Penn, and Kala Hose to the card should translate into good attendance numbers for the promotion. Young prospects such as Mark Ellis and Sara McMann will bring credibility to the promotion and should begin the process of creating their own stars.
Sources have informed MMAPayout that the event will most likely be streamed from Sherdog.com as the UFC Rio event concludes. Another interesting piece of news is that Jens Pulver is in talks to become ProElite’s color commentator for the event.
Legendary PRIDE referee Yuji Shimada will also be working the August ProElite event in Hawaii.
In terms of sponsors, ProElite’s T.Jay Thompson informed us that he didn’t expect any major sponsors for this event. If we look at the event poster, it only shows radio stations such as 101.9, 98.5, and 93.9.
MMAHAWAII.com will be streaming the press conference live.
Goes to show the seemingly eternal drawing power of the heavyweights. The smaller promotions will always be willing to sign some former UFC heavyweight to make a splash, especially a former champion.
And the longer UFC is around, the more ex-UFC stars and champions will be floating out there.
Dave,
I think it really depends on who the fighter is. Arlovski is a big name fighter that has a huge following, so your theory makes perfect sense. Other HW’s who get cut won’t have the same type of demand.
I do agree that it is a good way for smaller promotions to create good cards, with a nice mix of vets with a name and young prospects that you hope and build in the promotion.