LINCOLN, RI (Dec. 2, 2010) – Ending a bitter feud that’s lasted a year, Dany “The Upgrade” Lauzon (14-4-0) only needed 1:54 to force rival Damien “The Omen” Trites into tapping out by way of a guillotine, headlining last night’s professional mixed-martial-arts card
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Ray Hui is MMAFighting.com's Editor
Last week, Massachusetts became the 42nd state to legalize mixed martial arts after Governor Deval Patrick signed the bill into law for the state to regulate the sport.In this FanHouse exclusive, we spoke to Joe Cavallaro, the promoter of the state’s leading promotion, World Championship Fighting, to find out the impact regulation will have on the Bay State and his promotion.
Massachusetts-based promoters and fighters alike are thrilled with the news Monday that legislature has passed a bill for the regulation of MMA in the state, opening the door for UFC events as early as Summer 2010.
Regulation legitimizes the sport for everyone involved, and the arrival of the UFC grants a number of local fighters within the promotion the opportunity to compete in front of family and friends.
MMA wasn’t illegal per se, but there was no governing body for the sport, and the UFC’s stance is to only promote events where there is regulatory body in the state. In the past couple of years, MMA has been most prominently promoted in Massachusetts through the work of Joe Cavallaro and his World Championship Fighting cards, which air on the Comcast SportsNet New England channel.
“The passing of the bill is great,” Cavallaro told FanHouse Tuesday. “We’re excited about it and actually lobbied with the UFC and their fighter Kenny Florian in front of the senate for the regulation to be passed. This bill changes the face of MMA in New England forever. I think it’s a great thing for the sport, the fans, and certainly all of the fighters.”
WILMINGTON – Before his World Championship Fighting bout at the Shriners Auditorium last night, Mike Campbell likened himself to one of those toy monkey-drummers.
As most fighters were getting amped up for their bouts, Campbell was even keeled. He likes to remain on the same level before a fight, he said, like the wind-up toy.
His energy conserved, Campbell exploded on opponent Mike Medrano, dropping him with a flying knee and following up with a flurry of punches until the referee stopped the fight at 3:12 of the first round. Read more »
Joe Cavallaro: The Most Influential Guy You’ve Never Heard Of
By FIGHT! contributor Jeff Harder
It’s a little more than a month away from World Championship Fighting’s seventh show and Joe Cavallaro has had a phone fused to his ear all day trying to make the card a reality.
“If you have 15 fights, that’s 30 fighters, 30 personalities, 30 wives or girlfriends that have opinions,” Read more »
