Impact Fighting Championship, a new MMA promotion co-owned and organized by former Bitetti Combat organizer Thomas Huggins, will be holding three events in three consecutive weeks in Australia and New Zealand this July.
The startup fight company has recently caught some attention with their initial signings of controversial names like Josh Barnett, Karo Parysian, Ken Shamrock and Paul Daley. While all are very talented fighters, they also have another common link of having faced penalizations which have hindered them from being with major American promotions.
Josh Barnett had the third positive drug test of his career prior to Affliction’s Trilogy event, where he would’ve faced MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko. The fight was called which lead to the cancellation of the entire event and ultimately the demise of Affliction as a fight promotion altogether.
Barnett was out for about a year before returning back to action this March for DREAM.13 in Japan where he defeated Mighty Mo with a mercy submission after punting Mo’s testicles.
The Babyfaced Assassin’s next challenge will come by way of the dangerous Geronimo “Mondragon” dos Santos who has been victorious in 8 of his last 9 fights. The pair will meet on week two of Impact FC’s invasion down under. The event will be held at the Brisbane Entertainment Center in Brisbane, Australia on July 10th.
That same night, Barnett will be joined by another fighter with a troubled history when Karo Parysian makes his return to MMA against Luis Dutra Jr.
Parysian was suspended in the beginning of 2009 for testing positive for banned painkillers. He was given another chance by Dana White but instead pulled out of his planned fight for UFC 106 the day before the weigh-ins which caused him to be fired and basically banned from the organization.
Impact FC isn’t short on UFC banned fighters, especially with the most recent addition of Paul “Semtex” Daley who was cut and banned immediately following UFC 113, where he sucker punched Josh Koscheck after being dominated on the ground for three rounds.
Paul Daley is slated for Impact FC’s inaugural card which will be held in Auckland, New Zealand on July 3rd at Trusts Stadium, however an opponent has not yet been named.
Ken Shamrock has also been scheduled to appear as the main event of the final card, set for July 18th in Sydney versus Pedro Rizzo. Not a stranger to positive tests or last minute scratches, Shamrock may be the most notorious of them all.
I don’t mean to take shots at anyone. It’s just that it’s depressing to see such a legend and pioneer of MMA fall so low. Shamrock used to be one of the baddest men around and even took part in the first ever UFC. I would have loved to see Shamrock face Rizzo a few years back instead of now, but I’ll still be happy to see a healthy Shamrock in a competitive match up with Rizzo, if that can happen.
Any one of the other three that can overcome their recent struggles could quickly become a title contender in their respective weight class.
Barnett was thought of as the number two heavyweight by many journalists, Parysian was the number one contender for the UFC heavyweight belt at one point and Daley had the opportunity to compete for a UFC welterweight title shot.
Let’s hope, for the sake of MMA, that Impact FC can make an impact on these fighters and jump start their once promising careers with some exciting fights that lead to much, much more.
Related posts:
[...] FC has had many recent additions since my article I wrote a few days ago. Paulo Filho is one of the biggest names added since [...]