This is Sparta! – Vacation’s over

By: Terry Callihan

I love promoting Spartan and I love MMA in general. I got into the business because I saw guys take long trips and work their tails off as amateurs just to be stiffed on gas money or not get a hotel room. From SFC 1 I have worked to be the best of the best and I think if you ask fighters who have made their way through Spartan Fighting Championship you will find that they felt treated right.

It has been months since our last event. April 28^th in Mt. Sterling was awesome. SFC 14 had great fights all the way around with a great crowd in a new venue. The toll of the work though was brutal. We were pushing out our best product and hit four venues in four months. After SFC 14 we had big plans to venture into Ohio and return to Huntington. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. We had to regroup. A mix of great success and great disappointment led me to take a step back for a minute.

I am a business owner of a heating and cooling company. As summer started a little early I found myself running from job to job working longer and longer each day. Spartan was always on my mind but I was unable to give it the attention it deserved to be what I wanted it to be.

Another issue that has weighed heavy on me is the loss of my friend Chris “Slaughterhouse” Smith. Chris was a guy that I loved and thought very highly of. He was a guy that always made me smile. Chris never did fight for me but he was always at Spartan shows. Chris was driving his teammate and friend Dom Steele to weigh ins for SFC 13 in Huntington. They were involved in a tragic accident and Chris lost his life. Spartan, Vision and every MMA promotion that he has ever been to suffered a huge loss.

So after the struggles that we faced it would have been easy to quit. If you know me, I am not a quitter. The time is right. So with the return of my blog also comes the return of Spartan Fighting. SFC 15 ‘Resurrection’ is now the focus. I am so excited that I get to return to my Alma Mater in Russell High School to bring my promotion back . We have a date of October 6^th on the calendar and match making has already started.

ProMMAnow.com has been great to Spartan and I think this is a good chance for everyone to get that candid look at what a regional promotion goes through to try to bring the best show to fans. It is not about the money,  God knows if it were we would have never lasted.  It is about the fighters , fans and people of the sport that make it all worth it. I apologize to my staff  in advance but they should have had a good break . Clocks ticking, lets do this.

“This is Sparta!” is a weekly ProMMAnow.com (www.prommanow.com) blog written by Spartan Fighting Championship owner/promoter Terry Callihan and is part of ProMMAnow.com’s ongoing series of exclusive content written by individuals involved in the mixed martial arts industry. Visit the Spartan Fighting Championship website at www.SpartanFighting.com. Follow them on Twitter at @SpartanFighting and on Facebook.