“And so it begins”
By: Jeremy Luchau
Two weeks away and now it’s time to see what we are made of.
I told you all a few weeks back that you will be truly tested as a matchmaker, promoter, etc. as the event starts closing in and the problems start to roll in.
Just over a week ago Andre Galvao pulled out of his bout with Jorge Lopez with an undisclosed injury.
I was initially pretty bummed, because I was looking forward to seeing this fight. Lopez is a fast rising prospect that I don’t see fighting on the regional circuit for very much longer, and I felt that Galvao was going to be a great test to see where he was at.
Unfortunately that fight is not going to happen now. Right away matchmaker Richard Goodman and I went to work searching for a replacement.
Name after name came in and for whatever reason so many of the names just didn’t end up working out. We had problems locking down a suitable replacement for a number of reasons, ranging from travel budgets to management requests.
I have to admit, for the first time in a long time, I thought to myself that maybe this fight wasn’t going to happen, but finally we were able to lock in a good Californian prospect in David Marshall (see record).
Marshall is a Strikeforce vet and has won six of his last seven bouts.
With Marshall in to replace Galvao and most of Central California happy to see him finally come to Tachi Palace, we can now focus this week on fighter medicals.
Medicals are due this Friday and I’m now prepared for a plethora of excuses as to why they cannot be turned in on time. It’s the nature of the beast.
Fighters will start flying in first part of next week as well to finish some medicals that can only be done within the United States.
Also, fighters are busy finishing weight cuts about this time and all are feeling a bit irritable.
We will have to deal with some attitudes here for a little bit.
Along with medicals, some fighters will also be required to turn in their ticket money and left over tickets by Friday. I plan on collecting more money than tickets, though.
Fighters are not required to sell tickets, but most do. I’ve explained it in the past as their way of giving back, and Richard and I often use the guys that are selling tickets and selling a lot of them.
This week I will also be buttoning down the finishing touches on the Sherdog.com stream. We plan on streaming the weigh-ins again at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 4, and the fights will stream live on Friday, Aug. 5.
I know not everyone is a big fan of the streams and yes we’ve had our fair share of difficulties streaming shows in the past. We are really still learning and trying to get all the kinks out and get it done the right way.
I think this time we will have a good handle on things and be able to put out a product you can all enjoy. We’ve brought in some different elements to make it work a lot better.
I will follow up with another blog in a few days, since I was a few days late with this one. I had to take a few days “off” to move. When I say off, I wasn’t really off, but just out of the office. I was still working on fight related stuff the entire time.
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Facebook: www.facebook.com/jeremy.luchau
Twitter: @TheProject23
Email: [email protected]
Special Thanks: Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino (www.tachipalace.com), Fairtex (www.fairtex.com) and Metal Mulisha (www.metalmulisha.com).
“The Project Files” by Jeremy Luchau is a weekly blog series here at ProMMAnow.com which gives readers an inside look into the life of an MMA promoter. It is part of our ongoing series of exclusive content written by individuals involved in the mixed martial arts industry.