“Up against the ropes”
By: Jeremy Luchau
And the hits keep coming.
I’ve been saying all along that you really learn what you’re made of when things start to go wrong.
One week away and the Tachi Palace Fights 10 fight card has changed dramatically since it was announced. First with the loss of Andre Galvao and now TPF Middleweight champ David Loiseau is injured.
We were able to replace Galvao with a solid up-and-coming fighter that we’ve been looking at for a while… David Marshall out of the Cesar Gracie team in Stockton.
But I think we hit a home run with the Loiseau replacement, calling on Central Valley bad boy Doug “The Rhino” Marshall. It wasn’t easy, though, let me tell you.
First, Loiseau’s manager Ken Pavia wanted to replace Loiseau with Jay Silva and that seemed like a great idea, but Giva Santana’s manager Jason House and their team wanted us to see what else was available.
I was able to grab a couple other options, including Marshall and at first House seemed to like the Marshall choice and said they had no interest in fighting Silva this fight.
I knew right away that Marshall was going to be a tough negotiation and our matchmaker Richard Goodman was on the phone with Rob Roveta (Doug’s manager) to try and lock something up. Of course, it took a day or so of tough negotiating on both sides to come to an agreement and I think in the end both parties really win.
We focused so much energy on getting a deal done with Marshall after House declined on fighting Silva.
Marshall hasn’t fought since last September, but is one of the fan favorites in the Valley. We get him for three fights, and he gets to stay busy in his backyard
Then House and company through a bit of a monkey wrench into the mix… “We want it to still be for the title”. Obviously I couldn’t ask Marshall to fight five rounds on nine days notice and I wasn’t prepared to have an interim title fight.
Loiseau is sending a doctor’s note and has a legitimate injury. The plan is to have him defend his title in 2012 when he is completely recovered.
In the end, we were able to work things out so Santana vs. Marshall would happen.
It was a headache, though, but it all came together.
As I sit here and pound away on the keyboard today I have stacks of medicals I’m going through as well as bio forms, bout agreements, media applications, sending press releases, coordinating the live stream with Sherdog.com, trying to find a replacement for Phil Baroni to commentate, answering text… all while my computer won’t save documents and emails won’t send to more than 10 recipients at a time.
Needless to say, I’m frustrated this Friday morning.
Then I remember just last night I was home with the kids, goofing off with my fiancée Lauren and enjoying all their company. (Can’t wait to get back home).
I do love my job and although I don’t get too much time away from MMA, I have to really stop and cherish the moments that I do. Even if my phone is vibrating in my pocket nonstop.
But back to the show; a major focus right now with Marshall is making sure we can get the word out effectively over the next week that he is competing Friday, August 5. We are going to hit the radio and social media hard.
Marshall should drive some serious ticket sales over the next week and it’s our responsibility first and foremost to let the public know what’s going on.
My focus will then switch to the paperwork and making sure everyone is cleared through CSAC with medicals and that fighters have turned in their tickets and ticket money.
I will be making my way across the Valley today to pick up a variety of things from the fighters and check in just to make sure they’re doing well and don’t need anything.
Saturday and Sunday we have some promo work we are doing with Visalia MMA Gear with locations in the Visalia and Hanford Mall. Ring Girls Lauren and Krista will be there to promote the show, give away tickets, sign autographs and take some pictures.
This week we were also able to work out a pretty killer partnership with Hostility Clothing to sponsor our Ring Girls and provide some gear for the staff here for the events. We are looking forward to building long lasting relationships with good people like this.
We had a great conference call with Erica Sanchez from Hostility and hopefully the X-Games doesn’t wear her and her staff out too much to where they can’t come up next week.
There are really a lot of great people in the MMA industry.
The next seven days will be a non-stop sprint of craziness.
But I love it…
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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 Hostility Clothing (www.hostilityclothing.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.