 | This article is an autobiography or has been extensively edited by the subject or by someone connected to the subject.(April 2012) |
Dave O'Donnell | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Nationality | English |
| Occupation | Promoter |
| Known for | Cage Rage Presenter, Ultimate Challenge MMA Promoter |
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (168 cm) |
Dave O'Donnell (born in London, England) is a mixed martial arts promoter, best known for his role in the Cage Rage promotion. He is currently the CEO and founder of Ultimate Challenge MMA.
Cage Rage Championships, also known as Cage Rage, was a United Kingdom-based, mixed martial arts promotion that premiered on 7 September 2002 in London. Cage Rage went bankrupt and is now no longer trading. Cage Rage had been owned and managed by Elite XC until that company ceased operating, and the British promoters behind Cage Rage formed a new organization, Ultimate Challenge MMA, and withdrew all the old Cage Rage titles. [1] Matchmaker and on-screen personality Dave O'Donnell was also a shareholder in the company. Fellow on-screen personality and co-promoter Andy Geer also owned a stake until he left the promotion in 2008. [2] Cage Rage events were replayed on Nuts TV, [3] along with their own weekday show on The Fight Network (UK & Ireland) until these channels closed down. [4] Archived shows are currently shown on the Extreme Sports Channel.
Ultimate Challenge MMA (also known as UCMMA), is a mixed martial arts promotion in England. [5] The organization was formed in 2008 By former Cage Rage executive Dave O’Donnell following the demise of Cage Rage's parent company, EliteXC. To date, all of its events have been hosted in at The Troxy in London, England.
Ian William Freeman is a retired English mixed martial artist who was the Cage Rage World Heavyweight Champion and the final Cage Rage British Light Heavyweight Champion. He was the first British person to fight in the UFC, as well as the first person to beat Frank Mir.
James Thompson is a British professional mixed martial artist who competes in the heavyweight division. A professional competitor since 2003, Thompson has also formerly competed for PRIDE FC, Bellator MMA, Cage Rage, EliteXC, Sengoku, DREAM, KSW, Rizin, and the SFL.
Cage Rage Championships, also known as Cage Rage, was a United Kingdom-based, mixed martial arts promotion that premiered on 7 September 2002 in London. Cage Rage went into liquidation and is now no longer trading. Cage Rage had been owned and managed by Elite XC until that company ceased operating, and the British promoters behind Cage Rage formed a new organization and withdrew all the old Cage Rage titles. Matchmaker and on-screen personality Dave O'Donnell was also a minority shareholder in the company. Fellow on-screen personality and co-promoter Andy Geer also owned a minority stake until he left the promotion in 2008. Cage Rage events were replayed on Nuts TV, along with their own weekday show on The Fight Network until these channels closed down. Every Cage Rage event and bout is now archived as part of the UFC Fight Pass library.
Strikeforce was an American mixed martial arts and kickboxing organization based in San Jose, California which operated from 1985 to 2013. It was headed by CEO Scott Coker.
Mark Anthony Weir is an English retired mixed martial artist usually fighting in the middleweight division at 185 lbs. He has fought in the UFC, the WEC, PRIDE, Cage Rage, UCMMA, Pancrase, and BodogFIGHT. He is the former Cage Rage British Middleweight Champion.
Hero's was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion operated by Fighting and Entertainment Group, the parent entity behind kickboxing organization K-1. Grown from and branched off of K-1's earlier experiments in MMA, including the K-1 Romanex event and various MMA fights on its regular K-1 kickboxing cards, it held its first show on March 26, 2005. The promotion was handled by former Rings head Akira Maeda. At a press conference on February 13, 2008, FEG announced that they discontinued Hero's and were creating a new mixed martial arts franchise, Dream, in collaboration with former Pride FC executives from Dream Stage Entertainment.
Elite Xtreme Combat, also known as EliteXC, was a United States-based mixed martial arts (MMA) organization owned and operated by ProElite. It was founded as a partnership between Showtime Networks and ProElite and officially announced on December 14, 2006. It was headquartered in Los Angeles.
ProElite, Inc. is an American entertainment and media company involved in the promotion of mixed martial arts (MMA).
Seth Christopher Petruzelli is an American retired mixed martial artist, kickboxer, professional wrestler and entrepreneur. Petruzelli competed in the Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight divisions for the UFC, WEC, EliteXC, King of the Cage, BAMMA, and Bellator. On October 21, 2015, Petruzelli signed with professional wrestling promotion WWE, to work at their Performance Center as a striking coach. Currently, he wrestles for Major League Wrestling.
Karl James "K.J." Noons is a retired American professional mixed martial artist, as well as a former professional boxer and kickboxer. Noons competed for UFC, Strikeforce, DREAM and EliteXC. He is the former EliteXC Lightweight Champion.
Neil Grove is a South African-English Heavyweight professional mixed martial artist. A professional competitor since 2006, Grove has competed for the UFC, Bellator Cage Rage, UCMMA, and the SFL.
Nicholas Delton Thompson is a retired American mixed martial artist. He retired with a professional mixed martial arts record of 38–14–1. Nick retired to practice law and spend time with his son and daughters. He has fought professionally for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Strikeforce, Bellator Fighting Championships, and Bodog Fight. He is the former Bodog Fight Welterweight Champion and holds wins over Eddie Alvarez, Josh Neer, Paul Daley, Mark Weir and Chris Wilson.
Kevin Ferguson, better known as Kimbo Slice, was a Bahamian-American mixed martial artist, boxer, bare-knuckle boxer, professional wrestler, and actor. He became noted for his role in mutual combat street fight videos which were spread online, leading Rolling Stone to call him "The King of the Web Brawlers".
Paul Anthony Daley is a British former mixed martial artist and kickboxer. A professional competitor from 2003 to 2022, Daley competed for the UFC, Bellator MMA, Cage Rage, Final Fight Championship, Strikeforce, EliteXC, ShoXC, BAMMA, Cage Warriors, Cage Contender, Shark Fights, Pancrase, and Impact FC. Daley is a former Cage Rage World Welterweight Champion and Cage Rage British Welterweight Champion.
Tom "Kong" Watson is an English mixed martial artist currently competing in the welterweight division of Cage Warriors. A professional competitor since 2006, he is the former BAMMA Middleweight Champion, the former UCMMA Middleweight Champion, and has also competed for the UFC, Cage Rage and the MFC.
BAMMA was a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United Kingdom. It premiered on June 27, 2009, and was shown on the television channel Bravo. BAMMA events were shown live on ITV4 in the UK and Ireland, KIX in Asia, VEQTA Digital Broadcast Sports Network in India, Kwese in Africa, DAZN in Germany & Russia, FITE TV and UNILAD (Online). BAMMA events stream live on the UNILAD Facebook Page (Prelims) and ITV4 (UK) & Fite.tv (US). BAMMA 29 was shown on free to air broadcaster Dave, and BAMMA 30 was also shown there on 7 July 2017 as was BAMMA 31. BAMMA 33 was shown on ITV4 on December 15 2017. The last BAMMA event was held in London on June 28, 2018.
Bret "Hollywood" Freeman is an American/British MMA ring announcer. He works for many major Boxing and MMA promotions across Europe and the Middle East including Goodwin Promotions, Matchroom, Cage Rage UK's Ultimate Challenge, Cage Warriors, Cage Contender, IFPA and others. He is known for his flamboyant dress and his trademark catch phrase "It's Go Time". He has been seen on live and pre-recorded televised MMA events in more than 70 countries.
Ultimate Challenge MMa is a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United Kingdom. It is shown live on London Live in the UK, Fight Now TV in the US and on Viewster in several other countries.
While mixed martial arts is primarily a male dominated sport, it does have female athletes. For instance, Female competition in Japan includes promotions such as DEEP Jewels. Now defunct promotions that featured female fighters were Valkyrie, and Smackgirl. Professional mixed martial arts organizations in the United States that invite women to compete are industry leader Ultimate Fighting Championship, the all female Invicta Fighting Championships, Resurrection Fighting Alliance, Bellator Fighting Championships, and Legacy Fighting Championship. Now defunct promotions that featured female fighters were Strikeforce and EliteXC.