mano a mano combat

PRESS RELEASE:

Shine Fight Promotions today announced a much-anticipated welterweight bout between former Bodog Fight Welterweight Champion

Nick “The Goat” Thompson and Brazilian veteran Eduardo Pamplona that will take place on the main card at “Worlds Collide: Mayorga vs. Thomas” on May 15.

This fight will take place at the “Worlds Collide: Mayorga vs. Thomas” event in Miami, FL. Per David McKinney, Public Relations for Shine Fight Promotions:

Shine Fights is excited to announce the official signing of a bout between former Bodog Welterweight Champion Nick “The Goat” Thompson (38-12-1) and Brazilian veteran Eduardo Pamplona (12-2). The bout will take place on the main card at “Worlds Collide: Mayorga vs. Thomas,” which will be held at the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, North Carolina on May 15, 2010. “Worlds Collide” will be broadcast live on Pay Per View.

Known as two of the most exciting welterweights in the world, both fighters will be making their debut with Shine Fights, and each fighter is looking to secure a place in the title picture with a victory.

Thompson, one of the most respected fighters in the sport, has fought all over the world, including in organizations such as the UFC, Bodog, Sengoku, EliteXC, and Strikeforce. Having compiled an impressive 22-2 record as a welterweight from 2005-2009, including victories over UFC veterans Josh Neer, Keith Wisnewski, Chris Wilson, Ansar Chalangov, Paul Daley, current Bellator champion Eddie Alvarez, and Cage Rage veteran Mark Weir, Thompson found it difficult to find challengers at welterweight and was forced to make the move to middleweight to face a tough opponent in Tim Kennedy in Strikeforce. Thompson lost that fight and immediately sought out an opportunity to fight at welterweight for an organization on the rise.

His willingness to fight and an attractive offer from a growing promotion like Shine made Thompson aware that it was time to sign on the dotted line: “I couldn’t get a fight. It was really frustrating,” Thompson said in January when agreeing with Shine.

Now with an opponent in hand and a fight on the horizon, the 28-year-old has moved on to his next goal: Shine Fights gold. “I am happy to be with Shine and I look forward to earning the first shot at their welterweight title,” said the former three-time Bodog champion. “Eduardo is a tough and exciting fighter,” Thompson said about his upcoming opponent. “He is the kind of fighter you like to fight because there will be fireworks…while he has not had a loss in the last three years, I am confident that I am the better fighter and will stand victorious when the night is over.”

One of the top welterweights in Brazil, Pamplona is now on a mission to prove that he is also one of the best 170-pound fighters in the world. Already a veteran of organizations like Pancrase, Shooto, the IFL, and M-1 Challenge, Pamplona will now bring his aggressive striking and world-class ground game to Shine Fights.

Having earned victories over MMA legends Jorge “Macaco” Patino, Jose “Pele” Landi-Jons, and fellow Shine signee Daniel Acacio, Pamplona made his U.S. debut in 2007 at “IFL: Atlanta” in an exciting three round war with former EliteXC champion “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler. Pamplona lost a hotly contested bout that night, but the 34-year-old has reeled off seven straight victories since, bringing his record to 12-2 overall.

“This fight with Thompson is a big fight for me,” Pamplona said. “He has many great victories on his record, and I believe it will be a great fight between us. I believe this fight will have a lot of movement. We both like to stand up and exchange. I believe we will stay on our feet.”

“I’m excited to see these two tough fighters slug it out inside the Shine cage,” Shine Fights matchmaker Ron Foster said. “The winner will definitely be at the top of the list when I look for guys to put in a title fight.”

This highly anticipated bout in the Shine welterweight division joins the previously announced main event between former boxing champion Ricardo Mayorga and MMA veteran Din Thomas on the May 15 card. Available on pay-per-view in North America, the event will start at 9 PM EST and will be available for $29.95. Tickets for the event will go on sale soon via Ticketmaster.

For more information on Shine Fights, please visit ShineFights; follow them on Twitter or MySpace; or find them and become a fan on Facebook.

I remember seeing clips of MMA in it’s early stages; two people just beating each other into piles of blood. I remember when I told my mother I was going to fight and of course she was afraid I was going to get really hurt. After it was all said and done, the only thing that hurt was my pride after losing by rear naked choke in the second round.

Training -
I feel that some people think my training consists of getting jumped by 10 guys, shadow boxing on hot coals, and defending myself against baseball bat strikes. Well that’s how I train but I’m an exception to typical MMA training.

When I say MMA training, I’m also referring to the individual martial arts and MMA structured classes. Between conditioning, rolling, sparring and technique work, it leaves plenty of opportunity for injuries and getting hurt.

Luckily most instructors are trained to do everything in a safe manner. These instructors have years of training under their belts and know when there are unsafe situations.

Also, in most training scenarios, there will be someone supervising to prevent injuries. When sparring, there is plenty of safety equipment that can be used. Headgear, wraps, cups, and shin pads do a great job of preventing any major injury. The majority of the time of sparring isn’t at 100% effort. Sparring is time to refine technique and uncover flaws in your fight game. Both with sparring and grappling, most injuries seem to come from inexperience.

Typically it’s white belts during grappling who end up hurting someone due to their lack of technique or self-control. The same goes with sparring. A good instructor will supervise newer guys to ensure 2 (two) inexperienced guys will not face off against each other.

Competition -
In New Jersey Amateur MMA fights, the rules are very different than pro-rules. In short:

• No elbows
• Knees only to the body
• No strikes to the head from the ground
• No slamming
• Shin pads, cup, and mouthpiece required

These are just a few of the rules. The MMA refs are highly trained; if they see a competitor is hurt, they will stop the fight in order to prevent  any major injury. The misconception is that there are no rules nor regulations for these MMA fights. In New Jersey, all MMA fights are regulated and commissioned by the New Jersey State Athletic Commission (NSAC).

So to anyone thinking about participating in MMA, my point is that MMA is just as dangerous as playing any typical team sport, like football. Yes you can get really hurt in a MMA fight or training – but you can also get hurt just falling off a ladder.

About the Author
Jimmy Vo is an amateur mixed martial artist based out of South Jersey. He also runs a blog called MMA Training Stuff.

If you’re interested, go try it…you’ll know soon enough if it’s something you want to continue!