Mike Russell caught up with Warrior One (W-1) president Jack Bateman at the MMA Expo in Toronto last weekend to talk about his upcoming show on Saturday night and what the future holds for the burgeoning Ontario, Canada-based promotion. According to the promoter, his organization has some big plans for the rest of 2010 and beyond that includes signing the top free agents from around the world and developing the talent at home in the Great White North.
Besides their "Judgement Day" show set for this Saturday night in Laval, Quebec that features UFC and PRIDE veteran Denis Kang (32-12-1), Shooto veteran Antonio Carvalho (11-4), Zahabi MMA standout Thierry Quenneville (15-8) and the return of Ivan Menjivar (20-7), Bateman says that the promotion is planning two more events this year.
W-1 will travel to Nova Scotia in September for a show that Bateman revealed will feature a welterweight bout between former UFC 170-pound champion Carlos Newton (15-13) and Hayato "Mach" Sakurai (35-11-2).
Another coveted fighter he says they have signed is grappling phenom Xande Ribeiro (2-0), who will make his W-1 debut in either the September or November show, both of which will be streamed in high definition on Justin.tv.
Currently, W-1 is under an agreement with Fox Sports that sees highlights of its events broadcast each week to millions of homes across North and South America and Asia.
I buy the mohawk explanation. I can’t say anything about anyone else’s looks. I’m a goofy lookin’ motherfucker. I let my hair grow a bit and I look more like Shaggy than Matthew Lillard did in those movies. I mean Shaggy from Scooby Doo, of course. Not that dude from around 2000 who had that song about getting caught buck naked banging on the bathroom floor.