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Home Base: Texas
Broadcast Partner: HDNet, Fuel TV & Pay-Per-View
Official Website: SharkFights.com First Event: Shark Fights 1 (10/24/2008)
Next Event: Shark Fights 18 (8/19/2011)
Champions: Darrell Schoonover (Heavyweight), Trevor Prangley (Light Heavyweight), Gerald Harris (Middleweight), Anthony Waldburger (Welterweight), Josh Neer (Interim Welterweight) & Ronnie Mann (Featherweight)
Other Notable Fighters: Doug Evans, Ovince St. Preux, Don Frye, Dave Herman, Pat Healy, Vinnie Magalhaes, Paul Buentello, Keith Jardine, Houston Alexander, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Jorge Masvidal, Paul Daley, Joey Villasenor, Danillo Villefort, Tarec Saffiedine, Brock Larson, Pete Spratt, Matt Horwich, Tara LaRosa, Chris Camozzi, Jake Rosholt & Ricco Rodriquez
If there was some kind of official list in the MMA world of the top five MMA promotions, one can argue that Shark Fights would be on that list. In just a few years, Shark Fights went from a regional promotion to an MMA promotion with two TV deals and one pay-per-view appearance. The group has also had a who’s who list of top MMA fighters compete at their events, just look at the list above.
The first television station to take notice of Shark Fights was HDNet, which began broadcasting Shark Fights events in 2010. These events lead Shark Fights to join the pay-per-view universe with the Shark Fights 13 event, overshadowed by the crazy commentary of Don Frye. The Shark Fights 13 main event featured light heavyweight champion Trevor Prangley defeating Keith Jardine by unanimous decision.
The next step for Shark Fights was to add a second television deal, which went to the racing based Fuel TV network. Unlike the live events that air on HDNet, the programming that airs on Fuel TV is a clip show like the UFC Unleashed program on Spike TV. Outside of the UFC and Strikeforce, Shark Fights could be the only other MMA promotion with multiple TV deals.
The lone issue that I have with the promotion is that they have only had one title defense/fight by their champions in the last two years. Now I’m not saying every event should feature a title fight, but a few events a year should feature the gold on the line. If they can fix that big problem, then Shark Fights will have a bright future ahead of them as they continue to put events on in Texas and beyond.
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You can contact David Tees at bigteesps3@yahoo.com
