By Chris Walsh
The Valdosta Daily Times

VALDOSTA — Get ready to rumble this Saturday as Winter Heat, a mixed martial arts event, returns to Mathis Auditorium.

Featured again this weekend will be Brett Chism and Kamrin Neville, but there are some new faces representing Valdosta as well.

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by azmmafan

The reason this was significant?

It wasn’t just a MMA fight, it wasn’t some promotion trying to get in the game of MMA and be the next Zuffa.

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UPDATE FROM VEGAS - 1 AM on 1/9 - Brett lost by split decision.  However, he had a great performance.  He nearly knocked his opponent down by headkick and peppered the opponent with his boxing.  Brett took his opponent down 4 or 5 times and had 4 or 5 good submission attempts.  His opponent effected some ground and pound and some top control in the ground game.  Congrats to Brett on a good performance!

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1/8 - Just talked with Brett.  Brett made weight fine yesterday and weighed in at 205.  He says his opponent is large, athletic looking gentleman.  He is feeling good today and looking forward to the bout tonight.  His fight is just before the co-main event, so the promoter is expecting a great performance from both athletes.  Results will be posted here as soon as we get them.

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Fighters usually aspire to fight in Las Vegas on pay-per-view shows like the Ultimate Fighting Championship.  Brett Chism is making his western U.S. debut in nearly the reverse manner - a private party!

 Chism was the Open Light Heavyweight Division Champion at the ISCF World Classic Amateur Tournament last year.

Sorry, VMAC fight fans, but this is an invitation only deal.  Chism is fighting on a small card that is the centerpiece of a party to convince electronics industry executives of the value of mixed martial arts fighter sponsorships.  One of the ideas driving this event is that fighter sponsorship is an economical and effective way for companies to help their products gain name recognition.  MTX, an electronics company, is the sponsor of the event.  Lets Get It On Productions (Mills Lane’s son) is the promoter for the fights. 

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Kamrin Naville, Shaun Gay, and Brett Chism will return to the cage in Pensacola, Florida, on December 8th.  The event is X-treme Cage Fighting Championships.  Gay will face

Matt Shaw.  Chism will fight Chris Hugg.  Naville’s opponent will be named later.

Jonathan “Lock N’ Load” Wiezorek is set to fight Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva on Saturday, November 10th.  The fight will be televised on Showtime.  The event is Elite XC:  Renegade which will be held in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Silva’s “Bigfoot” moniker is no lie.  He is 6′4″ and weighs in at about 300 pounds.  He is a good striker and grappler who trains with one of the top teams in the world.  He has consistently beaten world class competition.  The EliteXC company initially approached Wiezorek about fighting Bigfoot this past June.  Bigfoot was unable to be cleared and Wiezorek fought and beat Tim Persey instead.

This fight will culminate Wiezorek’s contract with EliteXC.  He is hopeful for a good performance and to continue his relationship with the company.  “EliteXC has been very generous with Jonathan and are wonderful people to be associated with,”  said James Corbett, Wiezorek’s manager.

Wiezorek began his fight career shortly out of Lowndes High School, where he earned a Georgia State Heavyweight Wrestling Championship.  In his second fight ever, he fought and beat Dan “The Beast” Severn, for a World title belt.

Several companies are sponsoring Wiezorek and helping to make his fight career possible.  SOYO, maker of fine flat screen/LCD/HD televisions, is a sponsor.  The SOYO name is synonymous with quality, performance, and value. 

The Sprawl fight short company is sponsoring apparrel for the big guy and his cornermen.

The many fans of Wiezorek in the Valdosta area need to tune into Showtime and root for the big guy.  Fans should post support in the “comments” section here for him.

–from  http://www.thefightnetwork.com/news_detail.php?nid=5085 –

UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture announced his resignation from the Las Vegas-based promotion, leaving two contracted fights, his job as an on-air analyst and his heavyweight crown on the table.

In South Africa shooting scenes for his lead role in the upcoming feature film “The Scorpion King – Rise of the Akkadian,” Couture made the announcement official in a letter to UFC president Dana White. The UFC’s inability to land PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko played a prominent role in the decision to walk away, according to Couture.

“I appreciate this opportunity the sport of MMA and the UFC has given me,” the UFC Hall-of-Famer said. “However, I’m tired of swimming upstream at this stage with the management of the UFC. It only makes sense at this point in my career to fight Fedor Emelianenko, and since he’s now signed with another organization, I feel like it’s time to resign and focus on my other endeavors.”

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