| Freestyle Combat Challenge 50th Show: A Look to the Future from the Past |
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| Written by Maxwell Destree | |||||||||||||||||||
| Friday, 12 March 2010 00:00 | |||||||||||||||||||
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The Freestyle Combat Challenge got its start over 10 years ago right here in Wisconsin back when MMA was still hidden in obscurity. April of 1999 marked the debut of a promotion that has since featured numerous UFC veterans, and is now one of the oldest promotions in the state.
According to Sherdog, FCC 1 featured fighters such as Wisconsin’s Ron Faircloth, Illinois’ Jeff Curran, and UFC veteran Jeremy Horn. Many other well known local and national fighters have fought on the show since its inception. Wisconsin fighters such as Adrian Serrano, Pat O’Malley, Nick Agallar and even FCC owner Dave Strasser himself have all fought for the promotion.
The FCC has had its share of UFC veterans walk through their doors too. Matt Hughes fought in the promotion at FCC 4, and current UFC fighter Ben Rothwell made his start in the promotion, among about 20-30 other UFC and Pride veterans.
Dave Strasser and the FCC promotion started back before MMA was main stream, but, one can argue that the promotion isn’t even MMA at all. It’s called Freestyle for a reason, and that’s because many of the fights in the promotion are bare-knuckle, no holds barred fights, similar to the old Pride rules.
Strasser knows that the FCC is one of a kind, but that hasn’t stopped other promotions from trying to mimic some of its success. “Nobody else was doing what we did,” Strasser said, “so we were kind of like a pioneer, and then people starting following what we were doing, and being copied is one of the biggest forms of flattery there is.”
For his 50th show Strasser plans on mixing some of the old with some of the new. “For this show we are doing a bare knuckle, no holds barred, no time limit, so were kinda going way, way back, to when we first started,” Strasser said.
At first it seems impossible for a show with these rules to happen with MMA now being regulated in the state, but the FCC owner is quick to point out that even though the bill is signed nothing is in place yet. When asked how MMA regulation might affect not just this show but also any future shows, the promoter implied that it’s one thing to write the rules, and another to actually enforce them.
Even with the old school rules Strasser hopes to bring in some old school fighters too. The promoter hopes to have Ron Faircloth fighting (although nothing is set for sure yet), and to have other veterans in attendance.
Strasser also announced that he will be returning to the ring to fight in the main event. His opponent as it stands now will be Redd Lee from American Top Team.
FCC 50 won’t just be a throwback to what the promotion was when it started; it will also be a showcase of what is to come in the future. “I’m trying to make it a past, present, future show, where I’ll have past fighters like Ron Faircloth and myself fight. I think some of the younger guys are going to be pretty special, they’ll be the future, not just in the state or area, but I think they’ll go beyond that,” Strasser said.
Current fighters of the promotion such as Brian Geraghty, Sergio Gomez and Jameel Massouh may or may not fight, but they will be in attendance. FCC 50 will be held at the Marina Shores Ballroom in downtown Kenosha, located at 302 58th street (it’s the old eagles club) Doors will open at 7 and fights will start at 8. For fans of MMA and combat this one will be a must see, it will be a true showcase of where the sport came from to where the sport is today.
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Comments (6)
Tank5
said:
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The Wisconsin promotion known as the Freestyle Combat Challenge or FCC (for short) started back in April of 1999. This Saturday will mark the promotions 50th show, which is geared towards the past, present, and future. The show will be bare-knuckle, no holds barred, with the owner Dave Strasser returning to the ring in the Main Event.
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... Bare-knuckled No holds Barred. . .So does that mean u can pull hair & etc. like they did in the original UFC fights? No ref stopping a fight, only a fight ends by fighter tapping or being knocked unconcious??? |
Eddy Spagetti
said:
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... i like the 'may or may not fight' part nothin beat matching fights based on who comes |
Aaron Koller
said:
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... "Bare-knuckled No holds Barred. . .So does that mean u can pull hair & etc. like they did in the original UFC fights? No ref stopping a fight, only a fight ends by fighter tapping or being knocked unconcious??? " -does that also mean no weight classes? this should be pretty wild, im definetly going to be there. also hitting in the nuts was legal back then too. |
SPECTACLE OVER SPORT
said:
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Thanks for Continuing to Keep the Bar so High I would like to thank FCC for continuing to raise the bar on the quality of show and fights in Wisconsin. Not only have you proved in the past that equally matching fighters is completely uncalled for but you have now shown that when you don't agree with the law of the land you should just shun it and do your own thing to prove a moot point. Your shining example of what it means to have Budo has been apparent through out your shows history and is clearly on display for this upcoming event. Once Regulation comes, I hope your show dies a very public and grotesque death. |
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