Jake Mason
Mountain Force MMA staff, fighters, and fans were preparing for another fight night in Logan Utah on Saturday, January 19, 2019 at the new Cache County Event Center. I was looking forward to covering this event as well. Two weeks ago, they had 10 scheduled bouts with fighters coming from Idaho, Colorado, and Utah. Then, According to Mountain Force's President & Promoter Juan Pablo, the nightmare began.
Two of the 10 bouts were dropped because of injuries. "That is pretty standard or normal," Juan said. "Every card you are going to have 1 to 2 bouts get cancelled due to injury during training. I tried getting replacements but two weeks is little time for most fighters who plan to win. Normally, they need 1 to 3 months of fight camp to get ready. With 8 bouts, we will still be ok and still manage to have a great show. What happened next is what I wasn't prepared for."
Last Monday, Jan 7, the Mountain Force Logan fight card had 8 scheduled bouts. This is a week they call hell week in the MMA world. And it was nothing more than that for Juan and his staff. On Tuesday, Jan 8, Mountain Force received word that one of the fighters scheduled was arrested and jailed. "It's so sad," said Juan."It's sad because he was doing everything by the books to prepare for his fight. He was even scheduled to get his physical and bloodwork done the day of his arrest. Even if he would've posted bail, there was no way he would fight in that type of mindset. I hope when he gets out that he will iron out all his legal issues, get back in the gym, and get him in the cage because he loves MMA."
That brought Mountain Force Logan card to 7 Bouts. Juan indicated he is now nervous but still can manage 7 bouts and find fillers in between bouts and rounds to make it a good show for the fans. On the day of Utah's Athletic Commission's deadline for all medicals, bloodwork, and contracts to be submitted, Juan received a text that one of his scheduled fighter's family member was in a freak roadside auto accident and died at the scene. "I felt so sorry for this fighter and their family and hoped they get through it," Juan explained. "At the same time I'm asking myself why me. How can this be happening all at the same time." Juan also mentioned that two other scheduled or contracted fighters did not get their medicals & bloodwork in on time to compete.
"I couldn't believe what was happening-watching this fight card go from 10 bouts to 4 bouts in a matter of a week." He said. "I want to thank a lot of my fellow promoters and matchmakers like Brian and Bruce Smith of TuffNuff down in Vegas and Leonard Thierry of No Mercy Extreme Fighting in Colorado Springs, among others for coming to my aid and providing us with replacement fighters and support; and coaches like Steve Eargle of Cedar City BJJ and Brian Zehler of Zs Gym in Fort Collins. Unfortunately, the deadline expired and we couldn't add new fighters."
Juan explained that there is a minimum amount of bouts a promotion would need to host a MMA show in Utah and they fell below that threshold. Moreover, they would lose a significant amount of money with a low number of bouts if they had the opportunity to host a fight event with 4 to 5 bouts. "At the end of the day, most fans come out to see their brother, cousin, son, dad, mom, daughter, friend, or favorite fighter compete," Juan said. "And these fans pay a fee at the door which helps cover the cost of putting on these events. Without these fans coming through those doors, we would go bankrupt."
Juan mentioned that he and his staff are making significant changes and protocols to assure something like this doesn't happen again. "My heart goes out to our fans and sponsors who were looking forward to another Mountain Force show. Fortunately, the new date (March 30, 2019) isn't too far away. We will honor all tickets purchased for the January 19 event or reissue tickets for the new date or give them refund if they choose."
"My heart goes out to those fighters who trained, sacrificed, and prepared for a fight that couldn't happen. We did offer all of them a spot on any of our upcoming mma or kickboxng cards. Some are scheduled on an upcoming fight card. I am well aware somethings are way beyond our control like when someone loses a loved one. However, there are somethings we can control such as making sure fighters get their bloodwork, medicals, and contracts done ahead of deadlines; and having back up opponents should a fighter get injured or cannot compete."
On March 30, 2019, the new date, Mountain Force will be celebrating its 1 year anniversary. It had its first fight night on March 17, 2018. In 2018, they had completed 6 MMA events and 1 kickboxing event in three states-Utah, Idaho, & Wyoming. Juan stated that in 2019, Mountain Force will be hosting about 7 MMA events and 4 kickboxing events. "I'm really excited," He said. "We have a strong fighter and fan base that continues to grow and I'm thankful for their love & support for our platform. This little promotion is going places. just wait and see."
Jake Mason
Independent Writer
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