“CELTIC RAGE” – NORTHERN IRELAND V THE USACage Wars, member of G4 Productions, and MAX Entertainment are back in Belfast on Saturday October 20th with “Celtic Rage” Northern Ireland v The USA. Several top US fighters will face off against the hard hitting Northern Ireland team fighters in this truly International mixed martial arts combat event. Cage Wars spokesman Johnny Burrows said “We are delighted to have the US fighters in Belfast, the Irish American connection is such a big part of our history and to be able to host this event in Belfast is a dream come true for us. MAX and G4 are now becoming recognized on a world stage and of course this highlights the athletic abilities of our sportsmen and the hospitality we show all our international visitors”.
This event will be broadcast on North America TV and can be viewed live on the Internet around the world.
For the first time ever we will also bring tiered seating into the Kings Hall to make this a spectacular event for the fans. Johnny Burrows ads “if the response from the MMA fans in Northern Ireland for the last show is anything to go by then this one will be amazing, many of the International fighters told me that the Northern Ireland fans were fantastic and gave them great support so they can’t wait to perform again for the NI crowds.”Mixed Martial Arts is the sport that now surpasses boxing in TV viewer ship figures in the US, and the association that runs the sport’s largest championships is the 2nd most yahooed search during an event weekend.
MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) is a sport that has come into the mainstream in recent years, the skill of the sport now widely recognized. A combination of kick boxing, wrestling and ju-jitsu, there are now tens of thousands of people practicing these forms of martial arts in all areas across Europe.
MAX and G4 have brought together some of the top fighters in the world for what will be an International sensation with Northern Irelands fighters facing off against Team USA.
Johnny Burrows also says “MMA is a sport that had its origins in Brazil over 100 years ago when different styles of martial arts would compete against each other, thus the origination of the name mixed martial arts.”
“There are now MMA tournaments in every country in the world and this is our second visit to the Kings Hall this year because the sport is growing here in Northern Ireland, UK and Europe. It is hard to know exact figures but there are hundreds of clubs throughout the UK now exclusively teaching MMA.”
“It is a sport that has – largely through lack of understanding of the skill and history involved – been sensationalized in a way that has not been productive and we hope, through this event, which will be attended by a wide cross section of the public, that there will be a greater appreciation of what is involved.”
In the US MMA has a large celebrity following with George Clooney, Cindy Crawford and a cross-section of top US sportspeople regularly spotted in ringside seats.
One of the features of this sport is that the fights take place in an Octagon, an eight-sided ring, adding to the theatre of the show. The show will be filmed on the night for broadcast at a later date.
The Kings Hall event kicks off at 7.30pm with tickets on sales through Ticketmaster on www.ticketmaster.co.uk. Further information and full fight card details at www.cagewars.co.uk and www.maxfighters.com.