North American Amateur Fight Series (NAAFS) Announces 2007 Season OpenerFighter Applications Now Being Accepted – 2007 NAAFS News
After a very successful debut season in 2006, the nation’s premier amateur MMA organization has announced its first three events for the 2007 season and is currently accepting applications from fighters looking to participate in this year’s amateur MMA series. In anticipation of the 2007 series, the NAAFS has also launched NAAFS.tv for full access on the 2007 season, events and fighters.
With ten events under its belt in its inaugural season and participation from fighters across the country, the NAAFS will be looking to expand in 2007 and sanction as many as fifteen shows in the Midwest. “This will be a banner year for our series and amateur MMA as a whole” stated NAAFS spokesman Jake Digman. “The NAAFS is doing what’s necessary to establish itself as the premiere amateur MMA organization in North America and this year we will take the next step in achieving our goal while providing amateur fighters the opportunity to compete in an organized, safe and truly competitive environment. We feel that from top to bottom the NAAFS is structured to better prepare these fighters as they take the next step as professionals.”
The NAAFS, which has scheduled events for Ohio and Virginia this year, is currently considering sanctioning shows in New Jersey, Texas and California for the 2008 season, however fighters and fans can plan on the majority of the 2007 series to take place in various cities throughout the state of Ohio.
Here’s a breakdown of the latest NAAFS News:
NAAFS Kickboxing Debuts Jan 20th
With the rapid growth of the NAAFS in 2006, the series has decided to venture into amateur kickboxing with a trial show set for January 20th in Akron, Ohio. “NAAFS kickboxing will allow fighters to work on improving their striking and gain valuable experience in the ring” said Jake Digman. “We have many of the MMA guys crossing over to fine tune their stand up and get ready for the 2007 MMA season. We have also opened up a new avenue for amateur kick boxers in this region who do not often get a chance to compete. We feel this will eventually grow into something similar to the NAAFS MMA series.”
There are currently ten bouts scheduled for the January 20th event with several familiar names to NAAFS followers including 2006 NAAFS welterweight Champion “Smokin” Joe Heiland and top ranked heavyweight Dominic Qurazzo. Pre-sale tickets for NAAFS Kick Boxing will go on sale on January 5th, 2007 and will be available on-line at www.Prokarateweekly.com and www.NAAFS.tv.
NAAFS MMA Season Opener Feb 17th
The NAAFS is also set to kick start it’s 2007 amateur MMA series with “The Midwest Combat Challenge 2” a televised event featuring the return of two 2006 NAAFS champions John and a new cast of contenders for the 2007 NAAFS national titles.
February 17th’s “Midwest Combat Challenge 2” event will host as many as 18 bouts in all with several featured match ups between various pre-season NAAFS favorites. Fan favorite and 2006 NAAFS heavyweight champion John “The Showstopper” Hedges will look to make another run at an NAAFS title as he battles Wreckroom Athletics Felix Catheline in a heavyweight clash. 2006 NAAFS Light heavyweight champion Chuck Ellison will also see action as a middleweight when takes on unbeaten Bryce Rayburn in a featured NAAFS bout.
In addition to a stacked NAAFS card, this event will feature 3 professional Fightfest tournament match ups with all three winners advancing on to the national semi-finals. The final fight card is expected to be released by the NAAFS by the end of this week.
Tickets for “The Midwest Combat Challenge 2” will be available on NAAFS.tv and Prokarateweekly.com starting January 15th along with the complete fight card and event info.
NAAFS Debuts in Virginia Feb 23rd
The NAAFS will invade Manassas, Virginia on February 23rd for round two of its 2007 MMA series. “We are very excited about the opportunity to hold an event in Virginia” said Digman. “This event will showcase many new NAAFS names from the series and we expect fighters from across the east coast to participate. We also feel that expanding to Virginia will help establish our series in a new market.” Fans can expect more news on this event along with the official fight card to be posted on NAAFS.tv within the next week while tickets for this show are expected to go on sale in mid January.
NAAFS Launches NAAFS.TV
NAAFS fighters and fans can now log on to the official home of the North American Amateur Fight Series at NAAFS.tv for all of the latest breaking NAAFS news. NAAFS.tv will feature fighter bios and rankings, NAAFS results and event photos, fighter interviews, upcoming events, an interactive fan forum, behind the scenes footage and more! Log on to NAAFS.tv today and get to know the MMA stars of tomorrow.
NAAFS Now Accepting 2007 Fighter Applications
Any amateur fighters interested in participating in the 2007 North American Amateur Fight Series can now log on to NAAF.tv to download a fighter application for the 2007 season. The NAAFS will host as many as fifteen sanctioned amateur MMA and kickboxing events throughout the region this year including the national NAAFS finals next December in Cleveland, Ohio. The NAAFS has added two new weight classes for the 2007 series – featherweight (145 lbs and under) and Super heavyweight (266 lbs and up).
Congratulations to our 2006 NAAFS National champions:
Lightweight – Mike Nesto 6-1 (Shraders MMA)
Welterweight – Joe Heiland 7-0 (Strongstyle Fight Team)
Middleweight – Taiwon Howard 4-1 (Rising Dragon MMA)
Light Heavyweight – Chuck Ellison 3-1 (East Coast Martial Arts)
Heavyweight – John Hedges 2-0 (Team Warfare)
Congratulations again to these great fighters and camps! The NAAFS wants to thank all of the fighters, trainers, sponsors and fans that made 2006 such a memorable year for the NAAFS. Here’s to 2007….Happy New Year!