Prolific, 25-year-old finisher Randall “Buddy” Wallace (9-2) of Oakdale, Calif. will replace David Mitchell (15-4) of Sacramento, Calif. in the highly-anticipated BattleGrounds MMA one-night, eight-man welterweight (170 pounds) tournament that will award its winner a grand prize of $50,000 and headline a live Pay-Per-View telecast from the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla. on Friday, October 3.
BattleGrounds MMA: ‘O.N.E.’ PPV lineup set with addition of Randall Wallace
In addition, a new, lightweight (155 pounds) co-main event between submission aceJonny “The King of Late Night” Carson (11-6) of Broken Arrow, Okla. and Danny Navarro (11-4) of Riverside, Calif. has been inked for the event. Navarro is riding a spectacular 11-fight winning streak dating back to Aug. 15, 2009 and is coming off a first round submission (guillotine choke) victory over Ray Cooper III on Aug. 30.
Former NCAA Division I All-American wrestler for Oklahoma State University and undefeated featherweight (145 pounds) Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) upstart Jamal Parks (3-0) of Tulsa, Okla. will look to extend his perfect run in the cage in a Superfight with Ruben Warr (3-3) of Whittier, Calif.
In another Superfight contest, bantamweight (135 pounds) finisher Tyler Shinn (6-2) of Stillwater, Okla. will square off with KO artist and rising star Chris “El Guapo” Gutierrez (4-1) of Greenville, Texas.
To date, all but one of Wallace’s victories have come by way of (T)KO (3) or submission (5). He began a run to four consecutive wins with a first round (2:39) submission (rear-naked choke) of D.J. Roberson on May 25, 2013, a streak that ended in his last start when he was submitted with a rear-naked choke by Max Griffin in the second round (2:20) of battle.
Carson, a 28-year-old member of MMA superstar Gilbert Melendez’s San Francisco, Calif.-based Skrap Pack fight team, will make his first start of 2014. In his last effort, he earned a unanimous decision over Marcio Navarro on April 12, 2013.
The 26-year-old Parks produced his best collegiate wrestling results in his senior year, earning a fifth place finish at the NCAA Championships. With a career record of 89-22, Parks made his professional MMA debut on April 27, 2013, scoring a second round (2:47) TKO on Danny Toszon with a barrage of punches.
Parks has since registered two additional victories – a second round (3:00) TKO (retirement) of Josh McCracken on June 7, 2013 and a unanimous decision overJavier Obregon on August 2, 2013.
Warr, 25, is looking for his second consecutive win after notching a unanimous decision over Jordan Isordia on August 10.
The 28-year-old Shinn is looking to regain his stride, after his three-fight win streak was suddenly halted on February 28 with a close, split decision defeat at the hands of Aaron Phillips. Prior to his latest result, Shinn produced two first round finishes – a stunning, 15-second armbar submission of Alex Ureba on April 27, 2013, and a monstrous, 58-second TKO of Jeremiah Castillo with an onslaught of punches.
Shinn extended his win streak to three straight fights on August 2, 2013 with a unanimous decision win over Laramie Shaffer.
Gutierrez is aiming for his third victory and a perfect 2014 after a first round (2:50) TKO (punches) over Justin McNally on March 7 followed by a unanimous decision over Evan Woolsey on April 5. In three of his four career victories to date, the 23-year-old Gutierrez has vanquished his opponents with barrages of punches.
The welterweight tournament field is comprised of an elite collection of fighters in submission wizards Cody “AK Kid” McKenzie (15-4) of Spokane, Wash and Jesse “JT Money” Taylor (27-10) of Murrieta, Calif.; streaking finisher Joe Ray (11-3) of Miramar, Fla.; two-time, one-night tournament winner Brock Larson (37-8) of Brainerd, Minn.; hard-hitting brawler Luigi “The Italian Tank” Fioravanti (24-11) of St. Louis, Mo.; Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert Roan “Jucao” Carneiro (16-9) of Atlanta, Ga.; and Trey “That Just Happened?” Houston (11-2) of Bixby, Okla.
BattleGrounds MMA ‘O.N.E.’ will be distributed at a price point of $19.95 in the United States and Canada by Integrated Sports Media for live viewing, beginning at10 p.m. EST/7 p.m. PST on both cable and satellite pay-per-view carriers iN DEMAND, DirecTV, DISH and Avail-TVN in the United States and Bell TV, Rogers, SaskTel, TELUS, MTS and SHAW PPV in Canada. A pre-show will begin at 9 p.m. EST/6 p.m. PST. In addition, the event will be available online as an iPPV at a price point of $19.95 on Go Fight Live (www.gfl.tv).
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross and recently retired UFC superstar Chael Sonnenwill call the action live from cageside.
Tickets for the event, priced from $65, can be purchased online atwww.bokcenter.com as well as at Arby’s Box Office at the BOK Center, all ticket outlets, or by calling 1-800-7-BOKCTR.
Doors at BOK Center open at 6 p.m. CST on Oct. 3. The first preliminary bout will begin at 7:15 p.m.
