Hardcore Championship Fighting Sold
by Robert Sargent
In a statement earlier today, Hardcore Championship Fighting CEO Keith Crawford revealed that his Calgary-based promotion had been purchased by an as-yet unidentified individual. The new owner will be announced in the coming weeks.
The new owner, who will be indentified at a press conference sometime before the HCF event on May 10th, will provide the promotion with a digital television deal.
The new TV deal will cover all of North America and Europe. At present, Hardcore Championship Fighting is broadcast on The Score in Canada, with events airing in several parts on the network in the weeks after they take place.
"This announcement is the culmination of 10 years of hard work in combative sports, and I couldn't be more excited," Crawford said. "What it's going to do, I feel, is to put us right at number two with everybody else. Obviously, the UFC is number one, and I believe that EliteXC, Strikeforce and ourselves are going to be number two when we make the announcement as to who has purchased us."
Early likely candidates for the new owner's position would be Mark Cuban, the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks and the HDNet cable network who has recently taken the leap into mixed martial arts, and Gary Shaw, the promoter for EliteXC who has recently brought promotions like Strikeforce, ICON Sport and Cage Rage into the EliteXC ranks.
In other HCF news, Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos, who was recently released from his HCF contract, will make his return to HCF at their May 10th event in Calgary, Alberta.
Santos had originally been released for violating the terms of his contract, which he did by taking a fight for World Victory Road earlier this month. The fight fell within his 35-day no-compete clause preceding a scheduled HCF bout, forcing Crawford to terminate his contract. After Santos withdrew from his scheduled March 29th EliteXC/Strikeforce bout, he was welcomed back into HCF.
On the May 10th card, Todd Gouwenberg may very well make it three main events in a row, as he is scheduled to take on Santos that evening. Gouwenberg competed against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in the main event of HCF "Destiny" on February 1st, and will battle David Loiseau in the main event of HCF "Crow's Nest" this weekend.
The other candidate for the main event on May 10th is the HCF debut of Renato "Babalu" Sobral, who takes on Mauricio Alonso.
Big changes for what has quickly risen to become the premier mixed martial arts promotion in Canada.
