Hampton, Virginia isn’t a place which has fixed its name to the US combat sports map yet, but that process is well underway. The area is home to the largest accumulation of military bases in the US and that has led to an explosion of interest in combat sports such as boxing, kickboxing and MMA.
Jim Partyka, GLORY’s partner promoter in the region, serves with the US Navy and is based in Hampton. He is very active in the local martial arts scene, promoting the successful Spartyka MMA series of events and using it to benefit the Spartyka Foundation, his non-profit military charity.
“The area round here is known as Hampton Roads and within this local area there are seven different cities and within those seven cities we have all the different branches of the Armed Forces. We have got Army bases, Marines, Navy… there’s an Air Force base two exits from the Coliseum which is the biggest in the US,” he says.
“We also have a big US Coastguard base here and between all the different services combined, this area has the biggest military footprint in the United States of America. So you will see a huge military presence in the crowd on fight night.
“Each branch of the service does its own combatives stuff because there is a good chance when you are out on operations, say when you burst through a door, you can end up rolling around on the ground with the bad guys. So that has created a huge interest in hand-to-hand combatives and MMA around here.”
That military presence will be on hand to see the World Heavyweight Championship laid on the line between Verhoeven and Zimmerman and it will also witness the emergence of the next welterweight contender following the four-man Welterweight Contender Tournament.
But there is one fight in particular which hold the attention of the military attendees: a showdown between the Navy and the Air Force, courtesy of two serving members - and local MMA champions - who are facing off under GLORY rules for the benefit of a serviceman’s charity.
“Mitch is our current middleweight (185lbs) champion, he is with the Navy. He trains at the Machado Training Center in Virginia Beach. His background is actually in boxing originally, he has good stand-up and he hits really hard. His first two MMA fights came to like twenty seconds combined, he basically finished them both with one-hit knockouts,” says Partyka.
“Cedric is the 205lb champion and he is with the Air Force. He is currently posted to Texas and the United States Air Force is actually flying him in specifically for this fight and then they will fly him back down to Texas afterwards. When he’s up here he trains at the Olympus Training Center in Virginia Beach.”
It is noticeable that he does not use the men’s surnames. There is a good reason for this.
“They have fought on local shows under their own names but that was also without any mention of their having a military connection. I think with this fight being on a larger national platform like Spike TV it was just felt more secure to not use their full names,” he explains.
Partyka is expecting a unique atmosphere for this bout in particular.
“There’s a rivalry between the service branches - in a friendly way of course - so these guys being a Navy against an Air Force guy really plays into that. Down the road from the arena there’s a huge Air Force base but it’s within a huge Navy town, so there will be plenty of supporters from both sides.
“And these guys being champions in Spartyka, at different weights and meeting here at catchweight, adds another element. We’re actually doing a custom belt for that fight, a military-style custom belt, just to add something else to it, so that will be pretty cool.”
GLORY 19 takes place Friday, February 6 and airs live in the US on Spike TV, in Canada on The Fight Network and in the UK on BT Sport, plus will air internationally live or via tape-delay in a total of 140 territories. Check local listings for details.
