Adrenaline CEO Cox announces debut event

Fledgling mixed martial arts promotion Adrenaline MMA is scheduled to debut in Chicago on June 14. Adrenaline MMA's CEO, Monte Cox, spoke with MMAWeekly.com about the organization's plans and it's first fight card.

"It's a nice card that's probably going to be shown on HDNet or something like that," Cox said. "We're going to try to make money and put on a good show at the same time. We're heavily biased here towards Chicago talent (for the first event) because it's in Chicago. I've got like 18 guys with Chicago ties."

Cox has been around the fight game as long as anyone and has worn many hats in the industry. Along with managing more than 60 fighters, the Adrenaline MMA CEO has promoted several events.

"I see Adrenaline being very much like Strikeforce. I think that's a good thing," he commented. "Obviously, Adrenaline has Tim Sylvia and Ben Rothwell signed. Those are two pretty good names. We have Eddie Alvarez also. I'm looking at the fight card, and... I have 12 guys right now that are UFC guys, and not guys from UFC 3. I have some current guys.

"My show will be, what I hope other shows will be like, they're a mixture. I've got a guy who's under contract with Pro Elite fighting. I have guys who are under contract to the IFL fighting. It's a mixture of a little bit of everything."

In getting Adrenaline MMA off the ground, Cox isn't looking to go straight to pay-per-view, which can be a costly way to build a following for a start-up promotion.

"If you look at my card and compare it to Affliction, I'm not going to be that card," continued Cox. "That's why they're on pay-per-view and I'm not. But if you look at it just from here's a guy spending hundreds of thousands of dollars just to make a fight card, well I have a pretty good show."

Although the first two Adrenaline MMA events are scheduled in Illinois, Cox plans to take it on the road in the future.

"We'll travel. Right now, I'm happy... I love Chicago as a fight town. My next show for Adrenaline will be September 6 and that's going to be at the i wireless Center in Moline, Ill. And that's basically the Quad Cities, home of the Miletich Fighting Systems. That show will include Tim Sylvia and Ben Rothwell."

Discussing the promotion's debut fight card, Cox said, "My main event is going to be Jeff Monson and Mike Russow. That's a really good fight for anybody who knows MMA and has been around. The one other fight that I've got that I'm really proud of is Terry Martin is going to fight Daiju Takase. Of course, Takase is a guy that has beaten Anderson Silva... Martin is 16-4 and never lost outside of the UFC."

Jeff Monson vs. Mike RussowBart Palaszewski vs. Jeff CoxTerry Martin vs. Daiju TakaseTony Fryklund vs. Brian GassawayAlberto Crane vs. Clay FrenchTaiwon Howard vs. Rory MarkhamJame Gibo vs. Mark MillerHerc Hayes vs. Kerry ShallRob Kimmons vs. Hector UrbinaAaron Rosa vs. Ron FieldsDom O'Grady vs. Mike StumpfJoe Jordan vs. Ryan WilliamsChristian Reynosa vs. John Hosman