Issue 049

May 2009

In MMA it is common to hear someone described as a “fighters’ fighter”. Not the most glamorous fighter, or the one that gets the most hits on Google, but a fighter whose skill, heart and attitude are highly respected by his peers. Jeff Osborne is a “fighters’ promoter”.  

Osborne originally came from a pro-wrestling background. “I saw the first UFC and said, ‘wow’. I walked away from pro-wrestling and never went back. I started training in Muay Thai first, and then jiu-jitsu. And my wrestling is still horrible to this day!” he laughs.  

Jeff fought a number of times in events going all the way back to 1994, and in 1996 he began running his own promotion. Borrowing from pro-wrestling terminology, he called his organisation ‘Hook N Shoot’. He has run an average of five to six shows a year ever since, making it the second-longest running MMA promotion in the US after the UFC.  

Jeff is well known for his support of female MMA. This January, the town of Evansville, Indiana, saw him undertake his biggest project so far: a women’s MMA convention. Four years in the making, it was the largest ever gathering of female mixed martial artists. Over the course of a week some of the world’s top female MMA athletes participated in seminars, training sessions, a grappling tournament and an amateur MMA event. The festival culminated in an eight-woman Grand Prix tournament that was won, against the odds, by the UK’s Lisa Higo.  

On a personal level, Jeff is proud of being a family man. “My proudest accomplishment is being the best father and husband on earth. Some dads say they are, but I know I am.” And it was his wife and first daughter who inspired Jeff to do something for female MMA. “It was 2000 or 2001 and I was watching the Remix tournament from Japan. I left the room to go do something, and when I came back my daughter, who I think was four years old at the time, was watching the tape with my wife, and I’m like ‘wow, this is really captivating them’. I started thinking at that moment, ‘this might be something cool to do’. And it turned out that was the best thought I’ve ever had.”   

Shortly afterwards in 2002, Osborne put together the first all-women’s MMA show outside Japan. “Everyone said ‘we can’t do this, it won’t work, there’s no way to put a whole show together.’ One of my favourite things is proving people wrong, and I definitely did! That single night was probably one of the most positive nights of my entire life.” Hook N Shoot ‘Revolution’ quietly made history and inspired a whole generation of female fighters.  

More women’s shows followed. Jeff ran his first women’s tournament in 2005, and a second tournament, in 2007, catapulted Kaitlin Young into the limelight thanks to her three knockouts in a single night. Tournaments have fallen out of favour in recent times, but Jeff sees a place for them in female MMA. “Basically two women get to fight three times in one night, and one, or both of them, is going to go away a star. If [the audience] see them fight just once, they couldn’t care less, but to put a fighter in front of the same people two or three times, the crowd definitely becomes attached to them and that makes it more special.”  

Jeff’s experience as a fighter colours his perception as a promoter. “I have a hard time trusting promoters, especially those who haven’t trained or fought, and don’t have that understanding of what a fighter goes through. I’ve been stitched over and it’s not something I’d ever do. The last person on earth I’d step on would be any of the fighters.” His commitment to his fighters has even extended to paying their medical expenses out of his own pocket, such as after Aaron Riley’s loss to Chris Lytle. Osborne says simply, “I know that’s something that lower-level promoters often don’t do, but I just think if it was me I’d want to be taken care of the same way.”

Like many of the smaller promotions, Jeff is finding times hard. “The economy is definitely kicking my ass right now!” he laughs. Nonetheless he’s already hinting at some other projects he is working on, and at the GFight convention he made an emotional promise: “I am going to keep busting my ass, trying to get the women on TV.”

Jeff sees this as the crucial thing that female MMA needs. “One of the highest-rated episodes we had [on BodogFight] was the hour-long piece they put together with all the women. That proves my point. There is an audience for these women out there and people want to see it,” Osborne says emphatically. “All of the women in the sport are unique and original, and don’t pee on each other’s food!” he adds with a dig at the popular TV series, The Ultimate Fighter.  

What is it that keeps Jeff Osborne involved in MMA after all this time? “I think it’s the people I meet. I’m not going to meet any people like this doing anything else in life. It’s not always about how much money you make, it’s about the journey you take and the people you meet. I’m very fortunate to have been in it this long. I think I’ve lived the life of a king, and I’m glad to have had all these people around me when I did.”