Issue 160

November 2017

How fighting expertise can make promoting successful.

David Rickels, Bellator welterweight and EFC co-founder:

It’s really a lot of fun juggling the jobs of being an active fighter and promoter. I love to be drowned in fighting.

There are times when that’s exactly how I feel. I love it. I want to find a way to stay in the fight game even after my octagon career is over. This is one step in that direction.

The idea for Evolution Fighting Championship started when I was sitting around with a couple of guys and we were shooting the stuff about how there were no great or even good fight shows here in Wichita, other than when Bellator comes to town. Bellator has done a great job of creating a good fight market here.

We, being the evolving types, decided to jump into it and start our own company. We have been kicking butt. It’s going great.

We had a few promoters doing things but nobody was trying to create a good, quality show.

After being with Bellator for as long as I have been, I am looking at these type of events. I felt like that’s what the people around here deserve.

We have been a pretty good feeder to the Bellator shows that come here to Wichita. We work hand in hand.

I didn’t start this with the goal of setting up a career after fighting. I just wanted a quality show. We aren’t cutting corners on production, or anything for that matter.

We started EFC 1 in a building of 900 people. Now we have moved to the Kansas Star Casino, where Bellator holds events, and we are pulling in crowds of 2,500. The short to long-term goals have jumped pretty quickly for all of us, and I didn’t really see that coming.

It’s been really fun and exciting seeing the growth already.

After my experiences in the cage, we threw out the welterweight division and added two new weight classes: super-lightweight at 165lb and super-welterweight at 175lb. I have always really wanted to do this. Being the fighter I am, I’m a little bit small for 170lb but I am gigantic at 155lb. I wish I had an in-between weight class.

I am projecting what I would like to see in terms of weight classes, and we are starting it right here with EFC. I think there should be more weight classes. People are dying from weight cuts, and I would like to find a way to limit the extreme weight cutting.

We also want to have fun. Because of my entrances in Bellator, guys will message me asking if they can do certain things every chance they get. They know I’m really into it, so we will set it up. I would be such a hypocrite if I were to promote a show and not let guys do some kind of cool walkout. They are encouraged to do it, for sure.

It’s not all easy though. The toughest thing about being a promoter is all these wannabe fighters. They drive me crazy. When I grew up in the game my coach said, ‘You are fighting this person.’ I said, ‘Yes coach. Thank you.’ I didn’t go and watch a tape and then decide whether it was a good match-up for me. No, dude. You are an amateur: fight anybody and everybody.