Local Shark Fights Promotions makes world-wide mark on MMA

By: Rachel Nelson
www.amarilloscene.com

Amarillo is a tough town.

Take a look at Heath Herring, the late Evan Tanner, Paul Jones, Steve Nelson, Justin Martin and Paul Buentello. These household names to Mixed Martial Arts and Ultimate Fighting Championship fans have one thing in common: they call the heart of the Panhandle home.

"All of these guys come from one small town in the top of Texas," said Michael Lister, seventh degree Tae Kwon Do grand master and owner of the Mixed Martial Arts and Athletic Center in Amarillo. "I would say we have some of the toughest guys walking around."

With the emergence of the Shark Fights Promotion in Amarillo, MMA is blowing up. It's unlikely to go anywhere in town without seeing at least one person sporting MMA gear. But according to Jim Larsen, owner of the Shark Fights Promotion, the sport has been big in the Panhandle since the emergence of the Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation in the '90s.

"That's the very first form of MMA in Texas, and it started in Amarillo," Larsen said.

According to Lister, whether people like it or not, humans are intrigued by competitive fighting.

"It is barbaric, but it's fighting ... I think that's in our blood," Lister said, making reference to the gladiators. "It's in our nature. I mean come on, has there ever been at time that there wasn't a war?"

Larsen had been working as a car salesman for several years when he was invited to a UFC party at a friend's house six years ago.

"I went, and I was absolutely hooked," Larsen said. "I fell in love with the sport. I just watched it every chance I could get, bought every pay-per-view, subscribed to every MMA channel. I really started to try to understand the sport."

From there, Larsen sponsored good friend Brent Medley on his fighting ventures in Las Vegas and went on to sponsor Amarillo native Evan Tanner, who died when he ran short of supplies while on a journey in the California dessert.

"I actually cornered Evan's last fight in the UFC," Larsen said. "It aired on Spike TV June 23, 2008. It was the main event on the Ultimate Fighter's season 6 Finale."

Before Tanner's passing, Larsen said he told Tanner and Medley that he wanted to bring his own MMA promotion to Amarillo.

"I went to a MMA event in Lubbock, and it was ridiculous," Larsen said. "You couldn't see anything or hear anything. It was bad."

Larsen said that event was the push he needed to start his own promotion.
"On September 15, 2008 we formed Shark Fight Promotions, which was my brainchild, and shortly after that, Evan passed away in the tragic accident," Larsen said. "For Shark Fights 1, (October 24, 2008) we did a tribute to Evan Tanner."

According to Larsen, Shark Fights 1 was the first live pay-per-view event from Amarillo and was distributed via the Internet. The event took place at the Amarillo National Center.

The Shark Fights promotion has now held 5 events and has been featured on major MMA Web sites such as Sherdog, Bloodyelbow and ESPN's Inside MMA.
"We've got the largest cage in the country of any MMA company, including UFC," Larsen said.

Larsen's wife, Sheila, helped organize a group of women called the Shark Angels, which can be compared to the UFC's Octagon Girls. Twenty days before Shark Fights 1, Larsen said 34-year-old Sheila collapsed of exhaustion and was taken to BSA Urgent Care where she found out she had low hemoglobin levels in her blood. It later was discovered that she had multiple malignant tumors in her small intestine, which were surgically removed. Despite the obstacles, she still supported the first Shark Fights event as a Shark Angel.

"We remove 3 feet of her small intestine, and she is actually at the show," Jim Larsen said of his wife. "She is such a fighter."

By the time Shark Fights 3 rolled around in March, Larsen said that Shark Fights decided to sponsor the Children's Miracle Network and raised $750 at the event that was donated to a local family who has a child battling cancer. Also at Shark Fights 3 was the introduction of the first three Texas MMA-endorsed belts--featherweight, wellterweight and heavyweight. Although the belts were introduced at Shark Fight 3, they were not won until Shark Fight 4 in May. The event was held in Lubbock and was also offered as an online pay-per-view event. Current belt holders include T.J. WaldBurger (welterweight) and Doug Evans (featherweight) and Darrill Schoonover (heavyweight). Schoonover is scheduled to appear on Spike TV's reality show The Ultimate Fighter for its 10th season.

"We used the same belt maker that the UFC uses," Larsen said. "Let me tell you, these fighters freaked out when they saw our belts."

Two weeks prior to Shark Fights 4, Larsen’s wife was diagnosed with a brain tumor the size of a plum and underwent surgery to remove the mass. She was able to be at the event, but not as a Shark Angel this time.

"On that card alone, we had 3 UFC veterans fight for us: Don Frye, Jesse Taylor and Phil Cardella,"Larsen said.

During the course of the Shark Fights Promotions, Larsen also opened up the Shark Fights Store in Westgate Mall.

Meanwhile, his wife went to the doctor for a check-up and was given devastating news that more tumors had consumed half of her liver and returned in her brain. She was diagnosed at a stage 5 terminal level with no available treatments. According to Larsen, the couple has four daughters--ages 5,9,15 and 17.

Shark Fights 5 was scheduled to take place June 27 as an outdoor happening at Gamboa's Outdoor Event Center, but the event was rained out. To make up for the cancellation, Shark Fights refunded all tickets, and Shark Fights 5.5

“Nothing to Lose” was offered as a free event to the public on July 18. Shark Fights 5.5 attracted a record-breaking 10,603 people, Larsen said.

"We didn't even let the rain out keep us down," Larsen said.

In its first 5 MMA events, Larsen called his company a success, although its formation has been met with personal battles.

"It's just such a connection because we own a fight company, and that's what we are doing; we are fighting," Larsen said. "This company is fighting internally with the fighting of my wife and supporting children in this community. We're going to take a bite out of cancer one fight at a time."
In less than a year after its formation, Shark Fight Promotions has left its mark on MMA world-wide.

"It gives us place in Texas and gives us place in the MMA community across the globe, and I think that that's important," Larsen said.

Lister said he believes Amarillo has more stars in the making, including Marcus Sursa, an Amarillo native and 2001 graduate of River Road High School. Sursa beat Ricky Shivers of Alaska at Shark Fights 5.5. Before Shark Fights 5.5, three of Sursa's fights had been cancelled due to injuries of his opponents.

"It does suck that I don't have three wins to make my record better, but I have to train anyway," Sursa said. "But I have to train anyway. It's just prepared me better for the next fights."

Sursa said that he didn't feel like he had any ring rust before his win against Shivers, and he proved that when he defeated Shivers with a triangle choke 57 seconds into the second round.

In 2006, Sursa participated in the Jungle Fights in Brazil where he fought against a black belt for the first time and won. He has three losses to UFC veterans Stefan Struve, Eliot Marshall and Alan Belcher. Although he did not win these fights, Sursa believes he has the potential to make it to the UFC himself.

"That's the dream and goal of every fighter," Sursa said. "I definitely think I have the caliber to make it."

According to Lister, another up-and-coming fighter with the potential to make it big is Edgar Santos, the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu instructor at the Martial Arts and Athletic Center. He trained for 12 years and earned his second degree Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt in Brazil before making his way to Amarillo about one year ago. He now contributes to the 100 years of collective martial arts experience at the MAAC.

Santos won the last North American Grapplers Association event in Dallas and took third place at the World Cup of Jiu Jitsu. He has also taken first place twice at the Brazilian Nationals.

"You're getting guys that are the best in the world right here in Amarillo, Texas," Lister said.

Santos said his dream is to eventually fight in Japan and said he "has been waiting for this day for a very long time."

Lister said he has been teaching Tae Kwon Do in the Amarillo Independent School District as a P.E. credit for the past 19 years and coaching others to achieve their MMA potential at his gym for 28 years.

"If they only get in the cage one time or two times then they've had their fun and I'd say they've learned a lesson," Lister said.

Lister said the values he strives to instill in his students are discipline, respect, dignity, honor and self control.

To any person with dreams of making it big in MMA, Sursa offers this advice: "Say your prayers, take your vitamins and do your push-ups."