The Jackson’s MMA Series has always been a stomping ground for some of the best talent in New Mexico to be seen on a large stage to gain popularity and notoriety. From Diego Brandao to Michelle Waterson, the popular Jackson’s Series has propelled several fighters into premier type opportunities. While the shows are considered regional shows, the platform the show is built upon makes it a premier event. The “Jackson’s” label representing the Jackson-Winklejohn gym headed by famed trainer Greg Jackson brings in a huge influx of popularity and the reputation of the gym makes for its competitors to be viewed with much more attention and anticipation.
While the show has had ten previous events filled to the brim with up-and-coming elite talent and showcasing ten nights of exciting MMA action, this eleventh show is setting up to be “ground-breaking” and revolutionary in that the show will have loads of special elements.
First, it should be applauded that the Jackson’s MMA Series is now the second longest tenured MMA promotion in New Mexico. Hitting the 10-event mark is very significant due to the fact that most promotions falter after 2-3 shows. The grind of running a MMA promotion is very expensive and stressful but the man running the show, Ricky Kottenstette has done a great job staying consistent and persistent with the show. It may be a while before the promotion can catch the ten plus years King of the Cage has on the Jackson’s Series but regardless it remains one of New Mexico’s most storied promotions.
The Jackson’s Series has gone innovative in their eleventh show. While most local shows have featured mostly New Mexico based fighters, the presence of neighboring regions have also been well represented. El Paso’s Bushido MMA and Arizona’s Apex MMA have made their mark on our area’s regional scene and that expansion will continue in this show.
Three Mexican natives and one Argentinean fighter will be featured on the main card of the event. While showcasing international fighters isn’t necessarily uncommon, it is very cultural intriguing that with our states Hispanic culture being so rich, that we have not yet had a major influx of Mexican or Latin American fighters in our regional scene.
That all changes on August 10th at the Jackson’s MMA Series XI.
The Jackson’s Series will bring in some of most talented fighters from south of the border. That is significant for several reasons, most notably for the fact we are expanding as a regional scene which in turn brings much more exposure to our area’s MMA culture. When a promotion hosts a fighter from Bushido MMA, the El Paso fan base becomes more familiar with our region. Now that the Jackson’s Series has expanded to Mexico and Latin America, the fan bases of those large markets will now become familiar with our local scene.
The four Latin American and Mexican fighters will be matched up with two Arizona fighters, one Bushido MMA fighter and Team Roswell representative Richard Villa. The import of talent from other countries is also very good for the fighters in the area. They represent “new flavor” or new style of competition. Every region has different focused styles of MMA, for example Brazil is Jiu Jitsu heavy and the Philippines offer an elite pedigree of Muay Thai. Mexico and surrounding areas also have their own flavor of fighting and the regions fans and fighters will both be treated to that. More fighters will be able to add that new flavor to their MMA knowledge base and it will be a warm welcome by man to bring in new fighters.
As mentioned before, the importing of foreign talent isn’t uncommon but what is ground breaking is that the Jackson-Winklejohn gym is hosting these fighters and now will be featuring them on the main card of the event. With the training available at the elite MMA gym, these fighters are coming into the event with heavy anticipation and expectations of success.
The fighters scheduled for action on August 10th are lightweights Gabriel “Moggly” Benitez (14-3) of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico and Daniel “El Cazador” Salas (12-3) also of Mexico. Middleweight Augusto Salvador “Dodger” Montano (12-1) of Mexico’s Federal District and Buenos Aires, Argentina representative Guido Martin “Ninja” Cannetti (3-1).
SWFight.com is your home for all of your local MMA news and all of the Jackson’s MMA Series event coverage, fight breakdowns and analysis. Make sure to tune in to SWFight.com tomorrow night if you are unable to make the show as we will be live blogging from the arena. Show your support to the local hard-working athletes competing in the event by cheering them on, whether in the arena or watching our blog online.
