JasonAppleton.com - Fight Promoter, Fighter Manager and Family man.

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Been such a long time! Sorry!

Posted by Jason Appleton on September 2nd, 2010

I can’t even begin to explain how busy I’ve been lately. I have been up late, as usual, and decided to create a new website to help fighters get sponsors for their fights. I’m working on it now, but then my daughter Olivia made some noises in her room. I went in and she was standing there saying “I want out”. Apparently she couldn’t sleep, awake at 1am…so, I brought her into my room and clipped her fingernails and we watched home videos of when she was maybe 2 years old. We both giggled as we watched her picking her nose and eating it. haha We finished the last video and I put her back to bed. God I love my babies!

So anyway, as I was working on my new site project I decided to check the traffic of all the sites I haven’t touched in a while. WOW! My blog farm of wordpress MMA blogs is getting like 80,000 visits monthly combined. One of them is getting 20,000 a month by itself. It’s all automated. I really need to do something about monetizing those sites. Then I saw that my little bitching blog here was getting 6,000+ unique visits monthly and I felt bad that 6,000 people came here and I haven’t posted in weeks.

I’m sorry.

The Big Show Gym is open! Sort of. We have begun opening during mall hours but we haven’t begun really marketing it yet as there is still much to do! We are starting classes next week though. BigShowGym.com is the site, I need to update that too! Just waiting until the gym is done and I can get some GOOD photos of everything and then overhaul the site completely. I have some interesting ideas for it.

The Nov 27th show is gonna be HUGE! I can’t even begin to explain how crazy this show is going to be. 5 days after my birthday, gonna be a stacked card. Working on some HUUUUUUUGE things for this card that’s gonna flip people out but I can’t say anything just yet. Roger Bowling, Mojo Horne, Chris Bennett, TJ Ball and others will be on this card, that much I can say. The rest is a secret for now.

On the personal front, life has been good really. I’ve been dating a fantastic woman who believe it or not stands 5′1. HAHA It’s great! I don’t want to say who she is on here though because she may not want her private life displayed but I’m diggin her quite a bit. She’s a personal trainer, has been for years, doesn’t smoke, handles her liquor well and we have a great time together. About all I’ll say bout that.

I’m going to start training again officially on Monday! I’ve been waiting to get the gym open to start training again and even though it’s open, it’s not done. But, when you have someone like Jim Kelly willing to teach you Gracie Jiu Jitsu, well, you shut up and learn. I’m really excited to have him teaching BJJ at the Big Show Gym. I’d really love to get a few belts and eventually compete in BJJ tournies sometime. Maybe before or after I fight MMA. Not sure yet. All depends on how much time I have and what all is going on around me.

My daughters are amazing! Alyssa is becoming the most defiant little 2 year old with a major attitude but everything she does she thinks is sooo funny. I can’t help but laugh sometimes when I tell her to do something and she looks me dead in the eye and says “No.” just calm and direct. It’s worse than her yelling and screaming “NOOO!”. Shes a trip! Olivia is 3 now and already a friggin teenage girl!!! SCARING ME! She has a crush on Chris Bennett. She loves her nails done. The way she speaks to me sometimes and tells stories with those teenage like expressions and such. Oh man, what a riot. She’s gonna be a heart broken beauty some day. She’s has her daddys heart and I know it’s going to be a long road for her.

Well, that’s all I’ll bore ya with tonight. I’m waiting on files to FTP to my server and I think they are about done.

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Mojo Horne vs. Lucas Lopes at ALL OR NOTHING

Posted by Jason Appleton on July 31st, 2010

Mojo Horne vs. Lucas Lopes @ Yahoo! Video

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ALL OR NOTHING: Results

Posted by Jason Appleton on July 18th, 2010

Pros
Mojo Horne def. Lucas Lopes Sub. RNC 4:10 Rd. 1
Chris Bennett def. Brad Smith Sub. guillotine 1:29 Rd. 1
Scott Cornwell def. James Baumgardner Sub. armbar 3:04 Rd. 1
Mike Fleniken def. Danny Surface Sub. RNC 3:18 Rd. 1

Amateurs
Dom Steele def. Kirk Miller TKO 2:19 Rd. 1
Vic Simms def. Colt Helton Decision Rd. 5
Michael Ormes def. David Smallwood Sub. triangle 1:49 Rd. 2
Marcus Lewis def. Neil Mullins Tapout due to injury :30 Rd. 1
Dave Harris def. Shane Wyatt Sub. guillotine 1:04 Rd. 1
Josh Curry def. Chad Rynn Sub. guillotine 1:30 Rd. 1
Eric Gifford def. Justin Brewster TKO 1:49 Rd. 1
Mike Lyons def. Tyler Riley Sub. armbar 2:03 Rd. 3
Nikolas Hoobler-Scherff def. Korey Crampton Sub. armbar :56 Rd. 2
Dallas Rice def. Shannon Casey Unable to answer bell 3:00 Rd. 1

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Dom Steeles Comment

Posted by Jason Appleton on July 18th, 2010

DOM STEELE: Look, I know to the general public that doesn’t know what a silly ass Dom is, you were probably offended by Dom’s comment. I’m not condoning it. It was in bad taste and bad timing. I know he is deeply sorry and wanted to apologize immediately after but Megan (as instructed before the event) didn’t give Dom the mic to clarify his tongue in cheek joke. Dom isn’t racist. He’s a silly guy always making jokes about himself which are often racially based but I know he meant nothing by it other than being nervous on the spot and trying to be funny. He will be posting a video soon explaining as much. He has expressed his deepest apologies not only to me, but to Kirk Miller directly.

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4 days till fight night.

Posted by Jason Appleton on July 12th, 2010

Got the muay thai bags up at the gym. Getting ready for a big gym push for build out to get it where it needs to be. Still a cavernous open room with a cage, mats and bags in it. Long way to go till it’s done. A group of us were in there today including Dion, who will be a boxing coach. He was working pads with me and it was a pleasant warm up for me for whats to come. We drew a crowd out in the mall and when we finished up a number of people went over and signed the pre-registration list. Very cool. Dion isn’t used to holding kick pads and he kept turning into me which caused me to kick his elbow. So I told him, stop turning, and when he did it again, I front kicked him 15 feet backwards. haha

Mojo and I were on Sports Of All Sorts last night on Channel 9 WCPO. Was a cool experience. Traffic on the Big Show site spiked up like crazy with over 650 people on the site for an hour or two. Spike in ticket sales too.

Everyone is getting ready for this event. It’s just going to be crazy and I still can’t believe it’s actually happening. LIVE national television. We just went from 0 to 120MPH over night after trying to just get a regular national deal for 4 years. We have a LOT planned for this network. A nice partnership is forming.

We have also put full page ads in Tapout and MMA Worldwide for this event. Also got a quarter page coming out in USA Today. With not a single sponsor for this July show, we are hoping that after this is all over and people know we aren’t kidding anymore about television, that can get the sponsors we need for Nov which should be available in over 65 million homes…..

We shall see.

Just trying to keep stress levels down for now and hope for the best.

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Two Weeks Until Fight Night

Posted by Jason Appleton on July 4th, 2010

It’s two weeks until fight night and all I can say is I’m drained of all life force.
Between putting together the TV deal, trying to muster last minute sponsors, preparing the Big Show Gym and trying to get at least the MMA side of the gym open so guys can begin training there, the permits, insurance policies, paperwork, replacement fighters, coordinating the lighting and audio guys with the TV production crew and the TV station, the venue and dealing with both phones ringing off the hook for weeks now all while also trying to be a father…

I could use a vacation…but until everything is well greased and capable of working on its own, thats one trip that will have to wait.

The good news is, I finally have live national television on a network eager to aid me in establishing a monthly live event, locking down 4 wall deals at venues as well as sponsorships. Not to mention the reality show and other associated efforts. Tickets are selling like crazy as people are eager to be a part of what will be a historical event in MMA Big Show history. The fighters have been training hard and are biting their nails in anticipation. It’s a lot of build up.

On the home front, things are good. I just got the girls a new puppy! Maxi, the baby German Shepard and she is sooooooo sweet! The girls won’t see her until Wednesday but I’m super excited! They are going to freak out! Speaking of which my ex has agreed to Shared Parenting! All I’m going to say about that but I’m very happy.

I guess that’s all for now really. I’m just relaxing today and not doing anything. Shane Carwin should have had the win last night but Brock did whether the storm and came out on top so good for him. I still can’t stand him.

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It’s just been crazy I tell ya!

Posted by Jason Appleton on June 14th, 2010

I have to have my gym open on June 27th, so we are going to open but it won’t be DONE until August. Lots of stuff on order but it will take 4-6 weeks to get everything in. So we are going to let people join the gym with no enrollment fee until August when we have our grand opening.

My July 17th show is officially going to be broadcast live on national television and there is soooo much work to be done in logistics and prep for this show. I’m handling the jobs of 5 people by myself and though I’m SURE you feel bad for me, it’s all getting done. I think everything may be finally coming together the way it should be. There is a chance that we will begin putting on a monthly event in various markets that are fully sponsored and broadcast live nationally to what will amount to over 45 million homes, but I’m taking things a step at a time. We’ll see. People keep telling me that someone is going to try and buy me out if I start getting too big. I doubt it, and even if they did the only group I could see being able to afford to buy me out is the UFC and I just don’t see that happening unless they wanted to make the Big Show the development platform for higher weight classes over the WEC which focuses on the smaller classes. Who knows but my plans and vision are nowhere near complete and until I’ve accomplished what I set out to do, I probably wouldn’t even be interested anyway.

I’m going to see my son for the first time in over 10 years this month! I can’t believe it! I’m so nervous and excited and full of emotion about the whole thing. I just don’t know what to expect or what to do! I’m just going to be myself but better and hope he buys it! haha Just kidding. I’ve not lived a day since everything happened 10 years ago where he wasn’t in my thoughts or my heart and I learned so much from the experience. His mother moved to Arizona back then to get married and have a family and I was so young at the time I didn’t really know what to do. I just let them go. I made her promise that when he was 8ft tall at 15 years old that she wouldn’t hide me from him and sure enough, she kept her word and I’ve spoken to him several times, we’ve swapped pictures through facebook and Tyler has just impressed my immensely as has his mother for how well she has been bringing him up. I’m proud of her for what shes accomplished for him and I’m proud of him for taking care of his mom. The two look damn near identical! lol He’s just TALL! I’m really excited! I wanna hug him so hard but I might break him so I have to be gentle and not freak him out! haha

There is so much going on around me right now. Rich Franklin KO’ed The Iceman! Woot! I’m a big fan of both as people and fighters but I of course had to root for Rich and when he hit Chuck and Chuck went down, EVERYONE went nuts at Fox & Hound. It was awesome! Poor guy broke his arm and though happy for Rich’s win, Mojo is upset because now he won’t have Rich to help him train for Lucas Lopes on July 17th.

Roger Bowling was offered another Strikeforce fight for June 16th but we had to turn that down because Roger was on vacation in Mexico with TJ Ball. Poo!

Other than that, I think that about covers most of the goings on right now. Working on the new Big Show Gym site too! Should be up in a few days!

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The Road – Jeeez!

Posted by Jason Appleton on June 4th, 2010

So I picked up a couple movies from Wally World. Yes, it’s how I’m spending my friday night. hah!
I popped in The Road, which is about a father and son in a post apocalyptic world. It’s not 15 minutes in and he’s coaching his son how to kill himself because things are too hard.

Now, if I weren’t a father, I could watch this and not think a whole lot of it aside from how horrible it is. But being a father, I had to stop the movie. I spend every night worrying about how safe my girls are. When they are asleep down the hall I fall asleep wondering about different scenarios such as, what would I do if someone broke in. How many shots could I take before I went down and would I have enough time or strength to get the perp before he got to my babies. How far would I go with someone who broke in. Etc etc.

Nothing changes you like having children. Well, for most people anyway.

It tugs my heart strings just to see my girls get a bump or a bruise. I can’t possibly fathom the idea of losing one of them, or something happening to them before they have grown up and become grand parents.

A loyal supporter and fan of the MMA Big Show and members of Team Vision recently lost their son. I just heard of this recently and my heart truly goes out to them. I just can’t imagine my life without my daughters in it. The only true light I have in my life. The fuel to my fire. The two loves of my life. My babies.

I see them walking around with their personalities blooming into their own. Olivia, the demanding pretty princess. Alyssa, the crazy, funny and tech savvy stunt woman. Oh I see who these girls are going to be already. Olivia, a regularly heartbroken hopeless romantic like her Daddy. Alyssa, a thrill seeker to the core with no fear and an abundance of curiosity. I remember their births like it was yesterday. Looking at pictures and videos of them on my phone it just amazes me how fast they are growing up. One thing certainly hasn’t changed and that’s how much they crave attention from Daddy. lol Working from home with the girls here is always a challenge and a comfort at the same time. I need to invent a Daddy Jungle Gym Suit so the girls can climb me more easily. haha

I guess the whole point of this post is, life is truly precious. We don’t know how long we have or what circumstances will come our way and it’s best to to make the right choices every step because you never know how long it will be until you are held accountable for them, one way or another. Appreciate what you have and those you have. They could be gone tomorrow. Love as much as you can because what you put out will come back to you in time.

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Bowling Won – Bennett Signed – Fighters Guard Terminated

Posted by Jason Appleton on May 26th, 2010

So Roger Bowling of course, won his Strikeforce debut and impressed the world with such an aggressive and accurate domination of Bobby Voelker. I will say though, Bobby Voelker was made of pure steel and from I’ve seen and by what Roger told me, he is a hell of a nice guy. If things don’t work out with Bobby and Strikeforce, I’d really like to see him in the Big Show Cage. Bobby, if you read this, call me. I’m a fan.

I also signed Chris Bennett to management this week. The guy is practically the adopted son of the Big Show. Both Greg Hupp and I feel like we have raised Chris since he was 15 years old and lets face, the kids has some serious talent with lots of promise. So, expect to see big things from him in due time.

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Sports sponsorship sales

Posted by Jason Appleton on May 16th, 2010

I am looking for help in national sports sponsorship sales as it relates to the MMA Big Show.
We are preparing to make announcements for national live TV broadcasts, however, we need to get our sponsorship sales team in order prior to this.

If you have the contacts and relationship building ability to land national sponsorships of between $10,000 to $50,000, please contact me immediately. Sorry, no beginners or those new to the field.

jason@mmabigshow.com

Thanks.

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