Monte Cox first MMA event was 20 years ago today

Monte Cox is the dean of martial arts managers. And the former pro boxer and sports editor in his home state of Iowa, is also a record setting promoter. He began putting together boxing events, which included the likes of James Toney and Hector Macho Camacho, and did over 100 in all. But it was not until the birth of mixed martial arts that his efforts exploded. 

Over the past 20 years, Monte Cox has promoted over 600 events. And he is perhaps even better known for his fighter management. Cox has managed fifteen different world champions of major organizations, including eight in the UFC and three in Bellator. In addition to UFC Hall of Famers Matt Hughes and Pat Miletich, other notable Cox-managed fighters include Rich Franklin, Jeremy Horn, Robbie Lawler, Dave Menne, Jens Pulver, Sean Sherk, and Tim Sylvia.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of his first event, the Quad City Ultimate on Jan 20, 1996. In an exclusive for The UnderGround, Cox details how it happened.

-Kirik

It was 20 years ago today that Pat Miletich convinced me to promote my first mixed martial arts event.

I’d promoted quite a few boxing events, but my experience in MMA was limited to traveling to see Miletich capture his first Battle of the Masters title in Chicago and watching the UFC’s 8th event, the Ultimate Ultimate.

It was Jan. 20, 1996 and MMA was in its infancy.

After quite a bit of pestering, Miletich got me to agree to promote the event, which I called the Quad City Ultimate. I decided to hold the show at The MARK of the Quad Cities, a classy, 12,000-seat arena across the river in Moline, Ill. The venue was only a couple years old and I knew it would add a lot of legitimacy to the event.

I remember wondering where I would get these MMA guys. Miletich was about the only guy I knew in the sport. The late Tom Letuli, who had held the Battle of the Masters, was a big help… he gave me names of all the guys who fought in his show, including the ones he turned down.

Miletich helped me recruit his friend Mark Hanssen, a massive police officer who was a former college football star. So, with a yet-to-be-determined lineup featuring Miletich and Hanssen, I started off my MMA career.

Miletich’s reputation had spread across the Midwest, so I figured it would be hard to get an opponent for him. Instead, I just invited all the guys who said they would fight and added a few local guys. I decided not to do the pairings until the night of the fight so nobody knew they were fighting Miletich until a couple hours before the actual fight.

Miletich swore he would be a huge ticket seller… that meant like 200 tickets in the small-town boxing world. He and Hanssen trained at Nick Tarpein’s gym in Davenport, Iowa, and the owner’s brother, Dan, said he would help sell tickets. Once I got the poster done, and tickets on sale, the calls from Tarpein’s school never quit. 

They sold 100 tickets, then 300 more… I took over 500 and they were gone in a week. By the night before the show, Dan had sold over 4,000 tickets for Miletich.

Going over the I-74 bridge into Illinois that night was a mess. Cars were backed up on the bridge and that was over a mile from the arena. We were sure there was an accident. It turned out they were all headed to the show. In all, more than 8,000 people showed up for the event… although I’ve done hundreds of events, I’ve never come close to the attendance for that first show.

About two hours before the show started, I did a blind draw for pairings. Rick Kliev of New York got Miletich and he wanted to make sure he could use pressure points. I said that was fine and he seemed pleased. Later, when we were doing the fighter introductions, Kliev was nowhere to be found. A security guard said he grabbed his stuff and ran out the backdoor. I had prepared for this by having four guys from a boxing gym in Illinois standby in case they were needed. They weren’t good, but they would fight. Ed McLennan was selected to join the 4-man tourney.

The blind draw also pitted the two favorites in the second tourney against each other in the first round. Hanssen drew Yasunori Matsumoto, a 4-time bare knuckle champion from Japan. We knew him well as Miletich had to break Matsumoto’s arm in the first round of the Battle of the Masters. Even with one arm, Matsumoto continued to fight until losing by choke.

Hanssen pounded on Matsumoto in one of the most one-sided beatings I’d ever seen for about 11 minutes. Then, his body shut down and he couldn’t lift his arms. Matsumoto got on top and punched away with no defense and the fight was stopped. Matsumoto went on to win the tournament.

Miletich knew McLennan was a replacement, but he was even worse than anybody could have expected. So, he took him down and applied an armbar, but McLennan wouldn’t tap. Because Miletich was holding the armbar in place, McLennan actually thought he was defending the submission. A quick yank by Miletich brought a yell and tap to end the fight. Miletich went on face Rick Gravesen in the final. The two battled in the second round at Battle of the Masters… this time Gravesen lasted twice as long, but still tapped two minutes into the fight.

It was a great night and a start to a new career for me and a start for hundreds of MMA fighters who decided to move to the Quad Cities over the years and train with Miletich, fight in my events, and eventually have me manage their careers. 

Hanssen vs. Matsumoto, ref: Freddie Letuli

Miletich vs. Gravesen