Two Women Have Earned the First Ever 'Main Event' Status

For July 17th MMA Event

Portland, OR - On Saturday, July 17th two women will go down in history as the First Ever Main event at Rumble @ The Roseland 52. The Portland MMA scene has recently flourished with women fighters. This spike corresponds with the Portland debut of Randy "The Natural" Couture's wife, Kim Couture. Couture's first ever fight was with the Full Contact Fighting Federation (FCFF) three years ago; and since, scores of women have followed in her footsteps.

"In the past it was a rarity to get two women to fight, now, for Rumble 52 we have six women on the card," said FCFF Co-owner and matchmaker Kevin Keeney. The FCFF is Oregon's oldest and most respected mixed martial arts (mma) organization and in their 52nd installment of their principle event the undefeated Glena "Heartless" Avila (3-0) from The Dalles will take on the undefeated Tia Spurlock (4-0) for the 115-pound Championship Belt.

Another stand out women's fight on the July 17th card is Portland's Paige Grider, who trains at the world renowned fight club: Team Quest. Grider debuted at Caged on the Coast 2 on June 26th and earned the credits of "Fight of the Night" with an 18 second, first round knockout against the more experienced Gidgett Edwards. She will face the undefeated, 155-pound fighter Amanda Bell (4-0) from Medford, Oregon. "Amanda has heavy hands, a great ground game and is a southpaw. Paige really has her work cut out for her," said Keeney.

Glena "Heartless" Avila is the current 125-pound FCFF Women's Champion after beating Janna Piper at Rumble @ The Roseland 48 on December 12th 2009. Piper, the more experienced fighter lost in a split decision that earned Avila her first belt. Avila went onto fighting Maygen Sato of Idaho at Rumble @ The Roseland 50 on March 6th 2010 in her first title defense. This battle was a three round war, where Avila found herself out-weighted and loosing at the start of the third and final round. She re-focused, utilized her training and took control, ending the fight with a TKO due to strikes in only one minute and forty four seconds of the final round  earning her second belt. "You can never count me out. I learned a lot from that fight. I have grown with every fight," said Avila.

Avila debuted in the FCFF in September of 2009 at Rumble @ The Roseland 46 with a dominating win over Hadley Griffith in only 1:17 second of round number one via a TKO due to strikes. What many people do not realize is that her first fight was in the 130-pound division, when her true weight is around 110-115 pound. "Sometimes you have to take fights in higher weight divisions just to get them. It's a trade. The title shot was there for the 125-pound division, still above my actual weight. I went for it. This next fight against Tia is the first fight I am going to have in my true weight division," says Avila.

Avila and Paige Grider get asked daily "why on earth would you want to fight?" a question every woman fighter faces. They both answer the question with a display of their passion, respect for the sport and the discipline it takes to attain your goals. "Its everyday, all day" says Avila "becoming a fighter is the hardest things I have ever done and people recognize that dedication and respect it." A day in Avila's life consists of her morning training session, beginning at 6am five days a week. Then a full day of work in admission at the Veteran's Facility at The Dalles, after which, she loads her supportive nine-year-old daughter in the car for the drive to Portland. She trains at Rive Above MMA five days a week (Tue, Wed, Thur, Sat and Sunday) in kickboxing, grappling, and sparring, plus the 3-hour round trip commute. Avila plans to take on as much amateur competition this year as she can, moving more into the National scene seeking the top competition to gauge her desire to turn pro as early as 2011.

Paige Grider's motivations are one-part athlete and one-part parental defiance. After seven concussions in one year of soccer her father asked her to choose a different, safer sport  her choice was boxing. Grider naturally transferred her interests from karate and boxing to mma. She trained at Northwest Fighting Arts for a year and a half to learn the basics; then found Team Quest Tualatin. She has been training there under Scott McQuarry for the past three years. "My parents are not happy with this. They do not support it, they were not at my debut fight on June 26th and they will not be at this next fight," said Grider, "my dad and I have had many discussions about this, and he doesn't understand that there are studies that prove there are fewer injuries in mma then in football or soccer."

At Rumble @ The Roseland 52 there will be 17 action-packed fights on the card. In the Co-Main for the 155-Pound Men's Championship Tommy Leisman of Team Quest will face Champion Clint Patterson of DSP. Patterson earned his belt at Rumble @ The Roseland 51 on May 22nd by defeating Jake Morris. Morris was the 2009 FCFF Rookie of the Year, who was on an undefeated streak since his debut. "We thought Morris couldn't loose, he earned the belt and defended it with ease, ending almost every fight in the first round," said Keeney "Clint is legit; he earned so much respect after beating Morris." Tickets available at Tickets West Safeway locations or www.ticketswest.com. Doors open at 6pm at the Roseland Theater with the fights beginning at 7pm. Go to www.thefcff.com for more information.

Chael Sonnen, FCFF Co-owner & UFC Fighter  WILL SIGN AUTOGRAPHS AT EVENT!

Chael Sonnen will be the next man to fight Anderson Silva for the UFC Middleweight Championship at UFC 117 on August 7th. Sonnen, from West Linn, Oregon trains in the Northwest, primarily at Team Quest Fight Club. Sonnen's most notable wins are against former WEC champion Paulo Filho, Nate Marquardt at UFC 109, former IFL champion Dan Miller, and Yushin Okami of Japan at UFC 104. Sonnen was a NCAA Division I All-American wrestler at the University of Oregon, a two-time University National Champion in Greco Roman, and a US Olympic team alternate.

FCFF Event History
The FCFF, since 2001 has gained National clout as the key organization in the USA for rising MMA talent. Evan Dunham, a former FCFF Fighter (record 11-0 in the professional arena) just defeated Tyson Griffin by split decision at UFC 115. The FCFF has been credited for launching the careers of some of the Nation's favorite MMA personalities like: Chris "The Crippler" Leben (The Ultimate Fighter-1), Nathan "The Rock" Quarry (The Ultimate Fighter-1), Ed "Short Fuse" Herman (The Ultimate Fighter-3), Josh "Bring the Pain" Haynes (The Ultimate Fighter-3) and Chael Sonnen (Team Quest, WEC and UFC Fighter). Also the Healy Brothers competed in the FCFF. Currently, Pat and Ryan Healy fight for Strikeforce.