 | |
| Industry | Mixed martial arts promotion |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2010 |
| Founder | Jimmy Burchfield, Sr. |
| Headquarters | , United States |
| Website | cesfights |
CES MMA (Classic Entertainment & Sports) is a mixed martial arts promotional firm based out of Providence, Rhode Island founded by boxing promoter Jimmy Burchfield Sr. It promoted the first sanctioned professional mixed martial event in the state of Rhode Island on September 17, 2010, at Twin River Casino.[1]
Since its inception, CES MMA has promoted and developed the careers of several current and former Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) contenders, including Calvin Kattar, Rob Font, Andre Soukhamthath, John Howard, Charles Rosa Chuck O'Neil, Tateki Matsuda, Charles Rosa, Alex Karalexis, Thomas Egan, Dominique Steele, and Ricardo Funch.[2]
Other UFC veterans to appear on CES MMA cards include David Loiseau and Drew Fickett. Several CES MMA alums have also made successful transitions to Bellator MMA, most notably Brennan Ward, who won his first three professional fights under the guidance of CES MMA before winning Bellator's middleweight tournament in 2013.[3]
In October 2012, CES MMA promoted its first pay-per-view event at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, featuring the professional MMA debut of former WWE wrestler Dave Bautista, before signing a multi-year broadcast deal with AXS TV in September 2014 which ended in 2019.[4]
In January 2019 CES MMA started airing live events on UFC Fight Pass with the debut event on UFC Fight Pass being CES 54.
- ^ "'First Blood' First Sancitoned MMA Event in Rhode Island". fightnetwork.com. Archived from the original on May 26, 2015. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
- ^ "CES MMA Champ Rob Font Makes UFC Debut Saturday". fightnetwork.com. Archived from the original on May 30, 2015. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
- ^ "WesternMassMMA.com - Exciting MMA Contests, Media, News, Reviews, and Opinions: Brennan Ward Signs Multi-fight Contract With Bellator". westernmassmma.com.
- ^ "AXS TV announces multi-year broadcast deal with CES MMA". MMAjunkie. September 21, 2014.