X Arm

X Arm is a brand new, never before seen Extreme Sport created by Art Davie, the co-founder the world-famous UFC.  It’s a crazy combination of Arm Wrestling, MMA, Boxing and Kick Boxing. 

 
Art Davie, hamming it up with Natasha and me

Running the program are Tedd Williams, founder and promoter of the Gladiator Challenge MMA events, Cal Worsham, all around bad-ass, and Cobra Rhodes, arm wrestling legend.

The X Arm fighters were each hand-picked and invited to attend one of two boot camp sessions at the American Sports University in San Bernardino, California.  One month later, they converged on the spot for the tournament on a closed set, along with a few select guests to make up the audience. 

It was a spectacle, to say the least: great moves, several amazing knock outs, unbelievable submission attempts, ingenious strategy as well as buckets of sweat, a few splashes of blood, and even a couple of broken bones.  All that, jammed into three, 1-minute rounds per fight.  Action packed?  You bet your ass it is.

GO HERE to catch a glimpse of the promo for the first episode of the X Arm reality series, which will cover the event from boot camp through the championship round.  It’s going to air on RipeTV.com (I’ll post a link each time a new episode is up) as well as on Comcast Cable -> On Demand -> The Cutting Edge, starting in late October.

Episode One aired October 23rd:  Bootcamp Day One.

Who ARE these athletes, you ask?  Well, aren’t you lucky I was taking notes!  The faces of the X Arm premier event are Ivan Gatoloai, Steve Walston, Rick Cheek, Fredrick Steen, Homer Moore, Justin Del Mugnaio, Bond Laupua, Rick Vardell, James Cordrey, and Andy Flennay.  Also on hand are Dave Huckaba and the always entertaining Tyson Johnson. 

Fierce?  Yes, they are.  But even more amazing, to me, anyway, is that all the fighters and their corner men were kept together for four days, and rather than hostility, there was a serious camaraderie.  Having been behind the scenes at plenty of MMA/Cage Fighting events, I was really pleased to see that every single one of their heads could fit in the breakfast room at one time. 

Not only that, but some wonderful friendships were made, strategies traded, and work out partners created.  Natasha and I?  We laughed until our faces hurt.  And then we laughed until our stomachs hurt.  

Because, apparently, this combination is even funnier than its individual parts:

Rick, Cobra Rhodes, Dave Huckaba and my Jeremy

And then when you go adding these two to the mix:


Cal Worsham and his wife
(hello Andrea’s glass of wine!  you look so lonely amongst all those beer bottles)

You’ve got more side-splitting laughs than an all-star comedy show.  Luckily for me, there weren’t any laughter-induced bladder control issues. 

WHAT?  You STILL haven’t clicked over to watch the promo?  Well here you go, lazy: X Arm Promo.  When you’re done, come back here and tell me what you think.    Right up your alley?  Too gruesome for you?  Have questions about the event?  Want me to give Tedd and Cal your demo for the X Arm event in January 2009?  GO!

* If any of you X Arm peeps would like me to change your link, email me at Jerdre53(at)aol(dot)com.  And while you’re at it, leave a comment so we know you were here! *