BlueGrace® Logistics Sponsors Six Fighters in UFC® March 2 Matchup - Marketing - Brand Marketing

Tampa's BlueGrace Logistics' involvement in sponsoring MMA fighters for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bouts continues with ongoing support of main event fighter Thiago "Pitbull" Alves as he takes on Martin Kampmann in a welterweight division matchup. BlueGrace is also sponsoring fighters Mackens "Da Menace" Semerzier, Daniel "The Pit" Pineda, Andrew Craig, Cole "Magrinho" Miller and Nick "The Quiet Assassin" Penner. The packed-card event will take place Friday, March 2 at the Allphones Arena in Sydney, Australia.

Alves, who is coming off of a November 2011 win with a first round submission over Papy Abedi, may have an opportunity to move closer to an eventual shot at the title again if he defeats Kampmann. In addition to this exciting main event, the other fights all promise to showcase the talents of the BlueGrace sponsored fighters.

"This particular fight card is very exciting as the BlueGrace sponsorship combines fighters such as Thiago and Mackens, who we've previously sponsored, with upcoming new talent in the sport. These fighters exemplify many of the attributes integral to our success in the transportation logistics business, including leadership, discipline and determination," said BlueGrace CEO and President Bobby Harris. "We are proud to have all of these individuals as part of the BlueGrace Logistics family."

MMA is one of the fastest growing sports today and BlueGrace has a number of customers across the nation who are fans, as well as corporate employees who enjoy the sport. Thiago Alves and other MMA stars such as UFC Interim Welterweight Champion Carlos Condit often visit the BlueGrace headquarters for career fairs and onsite broadcast interviews on WTAN Sports Radio, providing a level of engagement for customers who frequently visit the headquarters as well. In addition, many of the fighters are highly engaged with social media, using forums such as Twitter as an opportunity to connect with the BlueGrace team and generate excitement about both brands.

BlueGrace Logistics is one of the fastest growing and most progressive providers of transportation, logistics and technology solutions to businesses and individuals nationwide, serving more than 2,500 customers in 60 cities. In addition to its March 2 sponsorships, the company has also previously sponsored such MMA fighters as UFC Interim Welterweight Champion Carlos Condit, UFC Lightweight Champion Ben Henderson, Donald Cerrone, Roy Nelson, Johny Hendricks, Vagner Rocha and Pat Barry.

For more information about BlueGrace Logistics, visit

About The Ultimate Fighting ChampionshipThe Ultimate Fighting Championship is the world's leading professional mixed martial arts organization and offers the premier series of MMA sports events. Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., UFC produces over twelve live pay-per-view events annually that are distributed residentially through North American cable and satellite providers including iNDEMAND Networks, DIRECTV, DISH Network, TVN Entertainment, Bell ExpressVU, SaskTel Max, Shaw Pay-Per-View, Viewers Choice, and WOWOW in Japan, and via the Internet worldwide on Yahoo! Sports, and commercially through Joe Hand Promotions in the U.S. and Canadastar in Canada. In addition to its North American distribution, UFC programming is distributed in over 100 countries and territories throughout the world. For more information, or current UFC fight news, visit

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The Story Of The Ultimate Fighting Championship, Part 2 - Sports

The UFC was on the verge of its demise with no rules, no audience, no cable access and U.S. Senators calling for its break-up. It was time to step back and re-evaluate the situation. People are interested in the idea of MMA, but not in seeing the type of fight that has 2 fighters fighting in pools of their own blood. The first step was to add protective rules. Weight classes were introduced - heavy weights, middleweights and lightweights. The number of unacceptable striking areas on the body were increased to include the back of the neck, pressure points areas and the back of the head. Protective gloves were mandatory and there were now 5-minute rounds, all of which helped the UFC legitimately begin calling itself a sport, rather than an underground cage fight.

After the organization cleaned up the fights, it was time to start getting officially recognized by fighting associations. The improved image played well with the athletic commissions, as did the petitions for sanctioning made by other clean MMA organizations. It wasn't until September 30th of 2000 that the International Fighting Championships hosted the first MMA sanctioned event in New Jersey. 2 months later it was the UFC's turn. Their first sanctioned event also took place in New Jersey under the State Athletic Control Board's "Unified Rules". The Ultimate Fighting Championships had lost legal battles and suffered financially, but now it was a legitimate sport.

The time seemed right for new leadership. Two casino executives and a boxing promoter placed and won a bid to buy the UFC for $2 million in 2001. That same year, the organization successfully secured the sanctioning of the Nevada State Athletic Commission and returned to Pay-per-view. Slowly but surely, popularity was growing. It gained a spot on Fox Sports Net, which aired it as the first American mixed martial arts match in 2002.

Today.

Thanks to better promoting, bigger ticket events and the necessary funding, the UFC aired its own reality TV show on Spike TV called The Ultimate Fighter. It was slotted just after a large wrestling event and the UFC show quickly rose to the top for the station. Spike TV then began airing promotional half-hour teaser shows to promote UFC pay-per-view events. All of the widespread attention exploded its popularity. In 2006, the massively hyped event UFC 61 earned near 775,000 pay-per-view buys, the second highest in US history. The UFC, it seems, has officially arrived.

So what's next for the growing organization? They're thinking about expanding internationally. First stop: Mexico.

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