EA Sports To Offer Free, Live Online Stream Of

Riggs vs. Hieron From STRIKEFORCE:  Miami This Saturday

   

January 30, 2010

BankAtlantic Center

Sunrise, Florida

 

 

NEW YORK (January 26, 2009)– For the first time in history, Electronic Arts Inc., (NASDAQ: ERTS) will

offer live mixed martial arts (MMA) fight action online with a free of charge stream of the highly anticipated

STRIKEFORCE welterweight (170 pounds) matchup between wrestling powerhouses Joe “Diesel” Riggs

(32-10) and Jay “The Thoroughbred” Hieron (18-4) from BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida this

Saturday, January 30.

 

The live stream of the STRIKEFORCE:  Miami preliminary bout will begin at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on the

official EA SPORTS™ MMA website (www.easportsmma.com), the online platform for EA SPORTS

forthcoming MMA video game title in which STRIKEFORCE will be featured as a premiere league.  The

stream will precede the live SHOWTIME® telecast of the event’s main fight card, which begins at 10 p.m.

ET/PT (delayed on the west coast).

 

Riggs, a 27 year old native of Phoenix, Arizona, will attempt to extend a four fight win streak that began with

his second round (2:05) TKO of Luke Stewart in a STRIKEFORCE:  Destruction bout at HP Pavilion in San

Jose, California on November 21, 2008.

 

In his last effort under the STRIKEFORCE banner, Riggs dominated hard-hitting “The New York Badass”

Phil Baroni for three consecutive rounds of action before walking away with a unanimous judges’ decision

victory at St. Louis’ Scottrade Center on June 6, 2009.

 

Hieron, a former nationally ranked NCAA wrestler for Hofstra University, has been victorious in each of his

last six starts.  The Long Island, New  York native made his STRIKEFORCE debut in his last effort, earning

a unanimous decision win over Jesse “J.T. Money” Taylor at HP Pavilion on August 15, 2009.

 

A former troubled teen, Hieron has since become an inspiration, winning a world title with the now defunct

International Fight League (IFL) and relocating to Las Vegas in order to train with the fight squad headed by

MMA legend Randy “The Natural” Couture.

 

Slated for release later this year, EA SPORTS MMA will feature the most authentic, intense and broad

mixed martial arts experience to date – complete with a vast array of top fighters and fighting styles from

around the world.  EA SPORTS MMA will be available on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment

system and the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system in 2010.

 

The game will feature a host of STRIKEFORCE fighters, the six-sided STRIKEFORCE cage, the

commentary team of Frank Shamrock and Mauro Ranallo, and ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr.  Legendary

mixed martial arts referee “Big John” McCarthy will preside over the in-ring action and bring his in-depth

knowledge of the sport to help deliver a truly authentic MMA experience. [confirm we have signed

agreements and marketing rights to mention these people]

 

EA SPORTS™ is one of the leading sports entertainment brands in the world, with top-selling videogame

franchises, award-winning interactive technology, global videogame competitions and breakthrough digital

experiences.  EA SPORTS delivers personal access to the emotion of sports through industry-leading sports

simulation videogames, including Madden NFL football, FIFA Soccer, NHL® hockey, NBA LIVE basketball,

NCAA® Football and NCAA Basketball, Fight Night boxing and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® golf, while EA

SPORTS Active Personal Trainer for the Wii is the most critically acclaimed product available for interactive

fitness. 

 

For more information about EA SPORTS, including news, video, blogs, forums, fantasy leagues and game

communities, please visit www.easports.com to connect, share and compete.

 

Tickets for STRIKEFORCE:  Miami are on sale at the BankAtlantic Center ticket office and Ticketmaster

(800) 745-3000 as well as online at www.Ticketmaster.com and www.Strikeforce.com. 

 

In the live, SHOWTIME televised main event, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Nick Diaz (20-7) of Stockton,

California will square off with fellow MMA superstar and DREAM champion Marius “The Whitemare”

Zaromskis (13-3) of Siaulial, Lithuania for the STRIKEFORCE World Welterweight Championship.

 

STRIKEFORCE Women’s World Lightweight (145 pounds) Champion Cris Cyborg (8-1) of Curitiba, Brazil

will put her title on the line against top ranked Marloes Coenen (17-3) of Deventer, Holland. 

 

Football legend Herschel Walker (0-0) will make his highly-anticipated MMA debut against 26-year-old

Greg Nagy (1-1) of Phoenix, Arizona. 

 

Knockout artists “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler (16-5) and Melvin “No Mercy” Manhoef (24-6-1) will face off

with each other in a middleweight (185 pounds) contest.

 

Undefeated heavyweight and former WWE champion Bobby Lashley (4-0) will make his STRIKEFORCE

debut against Wes Sims (22-12-1).

 

Doors at BankAtlantic Center will open for the event at 6:30 p.m.  The first non-televised, preliminary bout

will begin at 7:30 p.m.

 

STRIKEFORCE in March 2009 signed a multi-year agreement to stage live MMA events on the premium

cable television network.  The promotion made its live, primetime debut on CBS with the “Fedor vs. Rogers”

mega-fight that it co-promoted with M-1 Global on Saturday, November 7 and generated 5.46 million viewers

for the main event between the world’s number one heavyweight, Fedor Emelianenko, and superstar Brett

“The Grim” Rogers.

 

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is a leading global interactive

entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes

interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, wireless devices and the

Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTSTM, EATM, EA Mobile™

and POGOTM. In fiscal 2009, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $4.2 billion and had 31 titles that sold more

than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's

products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

 

EA, EA SPORTS, EA Mobile and POGO are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc.  John Madden, NFL, NBA,

FIFA, NHL, NCAA, NASCAR, Tiger Woods and PGA TOUR are trademarks of their respective owners and

used with permission.  Xbox and the Xbox 360 are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. 

PlayStation is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.  All other trademarks are

property of their respective owners.

 

About STRIKEFORCE

STRIKEFORCE (www.strikeforce.com) is a world-class mixed martial arts cage fight promotion which, on

Friday, March 10, 2006, made history with its "Shamrock vs. Gracie" event, the first sanctioned mixed

martial arts fight card in California state history.  The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary

champion Frank Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San Jose's HP Pavilion,

played host to a sold-out, record crowd of 18,265.  Since 1995, STRIKEFORCE, sanctioned by ISKA, has

been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN and, after 12 years of success as a

leading, world championship kickboxing promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial arts (MMA)

series with "Shamrock vs. Gracie."  In May 2008, West Coast Productions, the parent company of

STRIKEFORCE, partnered with Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment (SVS&E), an entity created in 2000

to oversee all business operation aspects of the San Jose Sharks and HP Pavilion at San Jose.

 

 

- Press Release from Strikeforce with a little editing from us (color, etc...)

 

 

 

Subject to change

 

 

 

(1/26/10)