Respect Fighting Championship

Respect Fighting Championship
Private
Industry Mixed Martial Arts promotion
Founded 2009
Headquarters Essen, Germany
Website http://www.respectfc.de

Respect Fighting Championship (RESPECT.FC) is a mixed martial arts organization in Germany. It has won the GNP Award for the best German promotion in 2009,[1] 2010[2] and 2011[3] Especially noteworthy in this context is that RESPECT.FC has beaten the Ultimate Fighting Championship (the biggest mixed martial arts organization in the world), who was nominated with their first German based event UFC 99.[1] The events are broadcast by Fightcast.tv, the only HD Fightsport portal in Europe.[4]

History

Partnership with Battle of the South (Netherlands)

On April 2, 2011, a 'RESPECT.FC Title Contender Fight' between Ben Boekee and Denis Oliwka took place at "Battle of the South",[5] one of the biggest MMA Events in the Netherlands. That was the first and only co-promotion for RESPECT.FC so far.

Rules

RESPECT.FC's rules differ somewhat from the North American Unified Rules. Among the differences are the allowance of knees to the head of downed opponent and stomp kicks to the body, while elbows to the head of downed opponent and soccer kicks are prohibited. Similar to the Unified Rules, fights have 3 rounds each lasting 5 minutes. Title Fights are 5 rounds.[6]

Weight divisions

Weight class name Upper limit
in kilograms in pounds
Flyweight 57 kg 125 lb
Bantamweight 61 kg 135 lb
Featherweight 66 kg 145 lb
Lightweight 70 kg 155 lb
Light Welterweight 73 kg 160 lb
Welterweight 77 kg 170 lb
Light Middleweight 80 kg 175 lb
Middleweight 84 kg 185 lb
Light Heavyweight 93 kg 205 lb
Heavyweight 120 kg 265 lb
Super Heavyweight No weight limit

Current champions

Division Upper weight limit Champion Since Defenses
Heavyweight -120 kg Germany Björn Schmiedeberg 11. September 2010 (RESPECT.4) 1
Light-Heavyweight -93 kg Germany Stephan Puetz 13. April 2013 (RESPECT.9) 0
Middleweight -84 kg Poland Marcin Naruszczka 13. April, 2013 (RESPECT.9) 0
Welterweight -77 kg Germany Ruben Crawford 21. April 2012 (RESPECT.7) 0
Lightweight -70 kg Germany Cengiz Dana 17. September 2011 (RESPECT.6) 1
Featherweight -66 kg Netherlands Ben Boekee 17. September 2011 (RESPECT.6) 0

Championship history

Heavyweight Championship

93.5 kilograms (206 lb) and up
No. Name Event Date Defenses
1 Germany Björn Schmiedeberg
def. Andreas Kraniotakes
RESPECT.4
Sportpark, Herne, Germany
September 11, 2010 1. def. Sascha Weinpolter at RESPECT.6 on Sep 17, 2011 in Wuppertal, Germany

Light-Heavyweight Championship

84.5 to 93.0 kilograms (186.3 to 205.0 lb)
No. Name Event Date Defenses
1 Poland Marcin Naruszczka
def. Manuel Masuch
RESPECT.6
Bayer Hall, Wuppertal, Germany
September 17, 2011 1. def. Mario Stapel at RESPECT.7 on Apr 21, 2012 in Essen, Germany
Title vacated after Naruszczka moved down to middleweight.

Middleweight Championship

76.0 to 84.0 kilograms (167.6 to 185.2 lb)
No. Name Event Date Defenses
1 Germany Sebastian Risch
def. Nick Hein
RESPECT.6
Bayer Hall, Wuppertal, Germany
September 17, 2011
2 Germany Nicolas Penzer RESPECT.7
Eishalle, Essen, Germany
April 21, 2012
3 Poland Marcin Naruszczka RESPECT.9
Bayer Sportscenter, Dormagen, Germany
April 13, 2013

Welterweight Championship

70.0 to 76.0 kilograms (154.3 to 167.6 lb)
No. Name Event Date Defenses
1 Germany Ruben Crawford
def. Steve Mensing
RESPECT.7
Eishalle, Essen, Germany
April 21, 2012

Lightweight Championship

65.0 to 70.0 kilograms (143.3 to 154.3 lb)
No. Name Event Date Defenses
1 Germany Cengiz Dana
def. Niko Lohmann
RESPECT.6
Bayer Hall, Wuppertal, Germany
September 17, 2011 1. def. Adam Golonkiewicz at RESPECT.7 on Apr 21, 2012 in Essen, Germany

Featherweight Championship

61.0 to 65.0 kilograms (134.5 to 143.3 lb)
No. Name Event Date Defenses
1 Netherlands Ben Boekee
def. Marcel Jedidi
RESPECT.6
Bayer Hall, Wuppertal, Germany
September 17, 2011

Notable fighters

Events

Event Date City Venue
RESPECT.1 [13] March 14, 2009 Germany Herne Fighters World Herne
RESPECT.2 [14] November 7, 2009 Germany Herne Sportpark Herne
RESPECT.3 [15] April 24, 2010 Germany Essen Sporthalle Bergeborbeck
RESPECT.4 [16] September 11, 2010 Germany Herne Sportpark Herne
RESPECT.5 [17] April 9, 2011 Germany Essen Zeche Amalie
RESPECT.6 "Stronger than ever" [18] September 17, 2011 Germany Wuppertal Bayerhalle Wuppertal
RESPECT.7 [19] April 21, 2012 Germany Essen Eishalle Essen
RESPECT.8 September 22, 2012 Germany Wuppertal Bayerhalle Wuppertal
RESPECT.9 April 13, 2013 Germany Köln TBA
RESPECT.10 June 22, 2013 Netherlands TBA TBA

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "GnP Awards 2009: Bester Veranstalter national . MMA DE/CH/AT . GroundandPound". Groundandpound.de. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  2. "GnP Awards 2010: Veranstalter des Jahres national . Kolumnen . GroundandPound". Groundandpound.de. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  3. "GnP Awards 2011: Bester Veranstalter national . MMA DE/CH/AT . GroundandPound". Groundandpound.de. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  4. "Battle of the South 31 maart 2012 kickboxing k1 en mixed martial arts". Battleofthesouth.nl. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  5. "RESPECT.FC | Germany's Premier MMA Event". Respectfc.de. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  6. 7.0 7.1 "Schwergewicht . GroundandPound". Groundandpound.de. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  7. "Schwer -120kg". Mma-verband.at. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  8. "IKF Men's Pro San Shou Rules Rankings". Ikfkickboxing.com. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  9. "Deutscher Judobund e.V". Judobund.de. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  10. "RFC - Respect Fighting Championship 1". Sherdog.com. 2009-03-14. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  11. "RFC - Respect Fighting Championship 2". Sherdog.com. 2009-11-07. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  12. "RFC - Respect Fighting Championship 3". Sherdog.com. 2010-04-24. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  13. "RFC - Respect Fighting Championship 4". Sherdog.com. 2010-09-11. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  14. "RFC - Respect Fighting Championship 5". Sherdog.com. 2011-04-09. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  15. "RFC - Respect Fighting Championship 6". Sherdog.com. 2011-09-17. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  16. "RFC - Respect Fighting Championship 7". Sherdog.com. 2012-04-21. Retrieved 2014-02-08.

External links