Monday, January 2, 2012

Dramatis Personae: Rage Rivas

How do I know the Underground Combat League has evolved into a well-oiled machine? Because promoter Peter Storm has got someone working alongside him to help make sure things run smoothly, and dammit if the events do run smoothly. His name is Rage Rivas (real name: Jason), and you can often find him at UCL events weighing in the fighters, orchestrating who's on deck and who should be in the ring, announcing the match-ups and afterwards, informing the crowd which one is the winner, sometimes even refereeing - whatever needs to get done, gets done. Rage does it all. The UFC may have Burt Watson acting as the behind-the-scenes glue that keeps things together, but Mr. Watson ain't got nothing on Rage.

When not toiling behind the scenes at UCL's, he's still working. He's helped form two fight teams, one that trains at a boxing gym in Brooklyn and one that trains (or trained - I'm not sure if they still do) at Hunter College. I think he even manages some fighters. If there's such a thing as an "underground fight scene renaissance man", Rage is it.