SUNDAY, July 27th, 2008, AT 1:20 PM/PST

The Truth About Ronnie Copeland's
"Rumors & Lies" e-mail
The Article That Started All This Is Posted At The Bottom This Page.

A quick look today at another kickboxing news page still shows an article that was sent to them back on July 1st, as their top news story. Rather than any new news throughout July, they must feel it important to keep spreading the word that writer Ronnie Copeland want's everyone in kickboxing to believe. That is, that the IKF posted an article last month that was filled with "Rumors & Lies".

The only problem with Copeland's reply article is, EVERYTHING that was posted in the IKF Article (See bottom of page, "NO Kickboxing Or MMA InILLINOIS!?") was at the time of it's posting, 100% FACT!

He and his associates just didn't want you to believe those facts for fear of ???

The facts are presented below for anyone to judge. The reason the IKF has posted this article is to AGAIN, as in the past, defend "Rumors & Lies" that our pal Ronnie Copeland wants you to believe about the IKF.

Timing in this reply here was also important. We didn't want to post it while this other event/tournament was still taking in registrations because we didn't want to appear that we were indeed trying to hurt them financially with lost registrations. The IKF article was posted for ILLINOIS State news, for IKF and ISCF Promoters, Trainers and Fighters who had been calling and calling the IKF/ISCF Offices asking if we could help in lifting a temporary ban of fight sports in Illinois. THAT WAS IT! Copeland and his associates were the last thing on our mind when it was posted. However, he has made it out as if we deliberately made up lies to try and hurt their event.

Now that the IKF World Classic Tournament is behind us, and the final deadline has past for their upcoming tournament related to this article, we felt it was a fair time to defend the IKF from some false accusations "Again" that Story Teller Ronnie Copeland called "Rumors & Lies" in a mass e-mail he sent out after we posted our truthful story about Kickboxing and MMA currently being banned in Illinois back in June of this year. He even created the little icon at the left above, along with what we believe to be a photo important to Mr. Copeland at right in his e-mail heading.

After reading the factual details below, if at all interested, please do not take our word for it. Call up the Illinois State commission yourself and ask for Rafael Caro II, Illinois State Professional Boxing Board Division of Professional Regulation Illinois Dept. of Financial and Professional Regulation at (312) 814.2721. Like us, there would be no reason for Mr. Caro to lie to you since he didn't lie to us. Here are the facts to this story.

• TIMELINES
  • Thursday, May 29, 2008: E-mail from State of Illinois announcing the Illinois Ban of ALL Fight Events
    • Subject: no new events
      Good morning, Unfortunately, due to the changing legislation/law and some manpower issues we were notified that as of this coming Friday we are not to accept anymore new Martial Arts/MMA events until further notice. I will keep you updated on any news as I receive it. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. If you are wanting to host an event prior to July 14th, or you have already notified us of an event (where we have a file started), you will have until 4:30 pm on Friday (May 30th) to get us ALL of the required documents (20, 10 and 3 Days Prior). Otherwise, your event will be denied. Once again, unless we receive all of the required documents by this Friday, ANY/ALL Martial Arts/MMA events will not be allowed to occur until further notice! NO EXCEPTIONS.
      Rafael Caro of the Illinois State Commission
      
      
  • WEDNESDAY, June 25th, 2008: IKF Spoke to Illinois.
    • Rafael Caro informed the IKF that only 4 events were approved between today and the end of the year:
      • June 27th, Pro & Amateur Kickboxing in Belview, Illinois.
      • June 27th, Amateur MMA in Chicago, Illinois.
      • June 28th, Pro & Amateur MMA in Loves Park, Illinois.
      • June 28th, Amateur MMA in Effingham, Illinois.
        
        
  • WEDNESDAY, June 25th, 2008: The IKF article was posted
    
    
  • MONDAY, June 30th, 2008 2:45 PM
    • Mr. Rafael Caro of the Illinois State Commission sent out the e-mail below;
      • Good afternoon. The State of Illinois' Professional Athletics Rules have been heard and will become effective temporarily starting tomorrow (July 1st). Therefore, ALL persons associated with PROFESSIONAL Martial Arts (MA) and/or Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) (contestants, promoters, officials, seconds…), will now have to get licensed if they want to participate in either of those combat sports. For those that are involved with either of these aforementioned sports in an AMATEUR basis, the "old" method will still apply.
        Now, if any of you know of someone (other than promoters, that falls under the PRO category) that might want and/or need to get licensed, please have them contact my office to set up when they can come in. For all PRO Promoters (only), please let me know if you are interested and I can send out a "promoter's package" to you. That "package" will consist of Promoters Application (application and surety and performance bond application), and a few Permits.
        Signed, The Bearer of Good News, Santa Claus
        If you have any questions and/or comments, please feel free to contact me.
        PLEASE NOTE MY NEW FAX NUMBER
        Rafael Caro II
        Illinois State Professional Boxing Board
        
        
  • TUESDAY July 1st, 2008, Copeland sent out his e-mail the IKF is defending here entitled "THE RUMORS ARE FALSE! DON'T BELIEVE THE RUMORS!!" In his e-mail he claimed everything in the IKF Illinois article was false.

Here are the details in Copeland's e-mail with our explanation of facts in reply below.

Copeland:
There have been some rumors circulating that stemmed from a news story posted last week on another kickboxing website
IKF: As you can tell by the timelines above, everything in the article the IKF wrote, that Copeland is referring to is factual and true.

_____________________

Copeland:
The RUMOR is that the 2008 xxx/xxx USA National Championships will not be allowed to happen by the Illinois State Athletic Commission.
IKF: NO WHERE in the article did the IKF mention ANY "Proposed" Events or Tournaments of any other organization, let alone the tournament Copeland refers to.

_____________________

Copeland:
The RUMOR is just that NOTHING BUT A RUMOR!
IKF: Actually, as proven by the timelines and e-mails above, this was far from just a rumor, it was factual truth. In addition, at the time of the posting of the article in question, only "4" Fight Events were approved at the time by the State of Illinois between the posting of the article below and the end of 2008.

_____________________

Copeland:
The 2008 xxx/xxx USA National Championships WILL go on as planned! There was never an doubt that to that fact!
IKF: Actually, according to a VERY Reliable source, there was A LOT of worry by this other tournaments coordinators, promoters, associates and sanctioning bodies involved because they had known since May of 2008 that there event was not approved. The truth here is they didn't care to inform anyone of the possibility of it being cancelled as they continued to take registration money, knowing, they could have to reschedule or cancel their tournament. This is probably the main reason Copeland and his associates were angered at the IKF Illinois article... Because it exposed what they were trying to keep from potential tournament participants.

Copeland:
Again, this was nothing but a malicious rumor! Promoter Rob Z received a call yesterday from Ron Pucello the head of the Illinois State Athletic Commssion who reiterated the fact that the tournament would go on as planned and stated that the state of Illinois would adopt Nevada's standards for kickboxing and MMA!
IKF: The facts speak for themselves. The article was 100% accurate. From Copeland's own e-mail, he says that Promoter Rob Zbilski was only given the go ahead from Ron Pucello the head of the Illinois State Athletic Commssion on Monday, June 30, 2008. PRIOR to this moment, as we had noted in our article, only 4 fight events (Amateur and Pro, MMA and Kickboxing) had been approved for the remainder of the year by the Illinois State Commission. Once again, they were:

• June 27th, Pro & Amateur kickboxing in Belview, Illinois.
• June 27th, Amateur MMA in Chicago, Illinois.
• June 28th, pro & Amateur MMA in Loves Park, Illinois.
• June 28th, Amateur MMA in Effingham, Illinois.

In Closing...

ONCE AGAIN we here at the IKF have DEFENDED more Rumors and Lies created by our friend Ronnie Copeland. It's too bad that he has so much free time to try and create such things when there is so much positive to focus on in the sport of Kickboxing. Oh well, at least he has his writing skills, and we will, as always, correct him after he is done.
Maybe it's time now that the other kickboxing news page put another article at the top of their page instead of the one that has misleading facts in it about what Copeland claimed we were saying... Or at least delete the line, "The RUMOR is just that NOTHING BUT A RUMOR!" Because this was far more than a "Rumor". It was FACT!

The IKF would like to wish you Ronnie and your associates, Good luck with your event...

HERE IS
THE IKF ARTICLE IN QUESTION
FIRST POSTED ON

WEDNESDAY, June 25th, 2008, AT 6:40 PM, PT

NO Kickboxing Or MMA In
ILLINOIS!?

We keep getting calls here from Kickboxing and Mixed Martial Art Promoters in Illinois asking us if we have any info about the current "Black Out" (As many are calling it) on both Amateur and Pro Kickboxing and MMA events in the State of Illinois. In case you didn't know, as of June 1st, of this year, the State put a hold on all future Amateur and Pro Kickboxing and MMA events in the State of Illinois until legislation passes and puts into act the new rules and regulations for both sports. Many thought this was going to be a simple switch, where the State simply takes over the Pro side of both sports. However, such an easy change over was not to be.

Today we spoke to Mr. Rafael Caro of the Illinois State Professional Boxing Board, Division of Professional Regulation in the Illinois Dept. of Financial and Professional Regulation. Mr. Caro informed us that there are only 4 approved events currently in Illinois between now and the end of the year. All 4 of those events are scheduled for this weekend. They include;

• June 27th, Pro & Amateur kickboxing in Belview, Illinois.
• June 27th, Amateur MMA in Chicago, Illinois.
• June 28th, pro & Amateur MMA in Loves Park, Illinois
• June 28th, Amateur MMA in Effingham, Illinois.

"No events have been approved for the remainder of the year after this weekend." Said Caro. Currently legislation is in session and Caro says they are hoping they will have time to review and approve their rules for the State before they break for their next session which will not come until the Fall of this year. Their main concern is passing the State budget, so the submitted rules and regulations for Pro and Amateur Kickboxing and MMA are not the high priority.

Even if they make it to the Kickboxing and MMA rules, there could still be some additional delays. For example, if legislation does not pass the submitted rules or can't make the adjustments needed to pass them, we could still be waiting until the fall session for final approval. That means no Kickboxing and or MMA until late this year.

On the positive side, even if approved quickly, they still need to determine an actual date as to when the rules will go into effect. "We honestly have no idea when the earliest date of approval will be." said Caro. "It could be as early as next month or could take until this fall or even next year, we really don't know."

What this means is all you IKF and ISCF Promoters who have been calling our office asking if we know anything, it means we all have to just wait it out. It may be months before Illinois sees anymore kickboxing or mixed martial arts action... But for the sake of both sports and the fight fans of Illinois, lets hope this isn't the case.