We had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Steve Alley recently. We talked about his accomplishments in MMA, the upcoming Kick Down 100 show and had a chance to hear about the history of the organization, and what lies ahead.

FIGHTFAN: It’s been about a decade since Kick Down started, what was going on in Colorado with MMA at that time?

Steve Alley: There was myself, and Sven Bean who started about ten months earlier, and then of course, others came along. At the time, the reason Kick Down MMA came about was, it was short for “Kickboxing” and “Take Downs”. I had just come from the Mohegan Sun, just covered the UFC there, and it was called “Throw down”, and I had wanted to call the promotion “Throw down” but was afraid people would say, you got that from the last UFC event. I changed it to Kick Down and that’s how the name came about.

FIGHTFAN: And what was going on in the UFC at that time?

Steve Alley:  The UFC had just been bought out by the Fertitta’s and I think the first UFC I had covered was UFC 32 or 33 and they were trying to make the path that the UFC is on right now, and everything has turned into a wild ball of fire. Because not only are they doing well, but it has created hundreds of new MMA promotions.

FIGHTFAN: Can you tell us some of the highlights and low lights of the Kick Down organization over the years?

Steve Alley: Yeah, the highlights would be, that we operated literally for five years before there was a commission here. We were the first ever to do a sanctioned by the state of Colorado, amateur MMA event here at the Red Lion. That was before anybody else. We also did four women’s Muay Thai bouts on a mixed martial Arts fight card right here. Also did Chuck Norris’ World Combat League’s test pilot at Kick down 18 right here. Also had UFC veterans, Pat Smith, Brad Gumm, Chris Camozzi, Noah Thomas, Corey Hill, Brandon Melendez and  countless other King of the Cage, IFL, WEC veterans, fighters from all over the region. We’ve also been in seven states.

FIGHTFAN: If you were to form a Kick Down Hall Of fame, who would be your first inductee?

Steve Alley: The first inductee from what he did way back in the beginning up until about 6 months ago would be Pete Vandervort. Because at the time he was one of the better strikers in the Denver metro area and he was trained by Clarence Thatch out of 3D Martial Arts, and at that time 3D Martial arts was a gym like a “Team Wildman” or an “Easton BJJ” or “Factory X”. It was 3D then, they had all the fighters and in that inaugural Kick down, Pete Vandervort fought Mike Baldwin to one of the great MMA fights I ever saw, and the only reason it didn’t go the distance was because Mike Baldwin broke his hand and the rest was history and then Pete became a pretty good striker and eventually won the lightweight title at Kick Down 12 Sturgis.

FIGHTFAN: Steve, with Kick Down 100 coming up, it’s more like a Kick Down Weekend, can you go into detail about what you have coming?

Steve Alley: Yes, for lack of a better venue or one that would seat 3-4000 people, we ended up doing the event here (Red Lion) because this is where it started. And really for the fighters, they have all said that they love this place because it is user friendly. So Kick Down 100 will really be a culmination of all of the body of work in the promotion which started on February 23^rd 2002, and it will come to a crescendo on April 7 with Kick Down 100. We will have a twelve Bout Fight card, 12 title fights, Travis Peak vs Matt Cox in the co-main even, and Ian Stonehouse vs Jack Johnson in the main event for the interim Kick Down lightweight Professional title. Jack Johnson has quite a resume in Muay Thai, ISKA Colorado former state champion, former US champion and he captured the world title on the Kick Down 37 card at the Budweiser Event Center. On that same card UFC veteran Chris Camozzi  became the first professional Light Heavyweight champion. So there’s a lot of history. You don’t have to go far to see that there’s a tie in to many things here…Chuck Liddell judged at Kick Down 4, Matt Lindland refereed at Kick Down 8, Trevor Prangley fought on Kick Down 8 as did Ryan Schultz who will also do a seminar on Kick Down weekend. We have seminars, three of them…Brad Gumm, UFC and Kick Down veteran will have one. Thomas Denny will have a two hour seminar, and Ed Herman and Ryan Schultz will have one. So you have 3 seminars, each two hours the fans can do for $60. Very reasonable. So we’ll make a weekend out of it, maybe we can make some more fans, more support, and celebrate the 100^th show.

FIGHTFAN: Tell us about some of the women fighting on Kick Down 100 as well as some of the women who have fought on the Kick Down shows throughout the years.

Steve Alley: Well one of the greatest fights in Kick Down history, amongst the women, and we’ve always highlighted the women. First main event of an amateur MMA fighter, first main event on the professional side was done in a Kick Down and the first main event in Muay Thai kickboxing was done in Kick Down. But one of the great fights of all time happened on a night there was a blizzard and out at the former Fat City, Cat Albert fought Luis Johnson and Johnson was getting pummeled. Absolutely blasted for the first full round and a half and found a way in the second or third round and tapped out Cat Albert …unconscious. Literally, and that’s the only time Cat Zingano has ever been beaten. A lot of people don’t know that.

There’s a lot of things we’ve done that people don’t know. Donald Cerrone made his debut in Kick Down. There’s a lot of history, and sometimes I even forget. You know after ten years and over 1000 fights you really have to think about it. Ian Stonehouse was featured on MTV when they did the clip “I’m a Mixed Martial Arts Fighter” and Ian Stonehouse fought John Seargent. That was on MTV I got thousands…literally nearly 1000 phone calls from people even relatives I didn’t know existed saying, “Hey I saw you on MTV” so there is power out there in the media, and people do watch that and we got some credit there. So we’ve done a lot of stuff.

FIGHTFAN: Another first tonight was the new weight class. (Jr. lightweight)

Steve Alley:  Yeah and I don’t know how it will go fellas, if people understand what that is. We created the Jr. Lightweight title on the amateur level, flyweight and it’s a level in between the other classes. It’s a way to create divisions the way they did in boxing and with the full blessing of Joseph Mason, director of the Colorado Boxing commission. Said Hey, I like the idea, because it creates more weight classes for people to compete and get titles.

FIGHTFAN: Agreed. That’s something we have thought for a long time is needed at the UFC level.

Steve Alley: And they should do that. They went to the lower weights now…we were always at the lower weights. We’ve long been the advocates of the 125, 35, 45 on up to heavyweight so I support that and I always will.

FIGHTFAN: Is there a particular fight you’re looking forward to at 100?

Steve Alley: Let me tell you, there’s a fighter that’s been on a roll of late, he’s 7-0, and his name is Joey Munoz out of Scottsbluff Nebraska that will be one that I think people should watch. Also the guy from Boston is coming back, Patrick Walsh who captured the heavyweight title, and one of the great stories in Kick Down history who made the trip on blind faith because I said so, and he came here with no one, knew no one. Made friends with Z, Z cornered him and he captures the heavyweight title. He will be back and it’s deserved.

FIGHTFAN: What’s the future of Kick Down? Does it stay or will the focus shift to the Universal Fight Alliance?

Steve Alley:  I like where we’re at with Kick Down. A lot of people like the Universal Fight Alliance, and the name says “Fight” and it’s a little bit different product. We’re going to make some subtle changes…I’m going to stay the course with the Kick Down…I have some things in the works that will be good for both promotions. But the thing that I’m most excited about, because of the elevation in women in combatives is the “Women’s Fighting Championship”. That’s something I’m a staunch believer in because of the elevation of women. I think that could get bigger than both promotions quickly. Its new, its fresh and they love to fight. There’s beautiful women…Hey by the way, you just saw my wife, I met her training modified Mauy Thai Kickboxing! Training at Tom Johnson’s Innovative Martial Arts where I got my black belt in 1999. I don’t know if you knew that.

FIGHTFAN: Nope, didn’t know that.

Steve Alley: Yes. Tom Johnson is my Sensei. I announced my first show at Innovative’s  IMA open. He was the one who asked if I’d like to. And how I got started in the Kick Down is my love of broadcasting. I always wanted to do it and he says hey, would you like to ring announce, and I said yeah, but you’re going to have to tell me, and he said, I’ll give you a script. He did and out of that show there was a kid, an 18 year old, and I said, you’re fighting tonight for the first time, where do you fight, how old are you, do you have a fight name? He says no not really. Nickname? He says, not really…well ya know, my girlfriend thinks I’m pretty great. And thus was created, Nate “The Great” Marquardt. True story.

FIGHTFAN: Steve, thanks for taking the time to talk with us.

Steve Alley: You’re welcome guys