History will be made at the Cove at River Spirit Casino Resort on Friday, April 11th.
Xtreme Fight Night 400 will happen that night, marking the 400th event for what is already the longest running combat sports promotion in America.
XFN was founded by Tulsa native Dale “Apollo” Cook in 1977, he called it Full Contact Karate back then, and he held the first event at the Tulsa Civic Center.
“Of course I rent the biggest arena in town thinking that 10,000 people were going to show up for this crazy new thing.” Cook told KRMG. “I was blessed that 2,400 curious Tulsa people showed up to see ‘what is this new thing?’ and they got treated to some crazy, amazing fights.”
He said he held that first fight so he would have somewhere to compete. as there were no such events at the time.
“I got dropped in the first round and had to get up off the deck to come back to win my first fight.” He said.
Cook said the venture wasn’t an overnight success and it would take 10 years or so for the event to make any money.
When you combine his professional boxing record and his professional kickboxing record, Apollo had 125 prize fights and only lost five.
He retired from fighting, but has continued with XFN and has seen tremendous success.
XFN 400 will feature MMA, Kickboxing, Muay Thai, and Bare Knuckle Boxing. Cook said he wasn’t a fan of Bare Knuckle Boxing at first.
“But once the state approved it, it was coming to Oklahoma one way or another.” Cook said. “Just like with MMA, I wanted to be first and I wanted to do it right... and we did and the fans liked it.”
XFN 400 will be hosted by UFC legend Frank Shamrock and feature UFC veteran TJ Brown, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter Micah Stockton, Brandon “Darkhorse” McDougal and more.
The Bare Knuckle Boxing heavyweight championship will be on the line in a fight between the undefeated Haze Wilson and BKFC veteran Juan “The Ghost” Torrez.
Prelims start at 6:30 p.m. and the main card happens at 8:00 p.m.
Listen to KRMG’s full interview with Dale “Apollo” Cook here
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