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The name Turi Altavilla is a name unknown to many mainstream MMA fans. However, among insiders he's one of the most well-respected behind-the-scenes figures in the sport. Three-and-a-half years after graduating UCLA and after having gotten his start with King of the Cage almost right out of school, Altavilla became the first American hired by Pride USA's office in Los Angeles as their Vice President of Production and Marketing.
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While with Pride, Altavilla oversaw the production and distribution of the promotion's DVDs in the States; established and maintained relationships with pay-per-view carriers; scouted fighters in the U.S.; even worked with Pride matchmaker Hiroyuki Kato on making several big-time fights happen.
After weighing several offers, Altavilla made the tough decision this past summer to leave Pride and accept a position with EliteXC as a vice president.
In this exclusive conversation with CBSSports.com, the normally reserved Altavilla held nothing back when discussing his thoughts on the fall of Pride, whether former co-worker Jerry Millen is misunderstood, the real story behind Kimbo Slice vs. Bo Cantrell, and more.
CBSSports.com: You recently made your debut as a matchmaker during a King of the Cage show but prior to that you had done some matchmaking before on a one-off basis. In fact weren't you involved with putting together the Nick Diaz vs. Takanori Gomi match last February?
Turi Altavilla: Yes, that's right. That was my match but I shared credit with Jerry (Millen). We were looking for an opponent for (Takanori) Gomi and we wanted to get an American opponent. I was originally reaching out to Duane Ludwig; I thought that would be a really fun match because I thought they'd both stand. But Duane was booked. He would have dropped the fight he was in but he was the main event in his own event in Colorado.
So he couldn't do it and I think maybe within two days of that Nick (Diaz) was fighting in Florida and the event was canceled. The light bulb went off and I thought "Wow, what a great match that would be." I didn't know it was going to be as great as it was but I knew it would be a good match.
It's funny but even though Gomi/Diaz happened in February, it was just a few weeks ago that I thanked (EliteXC Live Events President) Gary Shaw for letting the match happen. We were working late and it popped in my mind randomly and we were like yeah, that one ended up working out nicely for everyone.
Q: Do you think there's any chance we would get to see a rematch between Diaz and Gomi inside of an EliteXC cage?
TA: Yeah, I think anything is possible, for sure. We've talked about it on the EliteXC side. I think it's something that Gomi would want. I don't think he'd want to continue his career without having the opportunity to do it (avenge the loss to Diaz). We're very open to doing it and I think I should leave it at that.
Q: Kimbo Slice recently debuted for EliteXC. He seems like he would have been a huge star in Japan. Did Pride ever have any interest in him?
TA: Yes, several years back I spoke to Kimbo's manager, Icey Mike, and I thought the same thing. I definitely thought he could be a star in Japan. You could just see it from watching the YouTube fights. It's partially his ability to fight but also his look, his charisma, everything. In Pride, a lot of emphasis was put on the total package; you had to be a great fighter but you had to be marketable too and he was definitely that.
Unfortunately at the time, my access to (Pride President Nobuyuki) Sakakibara was not direct and I had to go through several channels to bring fighters into him. The two at the Dream Stage L.A. office didn't think Kimbo was for real. I think they've been proven wrong.