ClinchGear.com - MMA shorts, MMA shirts & custom MMA Gear

As many of our fans have heard, Clinch Gear recently reached an agreement with Fedor Emelianenko to manufacture and distribute a line of signature apparel, including tees, shorts, hoodies and headwear. We are thrilled to work with Fedor--he is arguably the best MMA fighter in the history of the sport and is one of the true gentleman of the game. Stay tuned for a range of high-quality Clinch Gear products in the Fedor Collection.

It has been some time since we updated our news page--the last post was just prior to Dan Henderson's Strikeforce debut in Nashville on April 17, 2010. Clinch Gear is Dan's company, so we all have an emotional investment in the outcome of his fights, and everyone in the office was pretty down after Nashville. However, we all support Dan, win or lose, and look forward to seeing him turn things around in his next fight.

Despite Dan's setback, the Clinch Gear brand has continued to grow at a rapid pace. In the past couple months, we have been busy sponsoring fighters in events around the globe. In Strikeforce, we have worked with Gegard Mousasi, Tyron Woodley, Tarec Saffiedine, Tim Kennedy, Trevor Prangley, Antonio Silva, Rafael Feijao, Nathan Coy, Bobby Voelker, Nate Moore and many others. Tonight, Fedor, Cung Le and Jan Finney will be wearing our shorts.

In Bellator, we were proud to sponsor featherweight tournament champion Joe Warren, as well as middleweight tournament runner-up Bryan Baker, and lightweight tournament runner-up Toby Imada. Among the scores of Bellator fighters we sponsored this season, Jared Hess is a name the stands out--he suffered a horrific knee injury in the middleweight semi-finals yet continued to fight until the referee stopped the bout. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Jared, and we wish him a speedy and full recovery.

In Japan, Kenji Osawa was victorious in Clinch Gear shorts in Dream, and Marlin Sandro scored a stunning knockout in Sengoku wearing our gear. And there have been som many other athletes who have proudly and capably represented the Clinch Gear brand over the past couple of months.

We apologize for lagging on the athlete and company updates. We'll catch up on Facebook and Twitter, and we'll keep our News page current moving forward, with articles, videos, photos and more.

Thanks to everyone who has supported our brand over the past eight years!

Best regards,

Aaron Crecy, General Manager

The second installment of Jeff Dotseth's interview series with Dan Henderson, amid preparations for the Strikeforce event in Nashville on April 17, live on CBS.

Check out the video below for exclusive behind-the-scenes access to the NCIS: Los Angeles set. Don't forget to tune in to CBS on April 6 to see Dan Henderson, KJ Noons and other Strikeforce stars on the popular show.

On Tuesday, April 6, NCIS: Los Angeles will feature a bevy of Stikeforce MMA stars, including Dan Henderson, KJ Noons, Gil Melendez, Cung Le, Frank Shamrock and Josh Thomson.

Entertainment Tonight will air a preview the same day.

Take a look at the NCIS: LA commercial below.

CBS produced this video blog for Dan using footage that Clinch Gear gathered during the Strikeforce media day in Los Angeles. Enjoy!

Here is a look at the 15-second commercial CBS has been running during March Madness to promote the Strikeforce event on 4/17/10 in Nashville. It features Clinch Gear owner Dan Henderson.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH

This is the first in a series of videos filmed and produced by Jeff Dotseth, exclusively for Clinch Gear. Dan discusses the circumstances surrounding his move to Strikeforce and his impending debut for the middleweight title versus Jake Shields, live on CBS on April 17.

Clinch Gear was very active on the sponsorship front  in March, working with fighters in a variety of organizations throughout the US.

Clinch Gear sponsored American Top Team star Jorge Santiago in his successful Sengoku middleweight title defense, which aired last Friday on HD Net. Jorge wore Primo II Columbia Performance Board Shorts and a Classic White Tee. MMA Weekly's Ken Pishna  wrote a feature on Jorge that first ran a week ago. Congratulations to Santiago on his hard-fought victory.

SANTIAGO ASSERTS HIMSELF AS SENGOKU CHAMPION
Sunday, March 07, 2010 - by Ken Pishna - MMAWeekly.com, photo by Taro Irei

 

American Top Team fighter Jorge Santiago knew heading into Sunday’s rematch with Mamed Khalidov that it would not be an easy fight. The two last met in November of last year at Sengoku Eleventh Battle, where Khalidov stopped the Sengoku middleweight champion via TKO in the opening round of their non-title affair.

Sunday’s battle for the belt wasn’t easy, but Santiago answered the challenge, avenging the loss with a five-round unanimous decision to retain his belt.

“I expected this fight to be a very tough fight, but I know that I trained very hard with my coach to go all the way. It’s all about heart, you know,” said Santiago after the fight. “I am very happy cause I know I had this mind and I was going to fight with all my heart to save the championship.”

Most agreed that it was a close fight with both athletes having their moments to shine, but Khalidov did not take away from Santiago’s victory, nor his own.

“I lost and that was the judges’ decision and I really fought on the highest level in this moment. Sengoku champion, from the beginning, he was aware and it was very tough fight. I don't want to complain,” said Khalidov, believing the decision didn’t take away from another strong performance against the champion.

Santiago said that he expected Khalidov to be strong in the early rounds, but knew that if he was unable to finish the Polish fighter early, he could push him in the deep waters of the fourth and fifth rounds. Khalidov had never fought a five-round bout before.

“If we have the opportunity to finish, finish. If we don’t, get to the ground game and get him tired... So it was a part of my plan (to wear him down),” said the Brazilian.

With the win last November and maybe more so going five full rounds on Sunday, Khalidov earned a lot of respect from the champion, but in the end, Santiago walked away proud to have defended his belt.

“He proved that he can go far, but today, I proved that I’m still the champion. I know what takes to be a champion. And I worked very hard to stay the middleweight champion of Sengoku.”