Interview with new ProElite CEO Paul Feller

from http://middleeasy.com

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A few days ago while most of you were laying down bets for the second leg of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand-Prix, the Stratus Media Group secured 95% of the previously defunct ProElite. In the press release Paul Feller, the CEO of Stratus Media Group, proclaimed the organization had every intention to get back in the MMA arena. It was pretty intriguing stuff, so Elena Lopez tracked down the new CEO of ProElite to see what his plans are for the newly acquired franchise and she managed to snag this rather extensive interview. Enjoy.



Why the acquisition? What value do you see in the ProElite franchise?"Well we see a lot of value in the acquisition. We think it's a space that has a lot of upside potential. It's a growing market, one of the fastest growing sports on a global basis -- both television and on-side attendance wise. We thought it had a very specific demographic profile that we wanted to invest and build into. We have a well-established name worldwide, they have a wonderful library of previous events and we're looking to take that branding and that history, and rebuild the brand as a major player and we're looking to fill the number two spot that Strikeforce once held."



How long did it take you to acquire the company and what obstacles were presented, if any?"I wouldn't say there was any real obstacles. We definitely have taken our time. Our goal was that when we're ready to launch, we wanted to make sure we were prepared and do it properly and we believe we are there now."



You're a public company which means that you will have to fully disclose what's in the books, yet you will be competing with a private company that aren't necessarily forced to adhere to those guidelines. What are your plans for this?"Well I can't really comment who we're competing against. I can comment on our company which we're an aboveboard, publicly reporting company. We have multiple events, not just in the MMA space, but music festivals, concerts, film festivals, autoracing, autosports -- and we're going to extrapolate the benefits of media and sponsorship from all of our different properties and cross-pollinate them across all of our brands and all of our events including ProElite. That means leveraging our television relationships, our sponsorships and our merchandising partners. We have considerable resources to go into this and better the chances and the odds to make ProElite a large success. But I'm not in the position to make comments on what other companies are doing or not doing, that's not our place."



It appears your company has not reported to the SEC since 2010. It also appears the OTC Markets has issued a 'stop' sign on your stock. How are you going to address these issues moving forward. "Yes, that's correct. It's not the stock that had issues in trading. The DTC, which is the electronic side of trading had an issue. We're addressing those as we speak. We believe those will be lifted, they're unrelated to anything that has to do with ProElite. They have to do with another company which, unfortunately, ProElite was associated with from a macro level and it should never have an interruption on electronic trading. The company (PELE) is still trading. Because we're reporting to the FTC, we are currently getting what they call the quarterlies and the annual recordings up to speed and we believe that will be done shortly. We'll be fully reporting and fully trading in about three to six months."



It appears that you are trying to deliver a large block of stock to your new investment group. How are you planning on issuing these shares?"We're not in position to state that. Right now we've taken over 95% control interest in the company. We are financially invested in the company and when we're ready to make announcements then we'll do it at that time. We are a publicly reporting company and whatever we disclose we have to do it on a public nature and at this point we're not ready to disclose what this strategy is."



What assets does ProElite own that make the Stratus Media Group see value in investing in a defunct business as opposed to starting a new one? "Well there's a number of them. There's a large library. There's the intellectual property value. There's the historic staff knowledge, fighter relationships and the equity in the brand awareness which is world-wide."



When will the company file to get off OTC Markets? "That is a potential strategy for us. We're looking at a number of different options and that is one of the options to potentially look at -- to a larger filing like NASDAQ or an American Stock Exchange."



It's rumored that you offered $40 million for Strikeforce, can you clear this up?"I can tell you that we were in significant discussions to acquire a large portion of Strikeforce and it did not materialize."

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