Chael Sonnen quotes help MMA Videographer’s P-1S Visa!

Ace videographer Mike Van Dalen has received his P-1S visa after Sherrod Sports Visas issued an interesting, never-before-seen response to an RFE. 

Mike Van Dalen is a World-Class MMA Videographer 

Mike Van Dalen has been an essential staff person to Khasan Askhabov for the past two years. Askhabov is a prominent MMA fighter, one of the best male mixed martial artists in his weight class in the world. He has a stellar professional MMA record of 23 wins and just two losses. Mike has served as marketing director, producer, and strategist to the beneficiary for the past two years. He has been essential to the seamlessness of Askhabov’s rise to prominence all over the world and thereby coveted the best competitions in the sport of mixed martial arts. He is a professionally trained videographer and a world-traveled combat sports specialist. 

First Round Management was the petitioner. It was founded in 2008 by the current president and CEO Malki Kawa, recognized as the top agent in the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA). The Miami, Florida-based firm has grown to today represent the top fighters in all of MMA, including in the UFC, the world's top promotion. With a team of highly skilled professionals, First Round Management assists fighters in every step of their career, from booking the first fight to the public relations following the championship victory. 

Details of the P-1S Essential Support Staff Petition

Our petition included specific details of Mike’s four years of dedicated experience in producing marketing content for combat sports training, conditioning, lifestyle, competition, and logistical preparation. We included letters supporting his credentials, including from the petitioner. 

We specifically highlighted the following:

Integral to Performance – We offered statements and independent confirmation for the contributions of the beneficiary to performance. We also provided a statement from the principal athlete that explains how and why the contributions are essential. We shared a letter from the beneficiary’s management team to confirm and corroborate the essential skills and integral role the P-1S beneficiary plays for the principal beneficiary. 

Essential Skills – We presented detailed information on self-promotion and its benefits in our response. We established Mile’s rapport with Askhabov, his background and marketing experience around the world. 

Language Barrier – We proved that the P-1S beneficiary had developed a proven communication style with the beneficiary that is effective and contributes to winning championships. This unique rapport cannot be simulated by any ordinary worker.  

Despite a very thorough and detailed petition, we received an RFE for Mike’s P-1S petition. Their point of view was that videographers were not important to a fighter’s performance. While any other agency might have given up at this point, we, at Sherrod Sports Visas, decided to up our game in a way that would capture the attention of the officials. 

We presented a response to the RFE that drilled down the importance of self-promotion in combat sports. We further showed that this was impossible without the support of skilled videographers like Mike. We chose as our ally a celebrity who has always upheld the art of self-promotion very highly – Chael Sonnen! 

We included numerous articles on Chael Sonnen articulating his opinions on the importance for athletes to promote themselves. For instance, this quote from one of his interviews speaks about the critical need for self-promotion in sports. 

“The moment one fight ends the marketing for the next fight begins. It’s right then and that is your chance right there on that microphone,” Sonnen said. “Some guys do it and some guys don’t, but the ones who do it well is a rare thing. There is a formula and a process where the promotion has to catch up with the guy’s skills. They don’t always go hand in hand. The skills may be there first – and you have this great talent – but he’s on the undercard. Everyone is on the undercard until they’re not.” 

And in another interview, Sonnen makes it very clear that fighters should not do it themselves: 

“I wish Conor the best, but if I could give Conor any advice, and I’ve given him plenty over the years – do not go into the promoting game,” Sonnen told MMA Fighting. “You’re going to fall on your face, and you don’t know what you’re doing.”

Article after article, we presented Sonnen’s wisdom and wisecracks on the need for athletes to promote themselves. These left no doubt about the importance of self-promotion in an athlete’s career. Along with these articles, the following letters strengthened our RFE: 

We included a letter from a boxing promotion company that spoke about how they expected their players to be adept at promoting themselves. This way, they use the buzz created by each player to promote their shows. This letter also spoke about the unique touch a videographer would bring to a player’s self-promotion. It attested to how many of their players trusted only their own teams to get the right content out. There is always the danger of wrong content being shared, including critical fight techniques. We thus established that there is exceptional skill involved in getting the right content out for an MMA player. This would be impossible without a skilled videographer. 

We also included a letter from a sportsman who had risen the ladder through the efficient support of Mike. He attested to the fact that MMA fighters who do not self-promote are out of sight and out of mind. Self-promotion and doing it the right way would be the best way for an MMA fighter to land big fights. These big fights are far and few in between and it is important for fighters to stay in the limelight – through their own effort – to land the best fights. He spoke about Mike’s phenomenal work capturing him, between and during fights, in his day-to-day activities, at his training camps and many more moments. The result was a viral campaign that helped the fighter take his career to the next level. 

We thus presented an ironclad response to the RFE, helping Mike Van Dalen get a P-1 visa. Further, we are grateful to Chael Sonnen for his eloquent interviews and fun examples on self-promotion, which increased the appeal of our response. We doubt Sonnen would have ever imagined that his quotes would be included in a legal response and help a videographer get a visa!