LAS VEGAS — Jason House’s dreams became reality on May 23, 2009.
On that fateful night in Tacaoc, CO, Jason’s first client, Liron Wilson, became the first athlete to compete in the cage under the Iridium Sports Agency banner.
Jason, Liron and the rest of Liron’s team drove over 600 miles from California to Colorado to compete at the event. The road trip took 11 hours; Liron needed just 69 seconds to handle his business in the cage. It was the fourth win of the heavy-handed heavyweight’s blossoming career — and the first of hundreds of victories for Team Iridium.
“That was truly one of the best experiences of my life,” Jason says at his home in Las Vegas on the eve of Iridium’s 12th anniversary in the fight game.
“I remember thinking at the time, if I ever needed something to confirm that I had found my calling, it was confirmed without question that weekend.”
Twenty-four hours later, Jason was back on the job as a server at Outback Steakhouse. Blooming onions weren’t going to sell themselves, and his law school student loans weren’t going to pay themselves off, but Jason knew with clear eyes that his future was in representing athletes.
Twelve years have passed since Iridium Sports Agency’s inception. Jason has gone from covertly booking fights in the Outback maintenance closet to travelling the world to support his team. Iridium’s roots will always run deep in Southern California, but the agency now represents hundreds of athletes from around the globe, including nearly 100 fighters under contract with the UFC.
Jason’s brand is optimism. He hangs his hat on “the process.” But even he didn’t necessarily predict the success he’d someday find in the fight game.
“I had to have my shifts covered at the restaurant just so I could be with my clients at the fights,” Jason says with a chuckle. “To be in this position is … I’m really at a loss for words. It’s amazing. One of the reasons we’re here is definitely because of the amazing team we’ve got. This whole time we’ve been so process-oriented that I don’t think we’ve ever really come up for air to see how far we’ve come.
“Our success as a team is something I’m extremely grateful for.”
Jason is quick to deflect praise on a job well done. When asked about the best moments in the history of the agency, Jason doesn’t talk about title fights or rubbing shoulders with the industry’s biggest stars at glamorous events. Instead, he heaps praise on his colleagues and talks about how the addition of each team member was a defining moment for the company.
“You can’t grow unless you have the right people around you,” he says. “It takes a village to raise a child, and we’ve got a great village here.”
What does Jason think the next dozen years hold for The Darkside?
“I envision the next 12 years to be better than the last 12 years,” he says with a smile. “We have the right people on the team inside the agency, and we have the right personnel when it comes to our clients. We have high-character men and women that we’re blessed to represent, and we’ve done a good job focusing on the process.
“That process is really simple; serving and giving. All we have to do is get up every morning, and do our best for our clients. Love them, care for them, fight like hell for them.”
ABOUT IRIDIUM SPORTS AGENCY
Iridium Sports Agency is a full-service professional management firm. Founded in 2009 by attorney Jason House, Iridium represents more than 80 fighters in the UFC, Bellator and ProFightLeague. Iridium's team of agents is devoted to assisting athletes in all aspects of their professional lives.