It is Deja Vu all over again. The famous words ring true once more as another Canadian event has been forced to relocate and shut down for the time being. It seems things are getting better in small doses but when will we make the next big jump? It is a difficult pill to swallow but the next big movement may not happen any time soon. However, It seems much is happening in the great white north, some negative and some positive, so lets get caught up on all things Canadian MMA, in what is surely the least encouraging installment of the Canadian Corner yet. -Arnold Lim-

TKO 19 “Rage”
The Unification show is once again postponed. TKO 19 Rage will take place at the Pierre Charbaneau Centre in Montreal Quebec, despite the low turnout of the last show in the same venue. The rumored card included UFC welterweight fighter Georges St. Pierre, and Patrick Cote among others. The tentative card is as follows, card is subject to change.

Patrick Cote vs. Ricardo Francois-Possible Lightheavyweight title fight
Georges St. Pierre vs. TBA - Possible Welterweight title fight
Ryan Diaz vs. TBA
Mark Hominick vs. Shane Rice - SLW Title fight
Jacob Conliffe vs. Icho Larenas - Heavyweight TItle fight
Laverne Clarke vs. TBA
John Alessio vs. TBA
Sam Stout vs. Joey Brown
Dave Goulet vs. TBA
Alex Gasson vs. Thierry Quenneville

Free Fights on MMA Ring Report
In the second installment of the MMARR Ring Report Free Fights we will see what has been described as the fight of the year by some of the fans and media in attendance. Sam Stout vs. David Goulet which took place at TKO 18 will be available for download free for all MMA Ring Report viewers. Past Free fights include Jonathan Goulet vs. "Knockdown" Joey Brown which can be found HERE...

The Crow flies back to the UFC
David “The Crow” Loiseau is back in the UFC and will be facing Joe “Diesel” Riggs. Riggs is coming off a win over Joe Doerksen who Loiseau also holds a win over. Loiseau is looking forward to the matchup but may be heading in as the slight underdog this time around. Any way it should be a great contest and will take place at UFC 51 in Las Vegas on February 5th, 2005.

WFF 9

The next WFF event is rumored to be taking place back in Vancouver! It was rumored for a while to be going back to the Okanagen but that didn’t materialize so Vancouver seems like the next logical choice considering the Commission is in place in Vancouver already. Promoter Jason Towns tells us that he hopes to craft the same card as the card they were scheduled to put on in Peachland. The date and venue at this point are still up in the air. The proposed card is as follows, however card is subject to change.

Ivan Menjivar vs. Bao Quach
Antonio Carvalho vs. Bob Shabaga
Max Marin vs. Antonio Banuelos
Mike Adams vs. Chris Ade
Nick Perry vs. Marcus Lewis
Yoon Heo vs. Gary Wright

UCW II “Battle for the belts”
The UCW, headed by fighter Krzysztof Soszynski is waiting for the confirmation from the venue but the brand new MTS center on April 30th, is a strong possibility. There is currently no sanctioning body in Winnipeg but Mr. Soszynski is currently working on the situation and will be dealing with a body from Alberta. Fights are being worked on and rumored teams include Team Tompkins, Team Franco/Berhing, Canadian Martial Arts Center Lethbridge, and of course Winnipegs own Munduruca Martial arts, CKMTC. A few fighters from the states are also rumored with Travis Fulton confirmed to make the card. Tentative card subject to change.

Chris Fontaine vs. Brock Larsen for the Middleweight UCW title
Lance Cartwrite vs. Travis Fulton for the Heavyweight UCW title

Showdown Fight Wear and Showdown Boxing goes bankrupt…
It is a sad day for Canadian MMA fans and practitioners as the Pioneer in the Canadian MMA gear movement is now gone. Showdown Fightwear and Showdown Boxing, the brainchild of popular Canadian MMA figure Showdown Joe, as well as Paul Mitchell, and Danny Yen, has gone out of business. It continues to be a difficult situation for all the parties involved, but one thing is certain, Showdown Fight wear will be missed. It was at one time rumored to be on the verge of being bought out by the “Shut up and Fight” Team but the deal never materialized for whatever reason. It also appears the Showdown magazine which only saw one issue released, is now defunct.

Despite the setback, Showdown Joe, one of the co-owners told MMARR: "I’m not leaving [MMA]. I love it too much. I cannot turn my back on this sport and lose face because of some fools. Screwed by TKO and by Showdown Fightwear and Showdown Boxing...but Showdown Entertainment lives on. He continues to work in MMA with Showdown entertainment his new MMA news website www.showdown.ca as well as a host of other projects including, APEX, OSWI work as the ring announcer, and trying to get MMA sanctioned in Ontario.

Mike McNeil, editor of the Showdown Magazine told us, “I am just sad that the whole team fell apart and the magazine fell with it, It was part of the showdown family and once the family broke up, the magazine had no where to go.” Mr. McNeil has decided to take a step back from the MMA game, and is currently working hard at his personal endeavors.

Paul Mitchell, the other co-owner of showdown fight gear told us, “Essentially, we undertook too many projects all at the same time, and it really hurt our cash flow...”

Finally, Showdown fight gear co owner Danny Yen told us "I feel that Showdown was more than just a t-shirt company. I’d like to think that our company helped put MMA into the mainstream. Shirts like "Showdown: Anatomy of Victory" were cool and at the same time, when a casual onlooker were to take a second look, would see a dictionary definition of Mixed Martial Arts, in the shirt design. Although, the results of our efforts to give MMA mainstream exposure and legitimacy remain to be seen, I like to think that our mark will be felt for years to come." Showdown fight wear debuted in June of 2000.

Evolution / Shut up and Fight
Chris Brennan will be coming to Vernon in order to train for his upcoming Pride contest against an unnamed opponent in early 2005. He will be flying up some of his teammates that could include Buck Greer and or Adam Lynn. He will be training at the Evolution Facility with such people as Jason Darrah, Jeff Ford, Gary Armbrust and more. The training camp will likely take place for 2-3 weeks and will have Brennan fly out of Vernon to Japan for his fight. It is also a possibility that we may see some western talent training at the Evolution gym such as Denis Kang who may be spending some time at the facility to help prepare himself and Mr. Brennan for future fights.

Rumors of the Shut up and Fight website and magazine have been put on the backburner for a while. But Barb Taylor who runs the Evolution Gym hopes to have MMA Media stalwart Mike McNeil at the helm once they start that up.

Leslie Dickens in U.S Police Custody
What has been rumored for quite some time has now been verified by Mr. Dickens better half Barb Taylor. Mrs. Taylor told MMARR that “He is in custody right now” and that despite the rumors of a physical altercation with a police officer and or a civilian, that the rumors were false. In fact Ms. Taylor tells us the reason he is in custody has nothing to do with violence all and reiterated “There was no violence”.

Mrs. Taylor was very candid and went on to say “He [Les Dickens] will be home at end of March. I talk to him daily and he is still a huge part of this business, I have his opinions and advice, it is his dream, his business. I wasn’t prepared, but it is becoming my love. I have a lot of support here…I had the option of closing it down but that wasn’t an option. I love MMA, we watch any MMA event on the big screen. I am always here. I will even get off work early to come and watch it.” MMARR will follow the story closely and bring you more as it develops.

Barb Taylor: Did she or didn’t she?
Barb Taylor who is currently an insurance agent, was kind enough to spend some time with MMARR and talked about the fact that some people were quietly pointing the finger at her regarding the postponement of the WFF 8 event scheduled in early December.

The gist of the story is that allegedly a female in the MMA community with a thorough understanding of the rules and bylaws regarding MMA and athletic commissions called the district where the WFF was to be held and tried and succeeded in temporarily shutting it down. Ms. Taylor told us, “I am hurt I am upset and I am offended that everyone thinks that it is me… It doesn’t make sense, it didn’t make sense, and it won’t make sense.”

She went on to say “I have nothing to hide.” and is adamant that she not only had nothing to do with the matter at hand, but isn’t even fluent with the rules and regulations regarding the athletic commissions and bylaws that the said offender is claimed to have. She told us “I know nothing about it. I was working full time in December [when Shut up and Fight was cancelled] and I stayed out of it. It was always [Les] Dickens and [Jason] Darrah. I was just handing out flyers. I am slowly getting to know everything but believe me I have no clue.”

Jeff Ford also came to her defense saying “Basically it is a typical promoter controversy. International, universal, whatever context you want to use. [But for Barb] there is no gain. Ms. Taylor closed by saying “People are talking about Patry and Pavelich, but I wouldn’t even wish it [My current Situation] on them.”

The newest member of Evolution: Jeff Ford
Mr. Ford is also someone who is looking to push sanctioning forward in Vernon and recently went to a city meeting and had this to say when he got back. “Right now it is tabled. The addition of a bylaw was tabled, they have one guy that is totally against it. [Who is] a more conservative older gentleman. One that is totally for it, and everyone else is undecided. Jason [Darrah] and I are putting together stats from different commission in USA and Canada. We printed info from all the matches in Vegas since 2002, since they started allowing pro Mui Thai [and MMA], there has never been any serious injury. We have stats from Vancouver, Quebec whereever the events are legal We are comparing them to soccer, hockey, and football where injuries are normal. The ones in hockey are a lot more serious then the ones in MMA. [We will] see if they will validate it.”

For those that want a little insight into Jeff Ford he tells us “I am 6-0 in MMA. I was supposed to do the jungle fight and I developed an injury and couldn’t fight. Jason and I are both are really knowledgeable in our field. Part of me coming up here was a whole new aspect to my own fight career.” When asked about what he brings to the table as far as fighting instruction goes, Mr. Ford replied “The boxing and they type of Mui Thai that goes with ground fighting. Strong boxing skills to add to the Mui Thai from someone that has actually been there doing it, and has been successful doing it. “

Team Tompkins
It appears that Alex "Pecker" Gasson has found a home for himselt at 155 pounds. Competing previously at 170 pounds he has made the cut and success has followed him. He recently won the K.I.C.K. North American SuperMiddleweight Kickboxing Championship, as winning his won his 155lbs debut in the TKO against BTT Canada member Antoine Coute, and more recently defeated Hiroki Kotani at XFO 4. Gasson has now signed a 5 fight deal with TKO and is looking at heading to Japan’s Shooto organization at some point in the future.

Mark ’the Machine’ Hominick will be making his return to the ring after a short lay-off coming on the heels of his upset loss to Shane "The little Giant" Rice. Hominick has been busy completing his Business Degree at the University of Windsor and come January 29th will have a rematch with Mr. Rice for the TKO SuperLightweight championship.

New TKO Heavyweight Champion Jacob ’the Destroyer’ Conliffe is preparing to make his K-1 debut on the Dec 11th Ring of Fire show in Denver, Colorado. He will also be defending his new Heavyweight title at the upcoming January 29th TKO show in Montreal, Quebec at the Pierre Charbanneau centre against Icho Larenas, a man that lost to Todd Gouwenberg, who Conliffe defeated to get the title.

Team Tompkins leader Shawn Tompkins also tells us "Sam ’Hands of Stone’ Stout the two time winner of the coveted MMA Ring Report Fighter of the Night Award and new 155lbs Canadian fighting sensation, is now preparing for his February K-1 USA debut in the Max division. This will be the follow up to Sam’s success in this years K-1 try-outs at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Sam Stout and Mark Hominick will be featured in CBC’s new show ’Nerve’ in late February. This program will show the contrast between normal life and the life of a professional MMA fighter. Also preparing for a possible upcoming spot in a Jet Li movie will be Shawn Tompkins and a few of the Team Tompkins fighters, the movie will be filmed in Hong Kong and will start in mid March name of the movie and a release date has yet to be known."

Brazilian Top Team in Canada
February of 2004 saw the introduction of Brazilian Top Team to Canada. Based in Montreal at Philip Gelinas’s Gamma Martial Arts Academy, BTT/Canada became the first ever BTT affiliate based outside of Brazil. BTT black belt Fabio Holanda came over to Montreal and is now training a strong stable of fighters at the Gamma Gym and Owner Operator Philip Gelinas tells MMARR “BTT is here, as evidenced by the last few months, people are going to be somewhat surprised by the quality of MMA that comes out of the school.”

BTT co founder Murilo Bustamante spent some time in Montreal with the club the past October and they are also hoping to see Rodrigo Nogueira come over in the next year to do some workshops. Their stable of fighters is currently being ironed out and looks to continue to grow beyond Ullisses Rocha, Fabio Holanda and Antonie Coutu, some big MMA names are rumored to join the BTT Canada ranks in the near future. BTT / Canada fighters will also be able to train at the BTT academy in Brazil and visa versa, as part of the agreement.

MMA Ring Report Fighter of the night.
MMA Ring Report handed out the fifth edition of the “MMARR Fighter of the Night” award at TKO 18 in Montreal Quebec. MMA Ring Report writer Marc Godin chose the winner and for the second time in a row it was Sam "Hands of Stone" Stout that won the award in impressive fashion, taking out David Goulet in the process. Canadian Forum member Jason Beatty AKA "JHR" handed out the award to the young up and coming Team Thompkins fighters. It is unknown at this time when the next MMARR FOTN award will be handed out, If your event is looking to getting involved in awarding the MMA Ring Report fighter of the night award contact us HERE…. The rundown of winners of the MMARR fighter of the night award is as follows.

1 – Justin Bruckman - WFF 7 - July 23rd, 2004
2 - Patrick Cote - TKO 16 - May 22nd, 2004
3 - Sam Stout - TKO 17 - Sept 25th, 2004
4 - Matt Horwitch – XFC 3 Oct 16th, 2004
5 - Sam Stout– TKO 18 - Nov 26th, 2004
6 - ??? - ??? - 2005 ?

International Coverage for Canadians
New Japanese Magazine "Gachi" has picked up another story by Arnold "The Sushiboy" Lim regarding the "The History of MMA in Canada". It will feature some of the major events in Canadian MMA as well as the Top Upcoming Canadian Talent as well as the top 5 upcoming Canadian MMA Gyms. Upcoming Canadian event coverage has already been picked up for subsequent issues of "Kakutougi Tsushin", another popular Japanese MMA magazine, hopefully this is a sign that Canadian MMA is headed in the right direction and we will see press from all over the world come to cover Canadian events in the near future.

Epic MMA
Denis Kang and Ullisses Castro went to Russia to compete in the M-1 organization and went 1-1. Denis Kang won by head and arm choke at 1:17 of the first round against Alexei Vezelorozov who was a late replacement ofr Amar Suloev who severly injured his hand on the Monday before the fight and was unable to compete.

Ullisses Castro lost due to an injury suffered in the fight against Milco Voorn. Greg Allen tells us that the information he is getting is that "Ullisses [Castro] was dominating and tried to execute a throw but twisted his foot and snapped it. From what I can gather it is officially broken." It is unknown at this time how long Castro will be out of action for.

Epic MMA head honcho Greg Allen is currently in New York working on the Euphoria MFC video editing process to the event that saw Castro lose to Kerry Schall by DQ. earlier this year and will be there till December 22, just in time to get back home for Christmas. He seems very excited about the prospects of the DVD and says "[We] shot some great stuff, it is really tweaked out and everything is running beautifully.

Speaking of the Euphoria tournament Both Jason MacDonald and and Bill Mahood should be in line for the Euphoria tournament that is rumored to take place some time in February of 2005.

Upcoming Canadian events

December 10th - Amateur MMA Show, Sherbrooke Quebec
January 29th - TKO 19 "Rage", Montreal, Pierre Charbanneau Centre
April 30th - UCW 2 Winnipeg, MTS Center
Early 2005 - WFF 8
Early 2005 - Apex 2

So that wraps up another Canadian Corner and you are up to date on the Canadian front. If you have any Canadian news that you would like to let us know about email the Sushiboy HERE… Many more exciting things are scheduled to happen in the coming months, in and around the sport of MMA around the world. There is no doubt that Canada will surely be in the mix, until then this was “The Sushiboy” with the Canadian Corner. -MMARR-

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