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After missing a month, we are back with the third edition of the Canadian Corner. Much has transpired since the last edition and we need to get caught up on all things Canadian MMA. In terms of events, things have slowed down a little with no TKO event till September, but with the resurfacing of the WFF, and the new Evolution/Shut up and Fight event it looks like it could be a busy fall, let us move upwards and onwards. -Arnold Lim-
After missing a month, we are back with the third edition of the Canadian Corner. Much has transpired since the last edition and we need to get caught up on all things Canadian MMA. In terms of events, things have slowed down a little with no TKO event till September, but with the resurfacing of the WFF, and the new Evolution/Shut up and Fight event it looks like it could be a busy fall, let us move upwards and onwards. -Arnold Lim- K-1 Korea Grand Prix - Denis Kang vs. Akebono?
There will be a Canadian in the K-1 Grand Prix open weight tournament and the Canadian in question will not be Michael MacDonald. The Canadian here is rising MMA star Denis Kang who will be fighting in a HUGE 8 Man K-1 Tournament. When I say huge I mean huge, as Akebono the former Sumo Grand Champion from Japan will be in the tournament. Yes, it the same Akebono that went toe to toe with Bob Sapp at the New Years Eve show of last year. The brackets have not yet been set but the 8 people in the tournament have been set. It was unknown why a “Grappler” who has competed in Abu Dhabi submission grappling tournaments would be interested in fighting in kickboxing tournament with fighters so much bigger then him, but he feels he is ready and able to take the gold. He has been working his hands with former pro boxer Tony Pep and even K-1 veteran Michael MacDonald has been over to help out Kang who is concentrating on his stand up nowadays. The 8 participants are as follows. Akebono (USA)
Sumyabazar (Mongolia)
Kao Kalai Krae Norsing (Thailand)
Denis Kang (Canada)
Siraku Hori (Japan)
Tatsufumi Tomihira (Japan)
Lee Myun Jro
Chang Kyung Koon Other participants of the card but not the tournament include Jarome Lebanner, Ray Sefo and Remy Bonjasky. Denis Kang’s next MMA appearance will be at the September 11th Spirit MC event, as of yet his opponent is unknown. TKO 17 : “Revenge”
Like UFC 48 before it rematches will be front and centre as the card will be made up primarily of rematches. So far the following names are scheduled to be on the card that will take place in Victoriaville Quebec at the Colisee, the same location of TKO 14. So far the card is as follows. Card is subject to change. Mark “The Machine” Hominick vs. Richard “The Monkey” Nancoo
Mark Hominick will fight the man he took the super lightweight championship belt from back at TKO 10. That fight was Hominick’s first pro fight and he has had 7 fights since then going 4-3. Nancoo has been somewhat inactive of late having fought only 2 times in the two years since that fight. Hominick has stated in the past that Nancoo is someone he looks up to in the sport so this fight should be an interesting one. Donald Ouimet vs. David Goulet
This fight will be a rematch of a fight that happened a short while ago at the last TKO event. The referee stopped the fight after Ouimet got a rear naked choke attempt that Goulet did not tapout from. Patric Cote vs. Ricardo Francois
Patric Cote who recently defeated “The Butcher” Bill Mahood, will be in action and his opponent will NOT be Jason MacDonald. It looks like it will be infact be another rematch that follows the pattern of much of the card against the only loss of his career, Ricardo Francois. Francois is the only person that has defeated Cote, albeit in an amateur fight. So far the card is as follows. LW CHAMPIONSHIP (REVENGE): David Goulet vs. Donald Ouimet
SLW CHAMPIONSHIP (REVENGE): Rich Nancoo vs. Mark Hominick
MW SUPERFIGHT (REVENGE): Curtis Stout vs. David Loiseau
LHW CHAMPIONSHIP: Ricardo Francois vs. Patrick Cote
SLW (REVENGE): Stephane Laliberte vs. Stephane Vigneault
WW SUPERFIGHT: Jason St Louis vs. Jonathan Goulet
LW SUPERFIGHT: Sam Stout vs. Steve Claveau
HW SUPERFIGHT: Bryan McGeevs. Iccho Larenas
SLW SUPERFIGHT: John Fraser vs. Thierry Quenneville
SLW CHALLENGE (REVENGE): Sonny Leong vs. Sylvain Cloutier
HW CHALLENGE: Jacob Conliffe vs. Martin Tremblay The heavyweight division in Canada is notoriously thin but rumor has it that Jacob Conliffe may be the man to fill a big void in the Canadian HW scene. The Shawn Thomkins product is a highly touted individual and could shake up the HW division in the north. TKO 18 "Unification"
It looks like the unification show will wait until October. The likely date will be October 30th a day before halloween. The card is rumored to unify all the belts and have most of or all of the current belt holders in action. Duane Ludwig, Pete Spratt, Nathan Marquardt, Rich Franklin, as well as TKO stars David Loiseau, and more are rumored to be on the card. The event could be at the Bell centre which is the event centre that the NHL team the Montreal Canadians play in. Evolution MMA
There will be some huge things going on in Vernon B.C come September as they will be looking to hold what could be the biggest MMA extravaganza in the history of B.C. With the launch of their brand new MMA facility now done, “Shut up and Fight” could be holding a Mixed Martial Arts weekend with a jam packed weekend of fights, grappling and seminars. They are hoping to hold two four man tournaments as well as a four women tournament and a grappling tournament. The only catch at this point is that there are some issues with the athletic commission that have yet to be resolved but with plenty of time until September there is still a strong chance that the event will take off without a hitch. On top of all that Shut up and Fight will debuting a new MMA magazine that could debut as early as September. Mike “The Shooters Shooter” McNeil will be the editor of the magazine and he has already moved to Vernon B.C to begin his duties as editor and chief. They are also looking to launch a HUGE new website that in the words of Shut up and Fight leader Leslie Dickens will be on the lines of “Sherdog, and the underground (MMA.tv) with a bit of Maxfighting” Mike “The Shooters Shooter” The editor of the Showdown magazine, Mike McNeil will be the editor of the magazine and the site. On top of working on the new magazine as well as the new website Leslie Dickens has also purchased Showdown fightgear. He will be launching his own line of gear called Evolution in the coming year. WFF 7 Shooto comes to Canada.
The World Freestyle Fighting championships will be returning to the Croatian Cultural Centre in Vancouver B.C on July 23rd, but things will be a little different this time around. WFF is now a fully Shooto sanctioned event and will potentially have 11 fights on the card. The promoter Jason Towns is working overtime and will be looking to hold WFF events every 2 months or so with WFF 8 in Vancouver at the same venue on September 24th. It appears that they will be looking at holding a 132 pound tournament held over several events with the winner facing Shooto Champion Ryan Ackerman down the road. The tentative card for WFF 7 on July 23rd is as follows. A Class bouts
Middleweight 76kg, 167.5lbs. Sam Morgan vs.Drew Fickett
Lightweight 65kg, 143.3lbs Bob Shabaga vs. Justin Tavernini
Welterweight 70kg, 154.4lbs Justin Bruckman vs. Kajun Johnson B Class Bouts:
Super Heavyweight 100kg+, 220.5+ Lee Mein vs. Krzystof Sozinski
Cruiserweight 93kg, 205lbs. Nick Perry vs. Chad Sherman
LHW 83kg, 183lbs. Grayden Tannas vs. Jason Zazalenchuck
Victor Daychief vs. Gary Wright
Middleweight 76kg, 167.5lbs. Jamie Varner vs. Jesse Bongsfeldt
Welterweight 70kg, 154.4 lbs. Dave Scholten vs. Brad Cardinal
Tim Jenson vs. Tim Tamaki
Chris Aide vs. Len Smith
Lightweight 65kg, 143.3lbs. John Louro vs. Ben Greer All bouts are Professional Shooto bouts, sanctioned by the International Shooto Commission. Card subject to change. Epic Management
A few short days after debuting his big new website for his MMA Management company Epic management. (www.epicmma.com) it appears Greg Allen will be taking a step back from MMA for the time being. The site is now down only a few short days after it debuted. Greg Allen who manages Denis Kang, Bill Mahood, Ullisses Castro, and more has been working hard on the MMA scene as well as the film scene but it appears that he will take a break and will not participate in MMA dealings in the short term.. UGC
The matchmaker of the UGC Liv Vallone has taken a leave of absence from the UGC until “things change.” Mr. Vallone says there are not hard feelings and that “There is no war, no one screwed anyone over”. He didn’t agree with some of the things that were happening, so he is taking a step back to concentrate on work as well as his new fiancé. It is unclear if he will be back in the UGC fold at this time but he says he will be back in the MMA and he promises “I will be back.” The UGC may need him as their last show has been battered in the local forums as one of the worst shows in recent memory and it appears that the show has taken a step backwards. Mr. Vallone has not been involved with the company since April of 2004. MFC
Still no word about the potential return of the MFC to Alberta anytime in the near future. A conversation with the promoter Mark Pavelich revealed that he is not thinking about MMA much nowadays and is instead working hard on his entertainment company. He did however say “Never say Never”. MMA Ring Report
In the last edition of the Canadian corner we announced that we will be awarding the “MMA Ring Report Fighter of the Night” honor at various events that members of the MMARR staff cover. MMA Ring Report will award it to the fighter that best displays “heart, determination, sportsmanship, and the will to win” in their respective bout. The winner will be chosen by the MMA Ring Report Staff and not the event’s promoter. The award was delayed due to the family issue’s and is now back on track. The first event to have the MMA Ring Report Fighter of the Night will be the WFF 7 show that will take place on July 23rd in Vancouver B.C. John “The Natural” Alessio in Pride?
John “The Natural” Alessio recently got the call from Pride and almost got a spot to fight Hayato Sakurai on Bushido 4. The fight fell through however and now it seems they may have him fight in a Pride in September. The Sakurai fight is rumored to be going to Chris Leben of Team Quest instead. Alessio could however be looking to fight in the August WEC event that against undefeated Cesar Gracie fighter Brett Bergmark who sports a 4-0-1 record, but at this point that fight is still up in the air. Dynamic Kneebars
Stephan Kesting out of Vancouver Canada has released a instruction DVD that concentrates on Kneebars. The Sushiboy has reviewed the product and has the full review in our Review section. Gibson Pankration
Gibson Pankration has been very successful of late with Kultar Gill, Blake Fredrickson winning in the in Guam and Ryan “The Lion Diaz” also recently defeating the favored Ryan Ackerman via triangle choke. The main man himself Lance Gibson has also been working hard of late training celebrities such as Jessica Biel and Ryan Reynolds for the up coming Blade 3 which is being filmed in Vancouver. Oddly enough, Blade 3 has two Canadian MMA personalities working on it with Greg Allen of Full Contact Films and Epic management fame also hard at work on the project. In addition to that Mr. Gibson has finished doing the movements and voices for the video Fight Night 2004 for X-box and Playstation 2. The game uses his voice and movements for the characters and also has a secret character in the game with the “Fearless” Tattoo that Mr. Gibson also sports on his back. Linda Langerak vs. Jennifer Howe
It appears that Jennifer Howe has finally found an opponent. Arguably the top womans fighter in the world she could be fighting Canadian Linda Langerak in Alaska. Langerak trains with "Pain" Peters. WFF 7 - July 23rd Vancouver B.C
Canadian Abu Dhabi Trials - August 14th Toronto Ontario
Shut up and Fight - Sept 17-18 Vernon B.C
WFF 8 - September 24th Vancouver B.C
TKO 17 - "Revenge" September 25th Victoriaville Quebec So that wraps up the second 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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