Mixed Martial Arts Expo a look back!

The MMA Expo came to the Toronto Convention centre and any event that can bring together the number of Mixed martial arts familiars that it did can be considered nothing less then a success. The Mixed Martial Arts expo brought the traditional martial arts together with some of the “MMA” minds and topped it off with a Seminar with UFC and Pride veteran Carlos “The Ronin” Newton.

Carlos Newton chatting with the Stick fighting instructor

The MMA expo sported an absolutely huge mat space where a plethora of mats were laid where students interested in training with the impressive laundry list of Martial Arts instructors could go and train with pretty much anyone they wanted. Instructors included the likes of UFC fighter Mark Hominick, Jeff Joslin, Shawn Tompkins, Carlos Newton, to men who trained a variety of other martial arts such as Philipino Stick fighting, Japanese Sai training and more. There was literally something for every Martial Arts fan and if you purchased a training pass you could train with pretty much anyone you chose to. Every hour or so the instructors would change and you would have the opportunity to train with someone else, which is one of the fundamental principals of mixed martial arts. The event spanned two days, Saturday May 13th and Sunday May 14th and ran from 10am to 4 pm daily.

Jeff Josling leading his students in training

There were a number of demonstrators that took place on a demonstration mat away from the training area that also had a host of interesting shows, featuring a wide range of techniques, everything from sword and staff fighting, to a man who broke concrete blocks with his elbows and hands, to a skipping rope demonstration. A number of MMA personalities were also on hand to take in the expo, a list that included Justin “Loaf” Bruckmann, Richard “The Monkey” Nancoo, and of course the number of instructors and competitors that taught during the expo.

Japanese Sai instruction

The event featured a plethora of companies including MMA Ringreport sporting exhibitors booths at the event, in the mix were a number of traditional martial arts schools and martial arts equipment stores, even the Canadian Reserve had a booth looking to recruit their next solider. The TKO event had a booth there showing a video of MMA fights with TKO representative Marco Antico talking not only about TKO, but also about one of the most important Canadian MMA issues of all, the legalization of MMA in Ontario.

Shawn Tompkins and his student Mark Hominick teaching more diligent students

Dan Severn was noticeable absent from the proceedings having been announced as one of the instructors to hold a seminar that night, he did not, and MMA Ring Report could not get a public comment from any of the event’s coordinators on why he was not about. Minus that minor hiccup, The event ran without a hitch and was fairly well attended, even though the event’s promoter Gerald Chopik did say he would have like to have seen more people come by, the fact that the MMA expo came together as well as it did, and has as many people as it did was a feat within itself. Considering the amount of organization involved in a show like this Chopik did a great job with the show as Mixed Martial arts needs a presence in Ontario and the MMA expo is the biggest one there is. With the success of this show and the increase in the amount of people in this years event compared to last we can expect next year to be the biggest and best show yet. The event’s website can be found at www.mixedmartialartsexpo.com

Richard and Rickson Nancoo checking out the MMA expo

One of the instructors showing how to disarm a gun weilding assailant

Staff fighting demonstration at the demonstration mat

More fighting demonstrations at the demonstration mat