The next installment of the TKO series, which launched the careers of such notable Canadian mixed martial artists as Georges St. Pierre (Pictures), David Loiseau (Pictures), and Jonathan Goulet (Pictures), is scheduled for Thursday at Montreal's Bell Centre.
It's unfortunate then that TKO's 32nd event, titled "Ultimatum," will be one of the weaker overall cards that the promotion has put on in some time. However, there are a few bouts that fans should keep their eyes on.
In the semi-main event, Jesse Bongfeldt will make his first defense of the welterweight title that he claimed in a win over Chris Clements (Pictures) last September. He will be facing very stiff competition in Nova Scotian T.J. Grant.
The TKO welterweight belt has quite a pedigree, having been previously owned by current UFC interim champion Georges St. Pierre (Pictures), and both Bongfeldt and Grant are very aware of its cachet.
"This fight here is just as important as the last one," Bongfeldt told Sherdog.com. "This is a huge steppingstone for me."
Grant doesn't plan to make it easy for Bongfeldt, though.
"Jesse is a tough guy, the toughest to date," he said. "So I've got to be mentally strong, and physically I'm strong, so I'm ready to go."
The main event, while not particularly relevant in the grand scheme of things, should at least provide the Montreal crowd with an entertaining match. A transplanted Brazilian now living in British Columbia, Jose Landi-Jons (Pictures) is a longtime veteran of the sport and one of only four fighters to have defeated former UFC champion Matt Hughes (Pictures).
"Pele" will be taking on American Brian Gassaway (Pictures), another veteran, who has 46 professional bouts under his belt. Neither fighter will realistically make an impact on the sport at this point, but between the two of them will be a wealth of skill and experience to display for the audience.
Full Card:
Brian Gassaway (Pictures) vs. Jose Landi-Jons (Pictures)
T.J. Grant vs. Jesse Bongfeldt
Derek Gauthier vs. Yannick Galipeau
Jordan Mein vs. Samuel Guillet (Pictures)
Daniel Ferguson vs. Stephane Vigneault (Pictures)
Justin Tavernini vs. Guillaume Lamarche (Pictures)
Syd Barnier vs. Adrian Wooley
Johan Croes vs. Mark Fraser
Tyler Jackson (Pictures) vs. Jeff Harrison
Preliminary Bouts:
Scott Wright vs. Ben Gallant (Pictures)
Tim Wadsworth vs. Brad Duguay
Vladimir Victor vs. Christopher Hulme
First MFC on HDNet in the Books
When Edmonton's Maximum Fighting Championship signed a deal with Mark Cuban's HDNet in January, the obvious benefit was instant widespread exposure to MMA fans across North America.
This past weekend's "Rags to Riches" card was by all means a success, albeit one with some controversy. During the main event, Ryan Ford hit Pete Spratt (Pictures) with two vicious elbows to the face after the bell had sounded.
By all accounts the noise level in the venue was deafening, preventing both Ford and referee Herb Dean (Pictures) from hearing the bell. The only person who did hear it seemed to be Spratt, who unfortunately assumed that Ford would stop hitting him and took the blows while unprepared.
After taking some time to recover, Spratt agreed to continue the match. Ford subsequently prevailed, winning by rear-naked choke in the second round. Many fans have called for the bout to be ruled a No Contest due to the elbows after the bell, but that isn't reasonable or likely considering that Spratt agreed to continue. If any redress were to occur, it needed to happen at the time.
The official commission decision was that they couldn't fault Ford for not hearing the bell, and they didn't punish him by taking away a point.
MFC President Mark Pavelich has offered a rematch to Spratt.
On a different note, Pavelich has also told MM-Eh! in the past that he plans on taking his promotion into the United States in 2008 with Florida as a likely destination. However, the word now is that Mississippi is now the new destination, perhaps sometime this fall.
MFC's next card is scheduled for May 9 with Ryan Ford and Gary Goodridge (Pictures) co-headlining.
HCF Shuffles ‘Crow's Nest' Card
Alberta-based Hardcore Championship Fighting terminated the contract of Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos last week and made the following statements:
"This is due to the fact that Mr. Santos chose to execute a competing contract inside the minimum time period allowed by HCF's terms for fighters to engage in other events," said CEO Keith Crawford.
Added President Dave Houshiar: "It is with a heavy heart we terminate Cyborg's contract as he is one of my favorite fighters. However we cannot allow fighters to dictate the terms of contracts to us as this can impact the integrity of our events."
The fight Santos took that caused the discord with HCF was a March 5 meeting against Makoto Takimoto (Pictures) in the Japanese event Sengoku.
Santos had been scheduled to face David Loiseau (Pictures) in the main event of HCF's March 29 card, but with him now out of the picture, Todd Gouwenberg (Pictures) will be dropping to 185 to take his place.
Update on Ayangma's Death
Young Canadian fighter Rene Ayangma's death was a result of natural causes, said Prince Edward Island's chief coroner, Dr. Charles Trainor. It will be several weeks, though, before the autopsy process is completed and an exact cause of death can be determined.
Ayangma, 20, collapsed after a light sparring session with his Team Bueno teammates last week in Stratford, Prince Edward Island. CPR was administered, and an ambulance arrived almost immediately, but Ayangma was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.
Canadian Calendar
Feb. 28: TKO 32 "Ultimatum" - Montreal
March 7: KOTC "Gold Rush" - Prince George
March 7: The Fight Club 2 - Feel The Pain - Edmonton
March 8: Warrior Xtreme Combat - Truro, NS
March 14: Xtreme MMA - Victoriaville - PQ
March 15: Extreme Cage Combat 7 - Halifax
March 29: HCF "Crow's Nest" - Gatineau, PQ
April 4: KOTC "Brawl in the Mall 3" - Edmonton
April 11: UCW 11 - Winnipeg
April 12: Phoenix Fight Promotions II - Halifax
April 19: UFC 83 - Montreal
April 26: Iroquois Mixed Martial Arts Championship - Hagersville, Ontario
May 9: MFC 16 "Anger Management" - Edmonton
July 26: Freedom Fight "Title Quest" - Gatineau, PQ