MM-Eh! News and Notes from Canada
Andy Cotterill Dec 6, 2006
This past weekend was an extremely busy one for mixed martial arts
related events in Canada. We had bodogFight, Extreme Cage Combat,
the new Shut Up And Fight promotions, and of course we can’t forget
the Georges St.
Pierre (Pictures) seminar.
Hope you enjoy it, and as always, I encourage everyone to e-mail me with your questions, queries, comments and concerns.
HCF announces live New Year’s Eve
event
Keith Crawford, CEO of the Hardcore Fighting Championship, has told Sherdog.com that HCF is presenting Rumble in the Cage 21 on New Year’s Eve.
“This is the first time in Canadian history that any promotion is going live much less in theatres across Canada,” Crawford exclusively told MM-Eh! “Cineplex is setting the new standard for MMA re-broadcast. We are following the WWE direction with theatre live events.”
The HCF is only a month into its two-year exclusive with The Score Television Network, which allows them to play mixed martial arts events across Canada on Wednesday and Friday nights. The December 31 card will be re-broadcast on The Score Television network and The Fight Network.
Events recap
BodogFight held its first live pay-per-view fightcard in Vancouver on Saturday, and depending on whom you talk to, it was either incredibly good or terribly bad.
I wasn’t there myself, so I’ll reserve judgment, and I’m asking Sherdog readers who were present to send me their accounts.
ECC 4 “Fury” was even more successful than anyone expected it would be. The paid attendance was close to 4,000 people, which is higher than that of the massively promoted bodogFight, which had around 3,500. With the help of some negative press, ECC 1 had an amazing turnout of close to 6,000 spectators; however ECC’s next two events fell short of that number by nearly 4,000 per card.
The increase at ECC 4 could be attributed to the fact that Combat Productions has slowed the relentless pace they originally set of a month or two between shows. This caused some over saturation of MMA, and the public needed a break. Another possible factor was that word had spread like wildfire that there was a possibility of Georges St. Pierre (Pictures) making an appearance.
I mentioned it in last week’s MM-Eh! and participants of the seminar he taught must have also spread the news.
ECC is the event that I’ve covered for Sherdog since its inception, so I’ll have to try hard to remain unbiased. I’ve already written a full account of the fights, but here’s a little more GSP info. Georges entered the Halifax Forum right after the first fight and made his way to the VIP table that was waiting for him at cageside. The announcer introduced him and the crowd went absolutely wild. GSP stood to wave and acknowledge them, and was immediately beset by throngs of fans wanting pictures and to shake his hand. As I was to learn the next day when I covered his seminar, Georges has a very difficult time turning anyone away. To stop the onslaught, the announcer invited him to come into the cage and say a few words.
Wearing a cream colored Sean John leather jacket, “Rush” entered the cage to even more applause. Before he could speak, the announcer asked him to cast his eyes to the big screen where they had something for him to watch. The lights dimmed and then an Octagon with Georges and Matt Hughes (Pictures) inside appeared on the big screen. For seven and a half minutes Georges stood in the cage and re-watched himself dismantle Hughes. During the final moments, from when he connected with his left shin until the end, the appreciative ECC crowd stood and roared and clapped and cheered.
Georges then took the microphone and spoke to the crowd, telling them, “Sometimes if I feel alone, I think of you guys, and I know you’ve got my back.” Just when you thought the crowd couldn’t cheer any louder, they went ahead and did just that.
Georges was then put to work, cornering his friend Nelson Akawui Riquelme (Pictures), who ended up losing a hard decision to Canadian Army Captain Alex Sung. He was continually shouting instructions in French to Nelson, and waved a towel on his back between rounds to keep him cool. After the fight, Georges made his way back to his seat, and shortly thereafter made a quiet exit from the Forum.
The next day, my photographer Chris Harding and I made the hour trek to Truro, where he participated in Georges’ seminar. You can read all about it in my Sherdog article, and also watch my video interview with him. I’m very glad to have met him, as he is just as down to earth as you all think he is.
The Shut Up And Fight (SUAF) in Vernon, B.C. was by all accounts a terrific show. Unfortunately, due to poor weather in Illinois, Matt Hughes (Pictures) was unable to travel to be a guest referee or to conduct his planned seminar. But fortunately for SUAF they had already recruited “El Dirte” Joe Doerksen (Pictures), Winnipeg native and newly signed to PRIDE. Joe was able to guest referee for all seven of the rookie fights.
Upcoming events
This upcoming weekend is not nearly as busy as the last, with the only event that I’m aware of being the B.J. Penn (Pictures) seminar in Mississauga. I’ve gotten e-mails from several people who will be attending, and what’s common to them all is that they believe Penn to be the best grappler in the world today.
Although I’m sure Marcelo Garcia might have something to say about that, I agree that this is a fantastic opportunity for them.
Mailbag
It was very nice to read some work that was long on information and short on the "frat boy" attempts at irreverent humour. I look forward to your next installments. There are actually a number of us in northern Manitoba that follows MMA fairly closely and it's nice to hear about quality fighters just outside of the spotlight. The longevity of any sport is contingent upon the amateur systems and the "Triple A" circuits.
If possible, I would like to hear about some of those emerging promotions as well as the status of MMA in the various provinces. Thanks and keep up the good work, eh!
Sincerely,
Mr. Dean B. Head
DEAN HEAD LAW OFFICE
The Pas, MB
Hi Dean, I appreciate the compliments. Although I do reserve the right to throw in some irreverent humour in the future with absolutely no warning whatsoever. As for emerging promotions, you’ve seen that I’m covering the ECC shows here in Halifax, and I’m always looking for more to talk about. As for status of MMA in different Provinces, the big one that I’m currently researching is that of Ontario. Right now it’s an MMA void that has the potential to be a massive market.
Hey Andy,
I just have a couple of comments on your last article.
The important point I wanted to bring up was that even though the Bodog event on 2nd is considered a Calvin Ayre production, it is actually a joint venture between Bodog and the Elite Fighting Championships. This will actually be Elite's third show in Vancouver and although the largest in terms of name recognition they have held some rather impressive events prior to this coming weekend. Earlier this year they crowned their light heavyweight champion Marvin Eastman (Pictures) when he defeated Travis Wiuff (Pictures) for the title.
I will be attending the event on the 2nd and will write to let you know how it went. I am excited about Elite’s newfound operation here in Vancouver as I thought it would be some years before we got to see some recognizable fighters compete in a quality venue.
Anyways my friend, keep up the good work,
Chris Bjerrisgaard
Hi Chris, I appreciate you clearing that up. I was close to attending the last Elite show where Victor Valimaki beat Vernon "Tiger" White in the main event, but alas, I did not. I’m looking forward to you sending me your thoughts about the Bodog/Elite show.
That’s it for this week folks … see you next week!
Hope you enjoy it, and as always, I encourage everyone to e-mail me with your questions, queries, comments and concerns.
Advertisement
Keith Crawford, CEO of the Hardcore Fighting Championship, has told Sherdog.com that HCF is presenting Rumble in the Cage 21 on New Year’s Eve.
RITC will be held in the Enmax Centre in Lethbridge, Alberta, and
will be broadcast live to select Cineplex Entertainment Theatres
across Canada. The main event will feature former UFC heavyweight
champion Ricco Rodriguez
(Pictures) taking on Lethbridge’s own
Jared Kilkenny, who
fights out of Lee Mein
(Pictures)’s Canadian Martial Arts
Centre.
“This is the first time in Canadian history that any promotion is going live much less in theatres across Canada,” Crawford exclusively told MM-Eh! “Cineplex is setting the new standard for MMA re-broadcast. We are following the WWE direction with theatre live events.”
The HCF is only a month into its two-year exclusive with The Score Television Network, which allows them to play mixed martial arts events across Canada on Wednesday and Friday nights. The December 31 card will be re-broadcast on The Score Television network and The Fight Network.
Events recap
BodogFight held its first live pay-per-view fightcard in Vancouver on Saturday, and depending on whom you talk to, it was either incredibly good or terribly bad.
I wasn’t there myself, so I’ll reserve judgment, and I’m asking Sherdog readers who were present to send me their accounts.
ECC 4 “Fury” was even more successful than anyone expected it would be. The paid attendance was close to 4,000 people, which is higher than that of the massively promoted bodogFight, which had around 3,500. With the help of some negative press, ECC 1 had an amazing turnout of close to 6,000 spectators; however ECC’s next two events fell short of that number by nearly 4,000 per card.
The increase at ECC 4 could be attributed to the fact that Combat Productions has slowed the relentless pace they originally set of a month or two between shows. This caused some over saturation of MMA, and the public needed a break. Another possible factor was that word had spread like wildfire that there was a possibility of Georges St. Pierre (Pictures) making an appearance.
I mentioned it in last week’s MM-Eh! and participants of the seminar he taught must have also spread the news.
ECC is the event that I’ve covered for Sherdog since its inception, so I’ll have to try hard to remain unbiased. I’ve already written a full account of the fights, but here’s a little more GSP info. Georges entered the Halifax Forum right after the first fight and made his way to the VIP table that was waiting for him at cageside. The announcer introduced him and the crowd went absolutely wild. GSP stood to wave and acknowledge them, and was immediately beset by throngs of fans wanting pictures and to shake his hand. As I was to learn the next day when I covered his seminar, Georges has a very difficult time turning anyone away. To stop the onslaught, the announcer invited him to come into the cage and say a few words.
Wearing a cream colored Sean John leather jacket, “Rush” entered the cage to even more applause. Before he could speak, the announcer asked him to cast his eyes to the big screen where they had something for him to watch. The lights dimmed and then an Octagon with Georges and Matt Hughes (Pictures) inside appeared on the big screen. For seven and a half minutes Georges stood in the cage and re-watched himself dismantle Hughes. During the final moments, from when he connected with his left shin until the end, the appreciative ECC crowd stood and roared and clapped and cheered.
Georges then took the microphone and spoke to the crowd, telling them, “Sometimes if I feel alone, I think of you guys, and I know you’ve got my back.” Just when you thought the crowd couldn’t cheer any louder, they went ahead and did just that.
Georges was then put to work, cornering his friend Nelson Akawui Riquelme (Pictures), who ended up losing a hard decision to Canadian Army Captain Alex Sung. He was continually shouting instructions in French to Nelson, and waved a towel on his back between rounds to keep him cool. After the fight, Georges made his way back to his seat, and shortly thereafter made a quiet exit from the Forum.
The next day, my photographer Chris Harding and I made the hour trek to Truro, where he participated in Georges’ seminar. You can read all about it in my Sherdog article, and also watch my video interview with him. I’m very glad to have met him, as he is just as down to earth as you all think he is.
The Shut Up And Fight (SUAF) in Vernon, B.C. was by all accounts a terrific show. Unfortunately, due to poor weather in Illinois, Matt Hughes (Pictures) was unable to travel to be a guest referee or to conduct his planned seminar. But fortunately for SUAF they had already recruited “El Dirte” Joe Doerksen (Pictures), Winnipeg native and newly signed to PRIDE. Joe was able to guest referee for all seven of the rookie fights.
Upcoming events
This upcoming weekend is not nearly as busy as the last, with the only event that I’m aware of being the B.J. Penn (Pictures) seminar in Mississauga. I’ve gotten e-mails from several people who will be attending, and what’s common to them all is that they believe Penn to be the best grappler in the world today.
Although I’m sure Marcelo Garcia might have something to say about that, I agree that this is a fantastic opportunity for them.
Mailbag
It was very nice to read some work that was long on information and short on the "frat boy" attempts at irreverent humour. I look forward to your next installments. There are actually a number of us in northern Manitoba that follows MMA fairly closely and it's nice to hear about quality fighters just outside of the spotlight. The longevity of any sport is contingent upon the amateur systems and the "Triple A" circuits.
If possible, I would like to hear about some of those emerging promotions as well as the status of MMA in the various provinces. Thanks and keep up the good work, eh!
Sincerely,
Mr. Dean B. Head
DEAN HEAD LAW OFFICE
The Pas, MB
Hi Dean, I appreciate the compliments. Although I do reserve the right to throw in some irreverent humour in the future with absolutely no warning whatsoever. As for emerging promotions, you’ve seen that I’m covering the ECC shows here in Halifax, and I’m always looking for more to talk about. As for status of MMA in different Provinces, the big one that I’m currently researching is that of Ontario. Right now it’s an MMA void that has the potential to be a massive market.
Hey Andy,
I just have a couple of comments on your last article.
The important point I wanted to bring up was that even though the Bodog event on 2nd is considered a Calvin Ayre production, it is actually a joint venture between Bodog and the Elite Fighting Championships. This will actually be Elite's third show in Vancouver and although the largest in terms of name recognition they have held some rather impressive events prior to this coming weekend. Earlier this year they crowned their light heavyweight champion Marvin Eastman (Pictures) when he defeated Travis Wiuff (Pictures) for the title.
I will be attending the event on the 2nd and will write to let you know how it went. I am excited about Elite’s newfound operation here in Vancouver as I thought it would be some years before we got to see some recognizable fighters compete in a quality venue.
Anyways my friend, keep up the good work,
Chris Bjerrisgaard
Hi Chris, I appreciate you clearing that up. I was close to attending the last Elite show where Victor Valimaki beat Vernon "Tiger" White in the main event, but alas, I did not. I’m looking forward to you sending me your thoughts about the Bodog/Elite show.
That’s it for this week folks … see you next week!
