Ryan (The Real Deal) Ford.

BY JAMES BRYDON
sportsnet.ca

Mixed martial arts fans in Edmonton get a double treat Saturday night.

For the second straight day, a local promotion will hold a show in town when The Fight Club gets things rocking at the Shaw Conference Centre with TFC 9: Total Chaos.

While Friday night saw a number of local favourites win key bouts at MFC 23, including Red Deer, Alta.’s Jason (The Athlete) MacDonald, Saturday’s event is headlined by a couple of championship bouts featuring Edmonton fighters. Ryan (The Real Deal) Ford will take on California's John Walsh for the vacant welterweight title, while Victor (The Matrix) Valimaki defends his light-heavyweight belt against Victoriaville, Que.’s Martin Desilets.

Ford will be trying to add another belt to his mantle -- he won TFC’s Canadian welterweight title by beating Markhaile Wedderburn at the organization’s previous show in September. It was his second straight win since losing to Pat Healy in his last MFC appearance before signing with the rival promotion.

Valimaki (16-5), a former 205-pound champion in the MFC, also won a title at TFC 8 when he earned unanimous decision over Lew Polley. He puts that belt on the line Saturday as well as his seven-fight win streak.

However Valimaki, whose last loss was an unsuccessful title defence against Roger Hollett at MFC 13 in 2007, says he doesn’t even think about what’s “on the line” until a fight’s over.

“I’m always more concerned with the opponent that I have,” Valimaki said. “When I beat (my opponent) and get the belt again, then I’ll be excited about it. I’m more just worried about (him).”

The former UFC fighter does admit he has to adjust his game plan and approach to the fight, simply because a championship bout can go the extra two rounds.

“Five is a long time, I never did five until my last one,” Valimaki said. “You definitely have to pace a little bit more, because in a three-round fight you can come out pretty, pretty hard for three five-minute rounds, you don’t have to worry about gassing. But five rounds… once you’re in there for about half an hour, it seems like it’s been a lifetime.”

Valimaki, whose eight-year career thus far has also included stops in Halifax (ECC), in Montreal (KOTC) and an M-1 Challenge event in Helsinki, Finland one year ago, believes his experience will work to his advantage against Desilets (9-2), who has been fighting for four years, mostly in Quebec. And he feels he has a better chance the longer the fight goes.

“I’ve seen some of his fights on TV, and I’ve watched lots of footage on him, I’ve known about him for a long time,” Valimaki said. “He’s a strong guy who comes out very aggressive. I’ll have to watch the first few minutes, and then he seems to slow down a little.

“I think I’m going to catch him.”

Ford (10-2), meanwhile, faces his own challenge in that he had two changes of opponent before Walsh stepped in. He hasn’t seen much of the American -- only one fight and he was choked out in the first round. But Ford isn’t taking him lightly.

“He’s a U.S. Marine, so he’s going to be a tough guy, he’s going to come out to fight,” Ford said. “I’ll be ready for whatever he’s got to bring to the table. You can do your homework, but as soon as the horn goes all that stuff pretty much goes out the window.”

For the fight, Ford trained for four and a half weeks with his new coach Adam Zugec at his gym in Victoria. But then he also spent two and a half weeks with some different partners at Hayabusa Training Centre back home. Those partners included friend and fellow Edmonton fighter Ryan Jimmo, who was another big winner Friday night across town.

Ford, who has always had strong standup, believes he’s really improved the other parts of his game. That’s important when he doesn’t really have any one specific game plan.

“I’ll just go with the flow, whatever happens happens,” Ford said. “I’ll come out and obviously I’m an aggressive fighter, so I bring it and I make the person fight at my pace. We’ll see if he can do that. “I don’t get paid by the hour!”