If early indications prove correct, 2010 is going to be a good year for Canadian MMA.
London, Ont.'s Sam Stout set that tone on the first weekend of the new decade. He orchestrated likely the best win of his career against Joe Lauzon, one that also earned him fight of the night honours. His victory comes on the heels of fellow Canadian lightweight Mark Bocek of Woodbridge, Ont., and Cole Harbour, N.S., welterweight T.J. Grant winning big fights in December, earning submission of the night and knockout of the night, respectively. (Talk about a trifecta!)
This was no fluke -- Canadians continue to be featured in the Octagon on a regular basis. Two are fighting this weekend: Mark Hominick, facing Bryan Caraway Sunday at WEC 46 in Sacramento; and B.C.’s Rory MacDonald, who will become the youngest fighter currently in the UFC when he takes on Mike Guymon Monday at a Fight Night in Fairfax, Va.
The trend will continue, at least in the foreseeable future. The next three "numbered" events feature a Canuck:
UFC 109 (Feb. 6 in Vegas): Edmonton’s Tim Hague takes on Chris Tuchscherer
UFC 110 (Feb. 21 in Sydney): Winnipeg’s Krzysztof Soszynski takes on Stephan Bonnar (just confirmed)
UFC 111 (Mar. 27 in Newark): GSP defends his belt against Dan Hardy (headliner)
And of course, shortly after that, we're going to have not one but two UFC events in Canada in the span of six weeks:
UFC 113 (May 1 in Montreal)
UFC 115 (June 12 in Vancouver)
The WEC is also looking at coming to Canada in 2010, with its general manager Reed Harris saying one of the goals laid down by the UFC brass for them was to come north of the border. Calgary was one of the cities Harris mentioned as a potential location.
UFC VP of regulatory affairs Marc Ratnercontinues to be heavily involved in the push to get the sport legalized in Ontario and he is very optimistic it will happen sooner rather than later. It would certainly be great to have MMA sanctioned in the nation's biggest market, which is also reflected in the number of pay-per-view buys and the number of gyms opening across the province. Even Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has said he wouldn't be categorically opposed to the legitimization of MMA.
Outside the UFC, the sport keeps getting healthier as Canadian promotions enjoy success (save for a few exceptions, such as in Quebec, where local promotions have struggled a bit since the demise of TKO Championship Fighting).
The MFC continues to make a lot of noise. The Edmonton-based organization signed a lot of top-name talent in 2009, including former UFC No. 1 contenders Thales Leites, Travis Lutter and Hermes Franca, and they appear to be keeping that up in 2010, just signing former UFC and Pride veteran Yves Edwards.
But they're also good at producing new Canadian up-and-comers. A bunch of rising stars have been racking up significant wins, such as Ryan Jimmo and Ryan Machan of Edmonton, Fort McMurray, Alta.'s Dwayne Lewis, and newcomer Nick Hrynchyshyn, from Sylvan Lake, Alta., whom the organization recently signed.
They also just announced they will be holding shows at the Winspear Centre, the normal home of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (how’s that for a dichotomy?) starting in April, and fans will again be able to watch their shows live on HDNet Fights.
Former MFC stars and Edmontonians Ryan Ford and Victor Valimaki have been doing their thing across town at The Fight Club, each winning titles. And there are a number of other shows in Edmonton (King of the Cage, Aggression MMA, Colloseo Championship); in Calgary (School of Hard Knocks, Raw Combat); as well as in Lethbridge (Rumble in the Cage) and in Red Deer (sportsnet.ca blogger Jason MacDonald’s own Pure Fighting Championship).
There are other promotions all across Canada, including Saskatoon (XCW Extreme Cage Warz), Winnipeg (Ultimate Cage Wars, Canadian Fighting Championship), Gatineau (Warrior-1, Wreck MMA), Montreal (XMMA, Ringside MMA) and Halifax (Extreme Cage Combat). And you can expect to see more happening in Vancouver now that the city council at the municipal level.
Yes, it's a very good time for MMA in our country.
Speaking of this weekend’s show, Hominick is happy to be finally fighting again. It’s been a long time coming for the Thamesford, Ont., native -- he last fought in July 2008, and while he’s had lots of scheduled fights since, they’ve all fallen through because either he or his opponent was forced to withdraw. Or in one case, the entire card was scrapped when the promotion, Affliction, folded its operations.
Last month, it appeared it might have been another case of "here we go again" after a scheduled all-Canadian standup matchup was nixed when his original opponent Yves Jabouin was hurt. Fortunately, the WEC found him a replacement a few weeks ago in Bryan Caraway. As of Friday, the fight was still on. (Fingers crossed.)
While Caraway will represent an entirely different challenge -- Jabouin, like Hominick, is a striker while Caraway’s strength is his ground game -- Hominick, who said he’s "always training," is just eager to bet back in there. And he hopes to carry the momentum of his teammate Stout’s big win.
"We’re all riding high right now," said Hominick, who along with mutual trainer Shawn Tompkins, was on-hand for his friend’s fight last Saturday in Las Vegas. "I’ll be looking to carry that momentum into my fight."
A win Sunday in his return to the WEC, where he went 0-2 in a previous stint with the organization, would have the added benefit of putting him line for another fight on home soil, if and when the WEC holds its first show in Canada.
"That would be awesome, I’d be very interested in fighting on that one."
Meanwhile, Rory MacDonald is hoping to extend the current streak of Canadians winning in the UFC cage. On top of whatever pressure that might bring, he also has the fact that it’s his debut in the big show and the distinction of being the youngest fighter in the organization at 20 years old. Not to mention the knowledge that a win would be a pretty good statement to be put on the upcoming show in Vancouver, which is so close to his home town of Kelowna. Yet he is unfazed.
"I don’t really get that nervous," MacDonald said. "You can’t let it get to you.
"I’ve always been the young guy on a card, so that’s nothing new, right? It’s just on a bigger stage, but it doesn’t bother me at all."
Perhaps you can attribute that easy-going attitude to his lack of age and experience -- he just doesn’t know any better. It also helps that he is unbeaten in nine fights in his young career.
Put those two factors together, and the kid who doesn’t identify himself as having one particular style is not lacking in confidence.
"I don’t know, I’m just sort of like that new breed of fighter that’s good at everything. I can pretty much beat anyone anywhere I think."
