BY JAMES BRYDON
sportsnet.ca

While most of the MMA community will be watching what goes on in Anaheim Saturday night at UFC 121, there is another fight card of interest to Canadian fans going down in Halifax.

The Ontario-based promotion Warrior-One, which up to now has only hosted shows in Montreal and Gatineau, Que., is holding its first card on the East Coast, and for one local fighter it’s a long-time coming.

Halifax native Roger (The Hulk) Hollett is a former top contender in his hometown promotion of ECC, but he hasn’t fought in over a year due to injuries, a reoccurence of one that kept him out almost a year starting in October 2007.

The light-heavyweight was cruising along early in his career at 7-0 (with all wins by knockout or submission) and was fresh off a title win over Victor Valimaki in the Edmonton-based Maximum Fighting Championship when he faced off against Lew Polley for the ECC title in his home town. But on a takedown attempt in the fight he tore the ACL, MCL and meniscus ligaments in his left knee and was subsequently knocked out.

He remained on the sidelines after major surgery until a victorious comeback the following September 2008 against Marcus Hicks. Unfortunately, he would then lose his MFC belt in a unanimous decision to Emanuel Newton and then lost a second in a row a few months later. It seemed like the intensity with which he had been plowing through opponents was missing.

The 30-year-old rebounded with two straight wins, but he was derailed yet again by an injury that has kept him out of action for virtually the exact same amount of time as the first one.

“It’s the knee (I hurt against Polley). I injured it twice, and then I had a torn oblique so I took quite a bit of time off to heal,” Hollett said. “I just overtrained it one day a bit and I wasn’t careful.”

Hollett (10-3) says he still goes to physiotherapy to get regular treatments but that the knee is totally fine now. Even with the risk of hurting it again, it does not mean he’ll be toning down his aggressive style of fighting.

“I’ve been off for a while, so I’ve got a lot of pent-up energy. I’m ready to go,” Hollett said.

His eagerness will be on display Saturday night, when he takes on Mychal Clark (7-10) in the co-main event of W-1 MMA 6: New Ground at the Halifax Forum. Hollett, who signed a one-fight deal with W-1, believes it was a good move for the fledgling organization to have a show in Halifax because the market is ripe for it.

“The popularity for MMA is growing so quick, shows always do good here, there’s no question about that. I think it will be close to a sellout this show. There’s a lot of hype around town and everybody seems to be excited about it.”

Hollett, who has always trained mostly in Halifax did something a little different this time. He went down to Albuquerque, N.M., to train at Greg Jackson’s camp.

“Those guys down there are awesome, they treated me really good. It was a good time down there.”

Clark, who fights out of Tacoma, Wash., is coming in on a five-fight skid. But Hollett doesn’t expect that will make Clark tentative at all.

“I’ve watched some of his clips,” Hollett said. “I expect him to fight me, I don’t think he’ll be backing down. But I’m really hungry for this fight and I’m ready to get back in the saddle.”

Many fighters miss weight, question official scale

Ryan Machan, who fights out of sportsnet.ca blogger Jason MacDonald’s gym in Red Deer, Alta., missed weight for a second straight fight, but this time he believes there was something off about the official scale used at the weigh-ins.

“Everybody staying at the hotel here was told that the scale at the gym there was calibrated to the official scale but when we got to the weigh-ins, it was two pounds over,” Machan told sportsnet.ca Friday. “People were missing weight one after another.”

Machan, who was a couple pounds over for a fight at TFC 11 in Edmonton last month, was one of nine to miss weight on his first attempt. He was officially 171.6, while his opponent Matt MacGrath was at 173.8.

“I weighed myself at lunch time and I was 171 pounds then right before leaving for the weigh-ins at 4 p.m. (AT), I was at 170.6,” Machan explained. “We get to the weigh-ins and the scale was apparently fine, but as soon as it was moved up onto the podium it jumped two pounds.”

Brett Rogers, formerly of Strikeforce, is headlining the card and was 2.4 pounds over the 265-pound heavyweight limit for his bout against Ruben Villareal, who weighed in at 252.2. According to topmmanews.com, the scale was moved to a harder surface and Rogers made weight (265.2) on his second attempt.

It is the first appearance in W-1 for the American Rogers, who is coming off two straight losses, though they both came in title fights. The previously unbeaten striker lost to Fedor Emelianenko in the second round of a bout that was for the WAMMA heavyweight title, and then fell to Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem by first-round TKO in May.

Also making his debut with the promotion is former Pride veteran Murilo (Ninja) Rua, who meets Roy Boughton in a featured main card bout. Both were over 190 pounds for their middleweight contest and will fight at that catchweight.

Machan said the commission wouldn’t acknowledge the scale was off and told everyone they had two hours to make more cuts. But W-1 president Jack Bateman told him not to worry about it.

“Jack said, ‘you’re on weight’ and as far as I know none of the guys are getting a penalty.”

The apparent mixup still may have turned to cost him some money. Machan said MacGrath’s people told him beforehand they knew he was going to miss weight.

“It kind of pisses me off, because I know I was making weight and he knew he was over, so I should be getting (a portion of his purse),” Machan said.

Still, being able to get his weight down to the proper weight -- at least on the scale they were told was “correct” is encouraging for the young fighter, who says he’s discovered his weigh-cut problems were to do with his body not his conditioning.

“I’ve been seeing a specialist, since I’ve been having trouble with my weight control,” Machan said. “No matter what I do, with each fight my weight goes up 10-15 pounds. So I’m trying to pinpoint food I’m eating or something chemical in my body that for whatever reason is causing me not to lose weight.”

He said he had his blood taken one or two times a day over the course of a week and took note of what foods he had been eating at each time to see if an examination would reveal anything. So far, no answers.

But his trainer MacDonald, who will be cornering him Saturday, can attest to the fact that there is no discipline problem.

“I’ve sat with him in the sauna for long periods to watch him sweat and still his weight stays the same,” MacDonald said. “I believe his body is not processing proteins properly. So like a normal person dieting he cuts back on carbs and has more protein and more vegetables, which should work, but it’s causing him to gain more weight! You think you’re doing something right, training hard, dieting and still gaining weight. It’s a bit of a puzzle.”

NOTES: According to topmmanews.com, Denis Kang will fight for the W-1 middleweight title on Dec. 18 in Montreal. Kang is coming off a draw versus Paulo Filho in Sydney, Australia in June, which came a month after he submitted Dae Won Kim in his W-1 debut.