MONTREAL — The inaugural event for Montreal’s newest mixed martial arts promotion is a go.
All but two fighters made weight Thursday for Instinct MMA 1: Alexander vs. Bosse, which takes place Friday at the at the Centre d’Excellence Sports Rousseau in Boisbriand outside Montreal.
There’s no doubt the star on the card here in La Belle Province is the French Canadian Steve (The Boss) Bosse. The former hockey fighter from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., who hung up the skates two years ago to focus solely on MMA, weighed in at 202.6 pounds for his bout against former UFC fighter Houston Alexander, who hit the scale 202.4.
Bosse, who was a crowd favourite when he dropped the gloves on the ice, now applies his fists on the mat and has been doing so for five years. With an 8-1 record and currently riding a six-fight win streak, he feels he’s a more well-rounded fighter than he was in 2008 when he fought in TKO Championship Fighting, the previous promotion headed by Stephane Patry.
“I train jiu-jitsu and wrestling,” Bosse said. “But striking is my forte.”
The 30-year-old Bosse, who has six career TKOs, isn’t taking Alexander, 39, lightly however.
“He’s explosive and has knockout power. But that’s what I want. That’s what the crowd wants. It’s going to end with a KO.”
Meanwhile Alexander, who burst into the UFC in 2007 with two quick knockouts of Keith Jardine and Alessio Sakara only to lose his next four in the Octagon including an embarrassing decision against Kimbo Slice, believes he is in a much better place in his fight game now. He attributes it simply to good coaching and being in better shape and that came from switching to a new team of trainers who focus on mixed martial arts transitions more.
“I feel like I could have won any one of those fights, but was I mentally prepared?” Alexander said. “MMA is transitional. If you don’t know how to transition from this to this to this without thinking, you’re in trouble. I think I’ve gotten to the point where my transition game is better.”
The most accomplished fighter on the card is Rimouski’s Patrick (The Predator) Cote, the former No. 1 contender in the UFC. Another accomplished striker, Cote is looking to win his third straight fight since being cut by the UFC after dropping a trio of bouts. He weighed in on the number at 185 pounds for this middleweight bout against Crafton Wallace (184.6), who is a Muay Thai kickboxer himself and fought twice in the UFC (both losses).
Neither fighter had too much to say Thursday. But they did agree on something — neither wanted the fight to go to the judges.
And then there was Eric Esch, who often — including on this day — goes simply by his nickname “Butterbean.”
Ah Butterbean. The name says it all. He stepped on the scale at 356.2 pounds and he was every bit of it.
His reputation evidently precedes him, as his opponent, local pro boxer Eric Barrak who is 5-0 in the ring but will make his cage-fighting debut, brought a bag with a McDonald’s hamburger in it to give to the American just before weighing in at a much “slimmer” 240.6 for their super-heavyweight bout.
Butterbean was happy to accept the fast food offering, until he realized it was cold.
“You could have brought it hot!” Esch joked.
Esch is coming off a win in Moncton in May, in which he beat Canadian Dean Storey by TKO for the Elite-1 super-heavyweight belt. He said the fans loved really embraced him.
“I come to fight,” Esch said. “That’s one thing I do. People know they’re going to see a fight when I step in the ring.”
The 45-year-old said he may very well to continue to do so for a few years.
“I enjoy fighting, otherwise I wouldn’t do it,” Esch said. “I have nothing to prove. I’ve won numerous titles that I can’t count. But as long as I’m having fun, I’ll keep going.”
Esch said he didn’t personally know Patry, but that many people including Georges St-Pierre spoke highly of him.
“Whenever somebody is such an experienced promoter as Stephane is, it’s an honour to fight for him,” Esch said. “It’s good for him to have me on the card and it’s good for me to fight for good promoters. I really pick and choose who I fight for.”
The 14-fight card is not exactly stacked with superstars, but there are the handful of noteworthy names to go with a bunch of local favourites (including Laval’s Derek Gauthier and Drummondville’s Martin Grandmont).
And as Patry said, it’s about the matchups.
“If you look at the card, the first thing you notice is that it’s fan-friendly,” Patry said. “Those are fights that fans want to see. There’s nothing boring on that card. Butterbean-Barrak, Wallace-Cote, Alexander-Bosse and so on.”
Patry said Thursday they have already sold three-quarters of the tickets for the 5,000 seat venue. And the fans can expect fireworks from plenty of fights.
NOTES: It was different than your typical UFC weigh-ins to be sure. No loud music, no pageantry, and it started off with a very legal-sounding explanation from a representative from the Quebec Athletic Commission of some of the fouls in MMA. (And yes, foot stomps are still not allowed.) … The main card can be seen live on pay-per-view across Canada at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Here are the full weigh-in results:
Main card:
Houston Alexander 202.6 vs. Steve Bosse 202.4
Patrick Cote 185.0 vs. Crafton Wallace 184.6
Eric “Butterbean” Esch 356.2** Eric Barrak 240.6
Travis Cox 162* vs. Derek Gauthier 155.4
William Sriyapai 169 vs. Martin Grandmont 170.4
Chris Kelades 134.6 vs. Dimitri Waardenburg 134
Alex Gutierrez 174 vs. Jason Courchesne 169.8
Evan Nedd 212.2* vs. Strahinja Gavrilovic 206
Undercard
Johan Croes 146 vs. Devin Henry 143.8
Shawn Levesque 204.6 vs. Guillaume Vigneau 204.4
Brad Morgan 181 vs. Dave Bedard184.6
Yannick Duval 154 vs. Guy Poulin 156.2
Todd Stoute 204.2 vs. Scott Edward 204.6
Levis Labrie 154.8 vs. Pete Martin 155.8
* Cox and Nedd failed to make weight