Ryan Ford has made his name in his home town of Edmonton. Now it’s time to prove to a new audience that he’s The Real Deal.
All but two of the career fights for Ford (14-3) have been in Edmonton, with one being in nearby Calgary and the other in Halifax. But now he’ll perform in front of perhaps his biggest audience on Thursday when he takes on former UFC welterweight Karo Parisyan (19-6) in the main event of MMA Live 1 at the John Labatt Centre in London, Ont.
“Being able to get out to London, Ontario and fight somewhere outside of Edmonton is a great opportunity for me,” Ford said. “I’m just looking to get in there and put on a good fight and make a bunch more fans here in Ontario.”
After three successful MMA shows in Ontario in April, including the “big” one — UFC 129 at Toronto’s Rogers Centre in front of 55,724 fans — Thursday’s show will be the first at a hockey venue. The CHL’s Knights play at the “JLC”– as it is known by the locals — with a capacity of roughly 9,000.
The first two shows in the province, which just began sanctioning MMA this year, were held at casinos (in Orilia and Windsor) in front of roughly 5,000. So it will be interesting to see what kind of energy there will be for the seven-fight card that is relatively slim on big names.
The 29-year-old Ford believes people in towns such as London are just hungry for live MMA.
“Ontario … probably has the most MMA fans who weren’t able to go to live events. Now that they’ve opened it up I’m pretty sure it’s going to grow so fast here.”
Ford, who thrilled fans with his aggressive style during his time with the Maximum Fighting Championship in Edmonton (and then with rival The Fight Club before returning to the MFC for two more fights and then leaving again) hopes to win his third straight and seventh in his last eight. But more than that, he wants to continue in his tradition of performances that’s earned him 13 stoppages in his four-year career thus far.
“My No. 1 priority is obviously to get the win, but also to be exciting and set the pace and make the fans enjoy and get their money’s worth. Ryan Ford is always in for the finish.”
Parisyan, an Armenian-American and a 12-year veteran of the sport who had a stellar record in the UFC before anxiety issues caused him to leave the promotion, is probably the biggest name Ford has faced thus far in his relatively young career. So a win against him could do even bigger wonders for Ford’s value.
That isn’t lost on the Canadian, who said he actually was the one who asked for the fight.
“I was just surfing around on the net and came across that they were looking for somebody to fill the spot to fight Karo because a bunch of guys backed out,” Ford said. “He’s a skilled fighter, he’s got a big name too. And you know me. I ain’t scared. I ain’t shying away.”
Parisyan, 28, is well known for the aspect of his game that is rare in MMA — he is a judo black belt. But Ford doesn’t believe it will present a challenge for him, as long as he doesn’t put himself in a bad situation.
“With a judo guy, they’ve got to be in the clinch pretty much to do anything they want to do,” Ford said. “I believe my strength and my wrestling will overpower his judo.”
Ford, who has spent a lot of time training at ZUMA in Victoria, B.C. in the past, said he didn’t get out there for this camp because of the new addition to his family. His wife Nina gave birth to their second child four months ago — a boy named R.J. (Ryan Jr.), to go along with his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Bella, and that just made it too difficult to stay out there.
The 29-year-old Ford, who spent the majority of his camp home in Edmonton, did spend a little time in Vancouver with Kajan Johnson and Clinch MMA and the SFU wrestling team “just to get a different look with guys with different styles.”
Ford signed a two-fight contract with Jones Entertainment Group, which is promoting Thursday’s event, but he is also halfway into an exclusive-to-Edmonton, four-fight deal with Aggression MMA. He’s slated to take on Nick Hinchliffe next on June 10 in Alberta. But he expects to be back in Ontario again within six months.
MMA Live 2 is slated to take place on July 2 in Sudbury, Ont.
LOCAL REPRESENTATIVE
London boasts one of the more renowned gyms in the country — Adrenaline MMA is home to UFC contenders Mark Hominick, Sam Stout and former WEC fighter Chris Horodecki, who are all part owners — and they will be represented Thursday.
James Haourt, a fighter and instructor at Adrenaline, takes on Windsor’s Chuck Mady and will be cornered by Hominick and Horodecki.
Haourt, who has a pro record of 2-5 but has won a few fights on Indian reserves, couldn’t be happier about fighting in a sanctioned event in his home town.
“I live 10 minutes away,” the 35-year-old said. “I fought on reserves the past couple years and won a bunch but they don’t count.”
Haourt started his career in 2003 at 155 pounds and fought in TKO in Montreal as well XFO against what he calls some higher-ranked guys. He has since moved to 135 pounds, a more natural weight for him.
However, his opponent Mady, who is coming off a loss to David Harris at MFC 29 last month in Windsor, wanted to fight at 145 pounds. Haourt accepted the terms.
The single father of two daughters has been training at Adrenaline for two years. While the gym is known first for its Muay Thai, Haourt considers himself to be well rounded.
“I think moreso than him,” Haourt said. “He’s a standup fighter. I beat a guy that beat him. He fought on a reserve as well and we were supposed to fight there but it didn’t happen. Now it’s going to happen here.”
Haourt feels pretty comfortable that he’ll have fans on his side, regardless of how big a turnout there is.
“I’m hoping for a pretty good crowd, I’ve got lots of support there.”
NOTES: In the co-main event, Halifax’s Matt MacGrath faces another former UFC fighter, Marcus Aurelio, in a welterweight tilt. MacGrath was a winner by decision over Dean Amasinger at the first ever event in Ontario on April 2 at Casino Rama; Aurelio is coming off a loss to Shinya Aoki at a Dream event in September … At the weigh-ins Wednesday, Ford hit the scale at 169.4 pounds, while Parisyan was right on the limit at 171. Meanwhile, Haourt weighed in at 146 and Mady made 142 … UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon (Bones) Jones will be a special guest at the “MMA Expo Road Show” held form 12-6 p.m. at the arena prior to the fights. The event will feature vendors and a special grappling tournament.