Posts from — March 2008

Nick Hincliffe vs. Travis Galbraith
Tim Hague vs. Jared Kilkenny
Nick Denis vs. Josh Gallant
Jarid Bussemakers vs. Jason Volpe
Corey Knapp vs. Mike Richardson
Chris Conlin vs. Dave Henry
Shane Kivol vs. Spencer Rohovie
Kris Kucher vs. Nick Coloumbe
Trent Thorne vs. Allan Hope
Mason Hunter vs. Luc Desautels

Sherdog.com is reporting that PRIDE 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix champion, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, is recovering well after undergoing surgery for a ruptured ACL in his left knee.

“The surgery was very quick, lasted 50 minutes, was quiet,” Rua told Sherdog.com. “Now I hope for healing and I think here in about two months I can return to training slowly, very cautiously.”

“Depending on my recovery, I think that I can fight again in September or October,” Rua said. “We always talked with Dana White and also would like to thank him because the UFC offered me a doctor, a physical therapist — all to get me help. They have been very attentive with me.”

Rua suffered the knee injury while preparing for a bout with former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell.

David Loiseau def. Todd Gouwenberg - Unanimous Decision
Sarah Kaufman def. Molly Helsel - TKO (Strikes)
Hector Ramirez def. Rob MacDonald - Unanimous Decision
Nabil Khatib def. Gideon Ray - Unanimous Decision
Brent Beauparlant def. Amir Rahnavardi - Unanimous Decision
Dan Hornbuckle def. Andrew Buckland - Submission (Armbar)
Jameel Massouh def. Myles Merola - Unanimous Decision
Bill Boland def. Michael Hamrsmid - TKO (Strikes)
Rodrigo Ruas def. Marcus Vinicios - Submission (Arm-Triangle Choke)
Antonio Schembri def. Dan Grandmaison - Submission (Armbar)

Jesse Jones vs. Jesse Gillespie - TKO (Strikes)
Darren Uyenoyama def. Anthony Figueroa - Submission (Guillotine)
Tiki Ghosn def. Luke Stewart - Decision (Unanimous)
Joey Villasenor def. Ryan Jensen - KO (Punch)
Wayne Cole def. Mike Kyle - Submission (Armbar)
Gilbert Melendez def. Gabe Lemley - TKO (Strikes)
Drew Fickett def. Jae Suk Lim - Submission (Guillotine)
Cung Le def. Frank Shamrock - TKO (Couldn’t Answer the Bell - Arm Injury)

Tonight I will be going live at 9 PM ET with a play-by-play of Strikeforce/EliteXC: Shamrock vs. Le.

Strikeforce/EliteXC: Shamrock vs. Le

Main Card:

Frank Shamrock vs. Cung Le
Drew Fickett vs. Jae Suk Lim
Gilbert Melendez vs. Gabe Lemley
Mike Kyle vs. Wayne Cole
Joey Villasenor vs. Ryan Jensen
Marlon Sims vs. Billy Evangelista (Swing Bout)

Preliminary Bouts:

Tiki Ghosn vs. Luke Stewart
Darren Uyenoyama vs. Anthony Figueroa
Jesse Jones vs. Jesse Gillespie

It’s showtime folks!

In an interview backstage with Bill Goldberg, Frank Shamrock says that things have changed since their days of sparring. Shamrock went on to say that he is looking to beat Le at his own game.

First up is a middleweight bout between PRIDE veteran Joey Villasenor (24-6) and UFC veteran Ryan Jensen (11-3).

Judges are Richard Bertrand, Cecil Peoples and Marco Rosalas. The referee in charge of the action will be Mario Yamasaki.

Joey Villasenor vs. Ryan Jensen

Round 1: The bout begins with a good straight jab from Jensen as bout fighters slowly feel each other out. Jensen fires off a front kick and Villasenor answers with a high kick that is blocked. Jensen moves in to throw his hands and as he does, Villasenor clinches and takes Villasenor to the canvas. Villasenor is able to pin Jensen against the cage but as he does Jensen is able to regain full guard. Jensen utilizing a high guard while Villasenor stalls on top. Villasenor is able to fire off some body shots from Jensen’s closed guard. The San Jose faithful is beginning to fire out the boo birds. Villasenor postures up and lands a shot. They stand up, clinch and Villasenor lands a solid knee. They move back to the middle and begin to trade jabs. Jensen fires off a jab and as he does Villasenor drops him with a hard shot. Jensen quickly pops back up and both fighters begin to exchange hard punches. Jensen looking to get the better of the exchange. Villasenor fakes a low kick and as he does he eats a hard leg kick. Villasenor then moves forward with two quick left jabs followed by a huge right that sends Jensen to the canvas in a heap.

Winner: Joey Villasenor - KO (Punch)

During the post-fight interview, Villasenor said the double straight jab was a technique they trained to get Jensen to stand straight up allowing him to land the big right. At the end of the interview Villasenor thanked EliteXC and his teammates at Jackson’s Submission Fighting.

Next up is a bout between Wayne Cole (10-6) and UFC veteran Mike “MAK” Kyle (9-6-1). One interesting note, Kyle weighed in at 225 lbs while his opponent, Wayne Cole, tipped the scales at 209 lbs. Herb Dean is the referee in charge of the action.

Mike Kyle vs. Wayne Cole

Round 1: The fight begins with a glove touch as they meet in the middle of the cage. Cole throws a jab early followed by a wild right. Cole then shoots in and secures a beautiful takedown on Kyle. Moments later Cole passes the guard and latches on a beautiful armbar which forces Kyle to quickly tap.

Winner: Wayne Cole - Submission (Armbar)

Very impressive win by Cole. The size factor clearly had no effect on this bout as Cole secured the takedown and quickly submitted Kyle. EliteXC star Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson visible at ringside as they show the replay of Cole’s victory.

EliteXC is now promoting their upcoming show on CBS which is scheduled for May 31 and with that, Kimbo is now making his way to the cage. Very little gained from the interview with Kimbo, he said he is still new in the MMA game and except a brutal and bloody battle in his upcoming bout.

Next up is a bout featuring Gilbert Melendez (13-1) defending his Strikeforce lightweight title against Gabe Lemley (11-6).

Gilbert Melendez vs. Gabe Lemley

Round 1: The bout begins with a glove touch as Lemley quickly comes out and pressures Melendez. Lemley fires off a few quick shots followed by a body kick that Melendez shrugs off. Melendez then lands a hard punch that wobbles Lemley. Lemley quickly regains himself as Melendez shoots in and puts him on his back. Utilizing an active guard, Lemley attempts an omaplata but Melendez works out of it and passes Lemley’s guard. Melendez is able to land a few shots and then he attempts to take mount but Lemley avoids it and regains guard. Melendez postures up and lands a few punches before falling back into Lemley’s guard. Melendez throws 3-4 more shots from the top. Hard hammerfists from Melendez as he works to pass Lemley’s guard. Lemley’s right eye is beginning to show considerable damage. Hard punches from Melendez as he works at a frantic pace. Lemley gets in an upkick as Melendez falls into his half guard. Lemley regains guard but continues to take tons of damage on the bottom. Very hard punches from Melendez on the top. Melendez teeing off on Lemley as he lays on the canvas with his arms covering his head. Herb Dean watching very closely as the fight looks close to being finished. The round ends with Lemley taking loads of damage.

Round 2: Body kick by Lemley as he eats a jab. Melendez answers with two very hard shots. Melendez landing at will, four punches nail the chin of Lemley before Melendez shoots in and puts him on his back in the middle of the canvas. Melendez moves to the half guard as Lemley tries to neutralize an arm. Melendez fires off some more hammerfists before posturing up and moving to side mount. Melendez lands two hammerfists and is warned for hitting the back of the head. Moments later, Melendez lands a flurry of rights that marks the end of the bout.

Gilbert Melendez - TKO (Strikes)

Lemley’s face is showing a great deal of damage as both eyes are swollen. Props for Lemley for showing a great deal of heart and making it out of the initial round. Goldberg speaks with Jake Shields who says he is healing up and looking forward to defending his title on June 14. Shields and Melendez proceed to pose for a picture with Cesar Gracie and Nick Diaz.

According to the broadcast, you can go to SHO.com and watch the main-event through the referee’s camera.

Next up is a #1 contender bout between UFC veteran Drew Fickett (32-5) and Spirit MC welterweight champion Jae Suk Lim (9-3). Lim carries his Spirit MC belt with him on the way to the EliteXC cage.

Drew Fickett vs. Jae Suk Lim

Round 1: After a quick glove touch, Fickett moves forward and initiates the clinch. They stay along the canvas for a moment before separating. Fickett landing some straight punches as Lim answers with a couple of his own. Lim shoots in and puts Fickett on his back but moments later Fickett sweeps him and takes top position. Lim attempts to stand and as he does Fickett locks in a tight guillotine. Lim attempts to slam Fickett but is unable as he drops to the canvas and taps shortly after.

Winner: Drew Fickett - Submission (Guillotine Choke)

It looks like Fickett will still be getting his shot at Shields’ EliteXC welterweight title on June 14 in Hawaii. During the post-fight interview, Shields made his way to the cage and both guys had a quick staredown.

Up next is the main-event featuring Frank Shamrock (24-8-1) and Cung Le (5-0). Showtime is currently showing Cung warming up with Josh Thomson is the back. Judges are Richard Bertrand, Nelson Hamilton and Cecil Peoples with Mario Yamasaki handling the reffing duties.

Frank Shamrock vs. Cung Le

Round 1: Shamrock comes out with a low kick early. Le answers with a side kick and high kick. Both fighters exchange kicks. Le tries a spinning back kick and as he does Shamrock shoots in and they separate. Good body kick from Shamrock but Le answers with some bombs to the cranium of Shamrock. The crowd is electric. Low kick from Shamrock. Shamrock misses with a right. Head kick from Le misses. Shamrock gets in a low kick. Good knee from Le answer by a right from Shamrock. Three shot combo by Le that is ended with a good right. Nice side kick from Le. Shamrock answers with a low kick. Good left followed by a very hard body kick from Le. Shamrock attempts to clinch but fails. They exchange more kicks. Body kick from Shamrock blocked. Side kick from Le misses. Le attempts a spinning back kick to the head and slips. Shamrock attacks but Le gets up taking a knee in the process. Back to the middle, Shamrock moves forward and misses with a left but gets in the right. Le misses with a kick and ends the combo with a high kick blocked. Both fighters exchanging more punches. Round coming to a close. Shamrock lands a good combo on Le as the round ends and as he heads to his corner he gestures that Le is going to sleep much like he did in the Baroni fight.

TKO Xtreme: Cung Le 10-9

Very tough to score, Le just seems to be getting the better of the striking.

Round 2: Body kick from Le to open the second stanza. Le answers with two body kicks and a roundhouse kick that knocks Shamrock’s mouthpiece out. Le misses with a high kick. Low kick from Shamrock followed by a right. Le moves forward and lands a two shot combo. Le land a good left jab. Shamrock answers with a body kick. Le catches a kick and pushes Shamrock to the canvas. Low kick from Le checked by Shamrock. Le lands two right hands as Shamrock moves forward. Low kick from Le. Le eats a hard right to the eye. Body kick from Le. Shamrock high kick blocked. Side kick by Le lands hard. Hard right hand by Le rocks Shamrock. They touch gloves. Two straight side kicks by Le. Le moves forward and throws a left ending with a side kick. Low kick from Le. Le misses with a high kick as Shamrock moves forward. Shamrock misses with two punches and then they clash shins. Low kick from Shamrock. Shamrock throws two more rights as the second round comes to a close.

TKO Xtreme: Cung Le 10-9

Very close round, I’d say Le controlled the striking.

Round 3: Le starts out with a side kick and a high roundhouse kick. Shamrock continues to move forward but against Le fends him off with a side kick. Good body shot from Shamrock. Le lands a nice combination ending it with a body kick. Shamrock comes forward and lands a right. Body kick from Shamrock followed by a low kick. Good combination by Le ending with a right. Le with a very hard left kick. Shamrock lands a left right combo ending with a kick that misses. Nice left to the body by Le. Side kick by Le ending with a spinning back fist that cranks Shamrock. Le catches Shamrock’s leg and kicks his feet out putting him on the canvas. The expression on Shamrock’s face just took a drastic change. Left high kick from Le. Shamrock misses with a left and then throws a high kick. More punches from Shamrock. Side kick from Le. Body kick form Le. Shamrock lands a huge right that rocks Le. Le rocked as Shamrock lands bombs. Shamrock landing hard punches. Le answers with some bombs. Body kick from Le. Hard spinning backfist from Cung. Shamrock lands a hard right but Le answers. Shamrock hurt, Le attacking with him against the cage ending the round with a high kick. Shamrock on his knees as the round ends. His corner puts him on the stool.

TKO Xtreme: Draw 10-10

Winner: Cung Le - TKO (Couldn’t Answer the Bell)

The fight is over, Shamrock unable to answer the bell for the third round. Le is the new Strikeforce middleweight champion. Shamrock is laying on his back in pain. They are saying Shamrock has an arm injury, likely from the numerous kicks he was forced to block.

Looking at the replay it looks like it was the finally flurry by Le that did the majority of the damage. Le’s first high kick caught Shamrock’s arm and head hard and the final head kick was right on the jaw.

Shamrock is getting interviewed now and he said Cung Le broke his right arm with a kick and he can feel the bones clicking. Shamrock being respectful saying Le is the better man and a true champion.

Le said the fight was not easy, every time Shamrock dipped he thought he was going to shoot and he also went on to say he was rocked and saw some stars.

Sherdog.com is reporting that former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia has parted ways with the UFC and signed a non-exclusive contract with Adrenaline MMA.

“I’ve pretty much come to a crossroads in my career,” Sylvia said. “And there’s a lot of big things happening in the MMA world, and especially outside of the UFC.”

“Adrenaline is a new promotion, but it allows fighters to fight for other organizations — that’s huge,” Sylvia said. “I’ve got three to four years left and want to fight as much as possible, so this is the perfect choice for me at this time.”

Sylvia, who is coming off a loss to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, told fans on Inside MMA that he wants a bout with former PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko.

Adrenaline MMA, which replaces M-1 Global, will include Monte Cox as president and CEO, Bob Clark (COO) and Brian Patton (VP).

Along with signing Sylvia, Adrenaline MMA announced the signing of former IFL star “Big” Ben Rothwell and that Jeff “Snowman” Monson will take on Mike Russow at the promotions debut event.

Frank Shamrock (185) vs. Cung Le (183)
Gilbert Melendez (154.5) vs. Gabe Lemley (153)
Drew Fickett (171) vs. Jae Suk Lim (170)
Mike Kyle (225) vs. Wayne Cole (209)
Joey Villasenor (185) vs. Ryan Jensen (186)
Marlon Sims (162.5) vs. Billy Evangelista (160.5)
Luke Stewart (171) vs. Tiki Ghosn (170)
Anthony Figueroa (133) vs. Darren Uyenoyama (136)
Jesse Jones (173.5) vs. Jesse Gillespie (180)

Phoenix Fight: Street Justice
April 26, 2008
Halifax, Nova Scotia

Yves Jabouin vs. TBA
Steve Claveau vs. Sean Huffman
Rowan Cunningham vs. Stephane Lamarche
Chad Cox vs. Aaron Jollimore
Tim Wadsworth vs. Jon Stutzman
Jason Rorison vs. Richard Arsenault
Tristan Johnson vs. Devin Henry
Peter McGrath vs. Syd Barnier
Samir Seif vs. Jeff Lundeberg
Francis Thibault vs. Scott Levesque

Main Card:

Frank Shamrock vs. Cung Le
Drew Fickett vs. Jae Suk Lim
Gilbert Melendez vs. Gabe Lemley
Mike Kyle vs. Wayne Cole
Joey Villasenor vs. Ryan Jensen
Marlon Sims vs. Billy Evangelista (Swing Bout)

Preliminary Bouts:

Tiki Ghosn vs. Luke Stewart
Darren Uyenoyama vs. Anthony Figueroa
Jesse Jones vs. Jesse Gillespie

Be sure to tune in tomorrow night at 9 PM ET as we’ll be going live with a play-by-play of the evenings event.

An Interview with Sarah Kaufman, HCF Women’s Bantamweight Champion

There are few people more qualified to discuss the state of mixed martial arts in Canada than Sarah Kaufman. You probably haven’t heard of Sarah. That’s not surprising considering that women’s professional MMA remains well behind men’s MMA in terms of public recognition and participation, and that she trains in Victoria, British Columbia, about as far from the bright lights of Las Vegas, Los Angeles, or even Montreal as is possible without leaving the continent. But even if her name is not yet known in every household, Sarah is as hooked into both the professional and grassroots aspects of mixed martial arts as anyone. On one hand, Sarah is the Hardcore Championship Fighting (HCF) Women’s Bantamweight Champion; on the other, she is both a trainer and administrator of Zugec Ultimate Martial Arts (ZUMA) in Victoria. Talking to Sarah, it quickly becomes clear that MMA is her passion as well as her occupation; so, when I wanted to ask an expert about the state of MMA in Canada, Sarah was clearly the go-to person. It is rare to find someone whose views on MMA are shaped by personal experience in three separate facets of the MMA business, as Sarah’s clearly are.

We sit down for an informal interview in the office shared by Sarah and Adam Zugec – the owner of ZUMA, and an accomplished combat submission wrestler – as well as by Adam’s companion, a French bulldog who sometimes seems to be the highest authority in the gym. Sarah sits on the opposite side of the desk from me, still wearing her workout gear, soaked from an intense hour of jiu jitsu training, which seems completely at odds with her explanation of how she got started in MMA.

“I started in dance,” she says.

Dance? I wait for the punch line, but it never comes. She’s dead serious: Sarah trained in dance from the age of two, and got into MMA almost by accident when Adam opened a gym below her dance studio. A friend from the studio decided to try out the kickboxing class at the gym and asked if Sarah would go with her.

“She never actually went,” Sarah says with an ironic grin, “but I did, and I was hooked.”

That’s how, at age seventeen and having never before seen an amateur or professional fight, Sarah Kaufman started training. For ten months, it was once per week; at that point, Sarah decided that this was something that she wanted to make central to her life and started training almost every day. After another six months, she began training in grappling. By age nineteen, around eighteen months after she started training, she had given up dance entirely and began entering a variety of MMA competitions. A few years further on, and Sarah has a perfect 6-0 record in professional fights, has won all her fights by either knockout or TKO, and claimed the HCF belt with a one-sided domination of Josh Barnett-trained Ginele Marquez in October, 2007. Along the way, Sarah has also helped Adam build ZUMA into a very busy gym (at times, the walls sweat from so many people training together) as the “general overseer” of the business, and worked on a Bachelor of Science from the University of Victoria. Oh, and she teaches the women’s kickboxing classes, the children’s classes, and is usually around lending a helping hand in Adam’s MMA and jiu jitsu classes. Balancing her training, instruction and business duties “can get a little tough”, she admits.

“Some days you just think, ‘Why am I doing this?’ But you just get through it because it’s what you want to do more than anything else.”

Because MMA is such a significant part of Sarah’s life, I figure that she will have some strong opinions on the emerging MMA scene, and I’m not disappointed; after speaking with her for just a few minutes, it is apparent that she’s not only intelligent, but that she gives MMA issues a great deal of careful thought. I want to know if the rise in the popularity of MMA is because of the major promotions, as we so often hear from the proprietors of the UFC and other big players, or if the rise in popularity of the sport corresponds with a more grassroots growth in support and awareness. As a business person, her take is that ZUMA has grown over the past few years but not in direct correlation to the popularity of televised MMA. She sees that the number of people training has slowly but steadily increased independent of what has happened in the mass media, but more importantly, she notes that the type of people who commit to training at ZUMA tells a story about popular perception and awareness of MMA. Sarah tells me that there are two types of people who make up the majority of ZUMA’s clients: “There are people who are aware of competitive fighting and it interests them, although most of them don’t actually want to fight themselves; and then there are people who just want a really great workout, want to push themselves.” Few people actually walk through ZUMA’s doors hoping to follow in the footsteps of their favourite fighter, and of the new clients who do seem to be relatively recent converts to MMA, few stick around after finding out exactly how demanding the training can be.

“There are lots of people who talk like they would fight, but they never come down and train.” There’s no judgement in Sarah’s tone; to her, everyone decides for him or herself how they want to be involved in MMA, and for most of those who train, they would have gravitated towards a place like ZUMA regardless of the success of the MMA entertainment industry. Sarah also believes that MMA will always be around, regardless of the success of the entertainment side; while MMA may have “capped” in terms of public consciousness, ZUMA and other MMA gyms are a completely different kind of business, appealing to a completely different public demand.

I’m curious, though: haven’t more gyms opened up to try and capitalize on the MMA boom, actively going after the crowd that is just learning about MMA through television? Does this added competition affect an independent gym like ZUMA in the business sense? Sarah immediately and flatly declares, “No.”

“There’s just not a ton of direct competition for clients,” she explains. “Each place offers a specific niche environment, so we all cater to different types of people.” She goes on to explain ZUMA’s philosophy: to provide high-quality, professional training, which is open and accessible to the average person, in a friendly, non-intimidating environment. That sounds like a tall order to me; just by the law of averages, I expect some bullies, macho-men, or outright sadists have walked through the doors. Sarah openly admits that this is true, but that’s why she and Adam give trial runs to everyone who wants to join: while the potential client is testing out the gym, the gym is also testing out the client. And Sarah does not flinch from admitting that people have been asked to leave, both beginners and those who have been around longer. Sarah is clear that everyone should be allowed to train MMA, but that for some people, that training will have to be somewhere else. She sums up the ZUMA attitude simply: “If you’re a nice person, you can train here; you just need a positive attitude, and you have to want to learn.”

I shift gears a bit, asking her what motivates her to stay and train with ZUMA; as a professional fighter, Adam is her coach, and the people at ZUMA are her team. Has she ever felt pulled to move to a “name” organization, like Team Quest or one of the several Xtreme Couture gyms that have opened in other cities? Does being in a small city like Victoria limit her? Her response is two-fold. First, Sarah made the decision to stay in Victoria permanently based partly on what ZUMA is: “a community of really great people who want to train and learn and don’t want to kill each other.” In both her business and professional fighter roles, this appeals to her, and it’s the same reason why she doesn’t see ZUMA going the route of some gyms and opening other branches: it is the people that make ZUMA. But she is also adamant that the quality of coaching she gets from Adam is second-to-none. She seems irked that some people dismiss Adam as a quality coach because he’s based in a small city on Vancouver Island; she is quick to note that Adam has trained with world class people – she names Erik Paulson and Marcus Soares among others – who all vouch for his skill. And more, Sarah tells me that as a professional fighter, coaches cannot be judged on their credentials alone.

“Some people are great at MMA, but don’t know how to coach. Adam can do both.” That factors into why the majority of ZUMA clients are word-of-mouth referrals: anyone who sticks around for a while is struck by the quality of the training, and Sarah indicates that the benefit is equal for the average person or for a committed professional fighter like herself. “We don’t necessarily have the name recognition,” she says with a shrug, “but we have a great team that produces great fighters and skilled athletes.” She adds that there is an incredible loyalty among ZUMA’s clients, which explains why she isn’t threatened by new gyms opening, even those that do have name recognition; she won’t train anywhere else, and she doubts that many of ZUMA’s non-professional clients would either. Sarah also notes that Adam and ZUMA are both “well networked”: people in the MMA industry know who they are, even if the average person on the street does not, which helps to explain how ZUMA is able to attract top-flight international talent to run seminars, like Leonardo Santos who spent two days teaching at ZUMA less than a week after I sat down with Sarah. Sarah’s message is a positive endorsement of the hundreds of small MMA gyms across Canada, from Victoria to Thunder Bay to St. John’s: build around quality and principle, and people will come regardless of the name.

But all is not rosy in the Canadian MMA scene, and I am anxious to hear what Sarah thinks of some ongoing controversies. I start by asking her about an issue that is close-to-home, literally and figuratively: the professional MMA “ban” (or deregulation) in Vancouver.

“It’s kind of funny, really,” she says without even the hint of a smile. “Vancouver was one of the first places to have MMA events in Canada, and now it’s banned. And it just makes no sense. They [the Vancouver Athletic Commission] say it’s for health reasons, but you have rugby, football, and boxing; they’re all allowed, so MMA should be, because in terms of major injuries, MMA is safer than all of those.” Sarah believes that professional MMA will return to Vancouver, but in the mean time, she is worried that the sport is getting openly run down by political people who have more of a platform to speak to the public than people like herself. “People talking badly about the sport will put a dent in peoples’ impressions of mixed martial arts.” She feels that misinformation and ignorance are at the root of the controversy, but because only one side really gets airtime, the misinformation only worsens the longer the ban drags on.

Sarah also worries about the way that MMA has been forced underground by the ban. She discusses how professional cards are now being held on small Indian reserves – exempt from provincial regulatory bodies – where a lack of infrastructure is a serious problem. The host venues usually do not have the resources or know-how to conduct proper medical testing, and only small promoters who are “just trying to throw on a card” will take the risk of working in these locations. The result is a complete mess: no standardization of procedures to protect fighters, and often terrible mismatches in experience between fighters (either intentionally for the “KO factor”, or because there are just so few professional fighters available). “This is where people get hurt”, she says, shaking her head.

But Sarah also believes that these promotions will continue, despite the risks, for several reasons. Yes, there are promoters trying to “catch on to the wave” of MMA – Sarah predicts these organizations will be “moderately successful, but long term, it will be people who put in time before it was popular who will be the foundation” of professional MMA – but there are also young fighters just looking for some experience. “There isn’t amateur MMA the way that there is amateur boxing,” Sarah says, “and if you watch skilled fighters, you realize that they have to have a huge variety of technical expertise. Young fighters need places to work on their skills.” But the present trade-off, she notes with frustration, is that they often get mismatches that hurt more than help. Sarah thinks an amateur scene would be a big boon for MMA in British Columbia, and Canada generally. In the meantime, she and the other trainers at ZUMA encourage aspiring fighters to compete in amateur jiu jitsu and Pancration tournaments; it’s not the same, but it’s better than either nothing at all, or getting destroyed thanks to shady matchmaking.

I return to the idea of “catching the wave” of MMA one more time. We have talked about how the rise in popular awareness of MMA has (or has not) affected the business of training, as well as the impact for fighters, but what about the non-physical side of things? There are new ‘MMA clothing’ companies cropping up almost by the second, leading to some strange developments socially (such as the Vancouver night club ban on wearing MMA gear). Closer to home, Victoria, a relatively small city with a large number of senior citizens (not the usual MMA-watching demographic) supports two dedicated MMA clothing shops. I’m curious what Sarah sees in store for these ‘peripheral MMA industries’. While Sarah smiles frequently, she rarely laughs, but she does when I ask this question. “The ‘peripheral industry’, as you called it, will last as long as MMA is on television. But people who wear MMA gear like that rarely actually train.” I’m tempted to object, as someone who both trains and owns several pieces of name-brand MMA clothing, but as I think about it, I rarely see anyone else around the gym wearing it, and I realize that, maybe unconsciously, I have been reluctant to wear my gear to the gym. A little off-balance, I ask Sarah to tell me why she thinks it is that the gear is more popular among those who don’t train than those who do.

Her response is simple: “Some people like to try and prove that they’re tough, or they’re fighters; people who train don’t need to broadcast that, because they know what they’re capable of.” Fair enough.

I ask Sarah if she could do a little crystal ball gazing and tell me what she sees in the future of MMA. She says that she hopes MMA becomes a sport akin to soccer in the public consciousness: people training to get in shape, to learn skills, and to compete in jiu jitsu and other types of amateur tournaments, but not necessarily with the intent to be professional fighters; “I’d like MMA to be for everybody.” While MMA may not be “for everybody” yet, she sees that the foundations have been laid. “There’s going to be more, smaller promotions that come and go, but the main promotions that we have now, that have put in the time, they will stay and grow.” So, Sarah sees there always being a place for people like her to make a living in the industry that she loves, either fighting or training, or both as she herself does. I have a prediction of my own: while you may not have heard of Sarah Kaufman yet, if MMA continues to grow as she hopes it will, then it’s only a matter of time. As a fighter, trainer and business person – and with growing success in all three areas – Sarah herself is quickly becoming part of the foundation of MMA in Canada.

Sarah’s next fights are March 29 – a title defence against Molly Helsel (5-6-1 overall; 2-0 in last 2) on the “Crow’s Nest” HCF card – and May 10, opponent TBD, also with the HCF.