EDMONTON, Alberta, Feb. 2 — The Maximum Fighting Championship wanted a big venue to host the weigh-ins for their biggest card to date, so they turned to the world’s largest entertainment and shopping centre, the “West Edmonton Mall.”
Twenty fighters stepped to the scale, finished off with the MFC’s light heavyweight champion Victor Valimaki. Coming off a decision loss to David Heath (Pictures) last Dec., Valimaki has been told that should he win this weekend he’ll be brought back into the UFC fold. Valimaki is extremely focused, telling Sherdog.com that he is very confident and has no fear that he’ll lose.
Trying to stop him from accomplishing that goal is the Canadian Martial Arts Centre’s Jared Kilkenny. Kilkenny has a five-inch height advantage and this is his second bout at 205 pounds after starting his career at heavyweight.
Kilkenny is just as focused as Valimaki, and at the press conference pointed to Valimaki’s title belt and remarked, “That’s going to look good around my waist.”
MFC 11’s “Gridiron” moniker is due to the appearance of two football players from the Canadian Football League’s Edmonton Eskimos on the fight card. Ryan Jimmo of Halifax injected some showmanship into the weigh-ins by approaching the scale wearing an Eskimos t-shirt, and much to the dismay of the loyal Edmonton crowd, tore it off in his best Incredible Hulk imitation.
This is Jimmo’s first mixed martial arts bout, but he admits to roughly a thousand karate matches, culminating in a Silver medal at the Pan-Am Games.
Jimmo’s opponent, Adam Braidwood, weighed in for his MMA debut approximately 20-pounds lighter than his football weight. He has been preparing for this with trainer Blake Fredrickson (Pictures) and the well renowned Revolution Fight Team in Langley, B.C.
Braidwood said he wasn’t bothered by Jimmo’s t-shirt tearing theatrics, adding: “We’ll see if he thinks it’s funny when I knock him out.”
This will be Mike Maurer’s second MMA match, and the Most Valuable Canadian at the 2005 CFL Grey Cup already knows it will be his last — until his football career is over at least. Maurer told Sherdog.com that training for a fight takes up too much time from his off-season, time that he’s decided he wants to devote to his family. Despite the nickname of “The Wolverine,” Maurer is very polite and soft spoken and said that he’s excited to be getting back into the ring again.
Roger Hollett (Pictures) brings and unblemished 3-0 record to Edmonton to face Maurer. Used to being the hometown favorite in Halifax, Hollett didn’t seem to be bothered by the booing Eskimo’s fans. Boos weren’t the only noise to be heard from the audience, as there were quite a few gasps of awe when Hollett removed his shirt and revealed his muscular physique. Hollett is very pragmatic about this fight, stating that he doesn’t care where it ends up — he plans to win regardless if it’s on his feet or on the mat.
Although a mid-card bout, the middleweight fight between Dan Chambers and Sean Locke has potential to be a great one. Once inside the cage or ring, the quiet Chambers brings an intensity and aggressiveness that is difficult to match.
Sean Locke is a student of Fabio Holanda (Pictures) at BTT Canada so his ground game should be outstanding. Styles make fights, and this will be the classic striker versus grappler.
MFC 11 “Gridiron” weigh-in results
Jared Kilkenny (204.2) vs. Victor Valimaki (204.6)
Ryan Jimmo (231.6) vs. Adam Braidwood (253.2)
Roger Hollett (Pictures) (203.6) vs. Mike Maurer (204.0)
Steve Bruno (Pictures) (171.2) vs. Graydon Tannas (170.0)
Matt Dutkoski (169.4) vs. Nigel Zettergreen (172.8)
Aaron Gallant (167.8) vs. Ryan McGillivray (170.4)
Dan Chambers (184.8) vs. Sean Locke (185.0)
Tim Blanchard (166.4) vs. Ryan Machan (169.6)
Kyle Ayotte (167.2) vs. Mike Bell (169.4)
Paul Ebejer (145.6) vs. Josh Kyrejto (145.8)
