St-Pierre

The Ultimate Fighting Championship announced this week, via their website, that Georges St-Pierre will be unable to compete at the upcoming February 3rd, UFC 67 event due to injury. The UFC reports that St-Pierre has incurred a knee injury during his training that will postpone his scheduled title defense against Matt Serra.

"He hurt his knee first, training in New Mexico with Keith Jardine, Rashad Evans and Nate Marquardt," St-Pierre’s manager Stephane Patry tells FCF. "He went to see the doctor and he told him to take a week off, when Georges came back it still was hurting him so we sent him to a specialist. They informed him that he has a sprained MCL and PCL, and wouldn’t be able to train for 4 weeks. If he doesn’t rest it, he’s risking a very serious injury, so with not being able to train for a month there is no way he’ll be ready by the third."

Serra was to be St-Pierre’s first opponent since taking the UFC Welterweight Championship away from Matt Hughes at UFC 68 on November 18th. Serra, who is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor under Renzo Gracie, had earned his shot at the title by defeating Chris Lytle at "The Ultimate Fighter" finale on November 11th.

Stout to Defend Title Against Holanda at TKO 28

TKO’s Lightweight Champion Sam Stout will defend his belt versus Fabio Holanda at the upcoming TKO 28 card, to be held on February 9th, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. Stout recently defended his title at TKO 27 on September 29th, by submitting Jay Estrada with an armbar at 1:21 of the second round. The win for Stout avenged a 2003 loss to the American lightweight, when Estrada submitted Stout in his MMA debut at the Total Martial Arts Challenge on June 7th of that year. The Team Thompkins’ fighter is looking to work his way back into the UFC after going one and one fighting for the promotion. Stout defeated Spencer Fisher at UFC 58 on March 4th, only to be defeated by Kenny Florian later last year, at the TUF 3 Finale on June 24th.

"This is a very popular fight here," says TKO promoter Patry. "It features our lightweight division’s best striker in Stout, against the division’s best grappler in Holanda. People might forget that Holanda is 3-1 fighting at lightweight."

Holanda is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt under Murilo Bustamante, and is one of the head trainers for Brazilian Top Team Canada, which trains out of Quebec. Holanda’s record is somewhat deceiving at 4-4, as the talented grappler losses have come against Thiago Alves, Jay Hieron, Drew Fickett and Rich Clementi. Holanda did in fact compete at welterweight earlier in his career and most recently, has won his last two fights, including wins over up and comer Alvin Robinson and Mike Bell.

The announcement by TKO means that 3 of the organization’s titles will be on the line at TKO 28, as Jonathan Goulet and Steven Vigneault are scheduled to compete for the organization’s welterweight title, and Mark "The Machine" Hominick is hoping to win back the featherweight belt from Japanese fighter Hatsu Hioki.

Antonio Carvalho Heads To Japan

One of Canada’s better fighters at 145 pounds, Antonio Carvalho, has decided to relocate to Tokyo, Japan. The Shah Franco fighter, who holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Professor Shah Franco and Professor Sylvio Behring, will be making the move early this month.

"I will be living in Tokyo and training at the AACC team (Abe Ani Combat Club)," Carvalho tells FCF. "The head instructor is Hiroyuki Abe. He once knocked out "Pequeno" (Nogueira). They also have the top female fighter Megumi Fuji and the 123lbs Shooto champ "BJ" Kojima. Josh Barnett is known to train there while in Japan as well."

Carvalho, who holds a record of 9-2, holds notable victories over Tommy Lee, Japanese legend Rumina Sato, and Takeshi "Lion" Inoue. In a rematch with "Lion" on May 12th last year, Carvalho failed to win the Shooto Championship at 143 pounds, losing by TKO to the Inoue at 3:06 of round 1. Carvalho also injured his knee in the fight and has been "on the shelf" ever since.

In an evening of furiously paced pro and amateur MMA adventure, that left Hardcore Championship Fighting CEO Keith Crawford pondering how he was going to provide at least an hour’s worth of action for the upcoming television broadcast, the CMC’s Jason "Dooms" Day concluded the event with a stunning display of world class ground game ability, a performance that should quash any reservations that the soft spoken gladiator may just be Canada’s next contribution to UFC. Although the matchmaking was solid, and Ultimate Generation Combat’s Scott Arnold (4-1) certainly deserved his shot at Day (9-3), it was Day who controlled the action from the onset of the contest.

Day didn’t appear to allow the deafening explosion of support from his hometown fans to sway his calm and focused march to the cage, and although his opponent seemed much more confident, Arnold learned very quickly that Day’s cool exterior did not match his molten hot game. Given their go-ahead from the ref, the fighter’s sized each other up for several seconds before Day launched his fists and feet. Arnold capitalized briefly by throwing Day slightly off balance when he caught Day’s leg, but Day quickly recovered his equilibrium and the pair clinched against the fence. Subsequent to a high knee that connected with Arnold’s jaw, Day directed the battle south, obtained side control, and secured an unconventional arm-bar submission that Arnold wisely decided to ask to be excused from.

"He is a pretty tough kid," Day commented after his win. "The word out East was that he is a good brawler and Muay Thai fighter, so I wanted to avoid being kicked by him; I threw the first kick, which he caught, and that initiated the clinch. I wanted to take him down to the ground, I live and breathe on the ground, and once we hit the ground, I had no worries. I have been working that straight armbar; it was a slick transition that worked out." (Day secured the armbar from side control mount on the opposite side of Arnold’s body).

Day, who lost out in his bid for the Maximum Fighting Championship’s Light-Heavyweight title against Victor "The Matrix" Valimaki in September 2006, has been on a five-fight winning streak since the defeat, and upon reflection, Day humbly explained that the loss to Valimaki helped him to refocus and helped bring him back down to earth from his previous winning spree. Day will next be fighting Martin Desilets at the February 3rd MFC in Edmonton, and he feels this will be one of his most challenging match-ups to date.

"He is a tough guy, and has gone against some of the best fighters in the country," Day tells FCF. "I feel it will be one of the toughest fights of my career, and whoever wins that fight will have a big huge step towards the UFC."

The CMC, where Day trains, is one of Canada’s biggest and busiest MMA teams, and garnering national recognition has been frustrating for the CMC/Rumble in the Cage organization and its fighters, who are based out of the small southern Alberta city of Lethbridge. At the kick-off of Rumble 21 however, their ascent to notoriety appears imminent with the broadcast of the evening’s action at twelve Cineplex-Odeon theatres across Canada, and with their recently inked Hardcore Championship Fighting (HCF) contract. Beginning with Rumble 21, the Rumble events will be broadcast on the Score Television Network – a cable sports television network available across the Nation. Rumble in the Cage founders Lee Mein and Alan Sabey, in conjunction with Keith Crawford (HCF), worked out the deal to not only expand MMA in Canada, but to make Canadian MMA history.

"It’s a pleasure to be a part of Hardcore Championship Fighting Series," Mein explains to FCF. "We feel it is a great opportunity for Rumble in the Cage to showcase our world class events to the public. Our goal is to put on the best show in Canada; this will give fight fans and fighters a chance to see our show, and be a part of something big. We look forward to working with all the fight teams and other events in Canada to help the sport grow".

Rumble in the Cage 21 Results

Jared Kilkenny def. Marcus Hicks – Submission (strikes) 0:38 R1
Neil Berry def. Jesse Loyer – TKO (ref stoppage – strikes) 2:35 R1
Dan Chambers def. Joel Jackart – TKO (ref stoppage) 1:02 R1
Kevin Manderson def. Jordan Mein – Submission (rear-naked choke) 4:14 R1
Justin Tavernini def. Paul Eberjer – Submission (armbar) 0:37 R1
Jason Day def. Scott Arnold – Submission (armbar) 1:44 R1

INTERNATIONAL FIGHT LEAGUE (IFL) ANNOUNCES FOUR ADDITIONAL TEAMS FOR 2008 SEASON
Teams to be based in Brazil, France, San Diego and South Korea added for IFL second season

"We are very excited to continue our worldwide growth by adding these four teams for 2008," said IFL Co-founder and Commissioner Kurt Otto. "Making this announcement now gives these teams the ability to train together with world champion coaches for a full year so that they are ready to go for their first full season in 2008."

Expected to coach the four new teams are PRIDE welterweight champion Dan Henderson (coaching a San Diego-based team), 2000 K-1 world champion and world super heavyweight champion Jerome LeBanner (coaching a French team), four-time Korean national champion of judo D.B. Park (coaching a South Korean-based team) and three time world jiu-jitsu champion Mario Sperry (coaching a Brazilian team). These four are in addition to the 2008 British team to be coached by Ian Freeman that was announced in late September. Nicknames and logos for the new squads are to be announced.

The IFL already has teams based in Toronto and Tokyo, in addition to its 10 United States-based teams for 2007. The full 12-team, 11-date IFL 2007 season can be found at www.ifl.tv.

Holanda has a black belt in jiu-jitsu and he was Georges St-Pierre’s grappling instructor for many years. One should be careful not to judge him by his .500 record. All of his losses came to top notch UFC veterans. He’s only lost once since dropping to 155 lbs. Holanda looked tremendously impressive in his last TKO appearance stopping the undefeated Alvin Robinson via ground and pound, late in round two. Holanda knows he can grapple with the best in the world at 155 lbs and he plans to utilize those skills to capture the TKO World Championship!

Stout is also coming off a remarkable performance as he exacted his revenge by submitting the submission artist, Jay Estrada. Stout is undoubtedly one of the most exciting Lightweight fighters in the world. His ruthless aggression and punishing strikes have made him a TKO favorite; He’s also been in some of the most memorable battles in the company’s history such as his fights against Dave Goulet, Donald Ouimet and Tyler Jackson. Stout is very young and hungry and he’s determined not to let anything or anyone come between him and his title!

This is a battle between TKO’s best Lightweight striker versus TKO’s best Lightweight grappler! If Holanda can take Stout down, he’ll try to end the fight quickly as he did against Canadian Lightweight standouts, Kultar Gill and Blake Fredrickson. On their feet, Stout’s striking is in a different class and he is also known for being a cardio machine and will likely posses the edge the longer this five round fight lasts.

Although the rule of thumb is that the superior grappler normally defeats the striker, Stout’s recent victory by armbar proves that he can’t be considered a one dimensional fighter. Still, Holanda’s ground game is on another planet compared to most! This fascinating championship fight is set to rock the Bell Centre!

TKO would also like to announce one fight card change as Tyler Jackson has withdrawn from his scheduled fight against STEPHANE DUBE (3-1-0). JAMES MARTINEZ (4-7-0) will step in to get his well deserved rematch! Their last fight was one of the most anticipated fights of the night for TKO 27, however it came to an abrupt end after Martinez’ vision was obstructed after receiving a toe in the eye from Dube’s kick. Dube was awarded the victory by TKO, but he promised to give Martinez another chance. Now, these two outstanding strikers will step back in the ring in what promises to be one of the most exciting fights of the New Year!

Tickets are available by calling 1-800-361-4595 or 514-790-1245. Tickets will also be available at the Admission’s Ticket Offices at the Bell Centre!

UPDATED FIGHT CARD:

TKO WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP:
JONATHAN GOULET (Victoriaville, Canada, 16-5-0) vs. STEVE VIGNEAULT (Îles de la Madeleine, Canada, 11-6-0)

TKO FEATHERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP:
MARK HOMINICK (London, Canada, 12-5-0) vs. HATSU HIOKI (Nagoya, Japan, 11-1-1)

TKO LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP:
FABIO HOLANDA (Natal, Brazil, 4-4-0) vs. SAM STOUT (London, Canada, 10-2-1)

ALSO ON THE CARD:

LUKE CAUDILLO (Denver, Colorado, 10-6-0) vs. SAMUEL GUILLET (Montreal, Canada, 4-3-0)
JAMES MARTINEZ (Honolulu, USA, 4-7-0) vs. STEPHANE DUBE (St-Constant, Canada, 3-1-0)
DAVID MEDD (Port Colborne, Canada, 2-1-0) vs. CHRIS CLEMENTS (London, Canada, 3-1-0)
JASON ST-LOUIS (Vernon, Canada, 9-5-0) vs. STEVE CLAVEAU (Victoriaville, Canada, 4-6-0)
MARTIN GRANDMONT (Drummondville, Canada, 3-3-0) vs. DAVE PARISEAU (Victoriaville, Canada, 5-2-1)

UNDERCARD BOUTS (FROM 6h30PM):