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Wednesday, Oct 09, 2013

WSOF Canada COO Explains Creation of Promotion, Says Canadian TV Deal “Number One Priority”

By Kelsey Mowatt

While World Series of Fighting has announced that they are expanding operations into Canada, and that a new branch of the promotion will promote it’s first event December 7th in Vancouver, there has been some confusion as to how WSOF Canada materialized. Initially, WSOF announced that it’s expansion was facilitated through the acquisition of the Canadian based Aggression Fighting Championship, but it remained unclear as to what the agreement entailed. Particularly after one of the promotion’s former partners, Jason Heit, relayed to Full Contact Fighter that he wasn’t informed of any deal.

According to WSOF Canada Chief Operating Officer Darren Owen, however, the company WSOF has acquired does not have any binding ties to Armageddon Fighting Championship. Heit is a part owner of the British Columbia promotion, which several years ago partnered with the Calgary based AX Combat and Edmonton based Aggression MMA to form Aggression Fighting Championship.

“The effort was to secure a large TV deal,” said Owen, while discussing what lead to the creation of Aggression FC. “We needed more content so we said we’ll do it under this brand…there was no legal documentation binding us together, at all.”

Owen claims, however, that due to various issues only he and two other partners were behind the eventual, legal founding of Aggression FC.

“When the time came to move forward with incorporating the company under Aggression Fighting Championship, myself, Moin Merza, and Steve Fader were the ones who incorporated the company in Alberta, under Aggression Fighting Championship. That is the entity that World Series of Fighting acquired.”

“Armageddon, where Jason Heit was a partner, was never acquired and has nothing to do with the deal.”

When FCF spoke with Heit last week about the news that WSOF had acquired Aggression and had created WSOF Canada, the veteran fighter and promoter stated:

“The facts are that Armageddon Fighting Championships has been around since 2007; I’m the one that registered the company and Darren Owen and I are the ones who built the company,” said Heit. “It’s common knowledge that the three companies, AX, Aggression and Armageddon came together under the Aggression banner, and like I say, I found this out through the media.”

“Nobody’s contacted me about this,” Heit furthered. “It’s quite confusing to me. Like I say, I haven’t packed up shop.”

Heit was contacted once again Tuesday to comment on the situation but declined to at this time.

In terms of WSOF Canada and it’s future plans, Owen relayed that the company is actively looking to secure a Canadian television deal. Although WSOF events are broadcast throughout the U.S. on the NBC Sports Network, the channel is not widely available in Canada.

“That is the number one priority,” said Owen, who also relayed that he and Fader (the promotion’s Chief Financial Officer) are also owners with WSOF Canada. “It’s being diligently worked on and it’s looking positive”

WSOF Canada’s first event on December 7th will be hosted by Vancouver’s PNE Agrodome and will feature Mike Kyle taking on Anthony Johnson in the main event.

 

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posted by FCF Staff @ 12:00 pm
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