Latest / The MM-EH Show / Introducing The MM EH Show - All Canadian Mixed Martial Arts - Episode 1

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Introducing The MM EH Show - All Canadian Mixed Martial Arts - Episode 1 · The MM-EH Show

0:05
hello there fight friends MMA Andy
0:07
curell here and welcome to the first
0:09
ever episode of the MMA show some of you
0:12
been watching the past little while a
0:14
month or two months where I've every
0:16
week been putting out a weekly report on
0:19
Sundays Mondays first on Instagram and
0:22
then on YouTube so already in a short
0:23
time it's changed and this is just an
0:25
evolution of that I've had some really
0:27
good feedback from people saying they've
0:29
likeed what I've put out so far
0:30
and I thought I'd expand it now I really
0:33
got the idea for this a long time ago
0:35
and it's it's sort of evolved I remember
0:37
when I was a little boy I used to watch
0:39
Saturday morning cartoons like a lot of
0:40
you of a certain age did uh but when I
0:42
got older and I wasn't watching cartoons
0:44
anymore I would sit on the floor with my
0:45
dog and I'd watch TSN and I'd watch
0:48
different sporting events and TSN was
0:50
great they always had these little niche
0:51
sporting TV shows like uh there was a
0:54
fishing one with a guy Italo labnan I
0:57
think it's been like 40 years since I
0:58
thought of that name so I probably got
1:00
it wrong a little bit there's also like
1:01
a TSN motoring like
1:04
1995 every year it added the year so TSN
1:07
96 97 uh I used to love those and
1:10
sometime in the past I thought it'd be
1:12
really cool to have a show like that on
1:13
TSN about Canadian mixed martial arts
1:16
now I don't know if this is ever going
1:18
to get to that point but uh this is a
1:20
start we're going to see how it goes so
1:22
I encourage you please uh if you end up
1:24
making it through the whole show and
1:25
watch it please give me some feedback
1:27
let me know what you like what you
1:29
didn't like
1:30
if there are any particular segments you
1:32
you have in mind that you'd like to see
1:34
me do so I don't know we'll see how this
1:36
can be grown
1:37
together all right the format I kind of
1:40
Envision right now and this is right now
1:42
every week it should be like this until
1:44
I change my mind but we're going to
1:45
start off every show with an
1:47
announcements uh section we're going to
1:48
be talking about any Canadians that will
1:51
be fighting somewhere in the world if
1:52
this was just announced in the past
1:54
seven days we'll be talking about any
1:56
Canadian MMA events that were announced
1:57
in the past seven days and I'll share
1:59
all that with you we will also be having
2:01
what everyone's favorite a rumor meal
2:03
and this week's rumor meal is a huge one
2:05
so if you watch anything make sure you
2:07
watch that then we're going to be
2:09
talking about what's happened in the
2:10
past week what's already happened the
2:11
past seven days uh so any Canadians who
2:14
fought somewhere in the world or any
2:15
Canadian MMA events that happened in
2:17
Canada and of course there were three
2:18
this past weekend three big
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ones so let's get started let's get
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let's get grooving guys uh we're going
2:24
to start off with announcements uh
2:26
Montreal Fight League who just had their
2:27
most recent show at the end of January
2:30
they've already announced that their
2:31
next show uh Montreal fight number 35
2:34
will be taking place on March 9th of
2:36
Montreal they've already got a half
2:38
dozen fights lined up for it and those
2:39
are on the MFL page MFL 35 page at MMA
2:43
so if you want please go to mix uh
2:46
www.
2:49
mma.com event section and we can see
2:51
what we're talking about
2:53
together next we have uh a few Canadian
2:55
fighters who announced a fight somewhere
2:57
in the world uh on the 21th of February
2:59
we have uh a guy named Phil loan he'll
3:02
be fighting at Throne MMA 3 in St
3:04
Michaels North Dakota and also isaia
3:07
meuk will be fighting on 16th of March
3:10
versus Brandon hegstad at Absolute Fight
3:12
Factory in Kalispel Montana and he will
3:15
be the main event so that's pretty
3:16
exciting all right those are the
3:18
announcements now let's go on to the
3:20
rumor mill uh this past weekend we had
3:23
Samurai MMA 9 and there was a fighter
3:25
scheduled for that event who I was
3:27
talking with in negotiations really to
3:29
do a video interview when things were on
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track we were making plans for setting
3:33
up a time and all of a sudden he ghosted
3:36
me he went silent you know radio silence
3:38
he was nowhere to be found and so I
3:40
didn't want to push too much I didn't
3:41
know if he was preparing and you know
3:43
tired or maybe he got hurt or whatever
3:45
and so I just left it at that well it
3:47
turns out that this fighter has been
3:49
selected to be on the next edition of
3:52
the UFC's The Ultimate Fighter TV show
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uh it's a fantastic opportunity it's
3:56
been a while since the show has been uh
3:58
been really in the in the for front in
4:00
Canadian MMA anyway but this fighter is
4:03
sure to impress he's thrilling he's
4:05
exciting to watch and he's really
4:06
talented and that fighter is Jonathan
4:09
Ramsey Jonathan Ramsey congratulations
4:10
on making tough I can't confirm this
4:13
100% because uh you know nobody will
4:16
confirm it to to me 100% but it's pretty
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strong rumor I'd say it's uh it's
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something you can almost bet on all
4:21
right so John good luck all right we are
4:24
next going to be talking about what has
4:25
happened in the past week we had two
4:28
Canadians who fought in the past week
4:30
outside of Canada don't forget all the
4:32
Canadians that fight inside of Canada
4:33
that'll be tracked inside their actual
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fight page at MMA so outside of Canada
4:38
we had uh Romanian Canadian fighter
4:40
Diana belbita she had a rematch with
4:42
Molly mccan at the UFC Fight Night in
4:45
Las Vegas this past Saturday night and
4:47
unfortunately Diana succumbed to an
4:48
armar really nasty looking armar uh with
4:51
a couple seconds left in the first round
4:52
I think it was it looked like it was
4:54
possibly broken I don't I don't know I
4:56
don't have any confirmation of that
4:57
which uh if you've ever had your arm
4:59
hyperextended in an armar it sucks it
5:02
really sucks even when it's just painful
5:03
let alone if it it broke so I hope it's
5:06
not broken uh regardless Diana good luck
5:09
and and I hope you heal well and you'll
5:10
be back stronger soon uh next we had
5:12
Kendall Stewart a British Columbia
5:14
fighter she fought once in bfl a few
5:16
years ago and she moved to Thailand I
5:19
don't know if she's there full-time but
5:20
it seems like she's been there for a
5:21
long time uh she had her second ever MMA
5:25
fight in Thailand just a week ago and
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she was Victorious for a TIE fighter she
5:30
had really good wrestling that she used
5:31
to set up a takedown take down her
5:33
opponent and submit her with a rear
5:35
naked choke really impressive and she's
5:37
uh just like you know you have in
5:39
Thailand if you don't know they fight
5:41
all the time man like you can almost
5:42
have as many fights as you want it's not
5:44
quite the same with MMA especially if
5:46
you take damage but uh Kendall says she
5:48
wants to get back in there soon and
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maybe she'll have news for her soon and
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if she does I will let you know all
5:54
right we had three Canadian MMA events
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this past week we had Samurai MMA 9 we
6:00
had Fight League Atlantic 13 and we had
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Champions uh rise MMA and Calgary now
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this is something else different about
6:07
the uh the MMA show that is uh something
6:11
I think you're really gonna like is I'm
6:12
gonna have guests so we've got two
6:14
guests from Samurai 9 and we've got a
6:16
guest from Fight League Atlantic from
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Samurai we have Alex Morgan who won the
6:20
main event and we have Tommy Morrison
6:23
who came back from a thrilling uh
6:25
knockdown in the first that he was
6:26
looking in in in not very good shape and
6:29
persevered and he won his fight and
6:31
finally we have uh the president of
6:33
fight leue Atlantic Derek Clark he'll be
6:35
speaking with us about the the event
6:36
this past weekend and other topics
6:39
hopefully so this is exciting all right
6:41
now let's get on to the meat of the
6:44
show let's start with Samurai MMA 9 it's
6:48
a Quebec based organization and it's
6:50
just been getting better with each and
6:51
every outing and Samurai 9 was no
6:53
exception absolutely fantastic only
6:56
seven fights in the card
6:58
however it's a shame because I know the
7:00
promoter Daniel Leon had planned for a
7:02
much different fight card but it's been
7:04
an epidemic lately in Canadian MMA I
7:06
don't know if it's happening elsewhere
7:07
but fights and Fighters are dropping
7:09
left right and Center so even the night
7:11
of or the day of the fight or maybe it
7:13
was possibly the the W the night of the
7:15
Ws before this event they lost half of
7:17
their main event Robert series had a
7:19
serious medical condition where he had
7:21
to go to the hospital uh there are some
7:23
rumors saying what the medical issue was
7:24
but I don't know for sure so I'm not
7:26
going to comment on it however he he
7:28
could not fight it it was it was evident
7:30
and this was no fake you know sometimes
7:32
Fighters you know pull out of a fight
7:33
for questionable reasons there was no
7:35
question this was serious and Sever and
7:37
so we wish Robert a speedy recovery and
7:40
you know hope he gets back to training
7:41
and uh the rest of his life and his
7:43
fight career soon his opponent KY preck
7:46
was very disappointed of course MMA
7:48
spoke with him and he said it is what it
7:51
is so that's a reality these days in the
7:53
fight game I mean you can get mad you
7:55
can get upset but sometimes uh it just
7:57
happens all right uh we're going to talk
8:00
about the first fight of the night Gino
8:02
porier defeated Alan Gerard this was a
8:04
good close fight both those guys looked
8:06
good it looked like G was pushing the
8:08
pace a lot and he was trying to
8:09
overwhelm uh Gerard at the start but
8:11
Gerard settled the pace down and it went
8:13
the distance and it went to a decision
8:15
so that was a good fight next we had a
8:17
new niagar top team fighter Keenan
8:20
Keller defeated Olivier rain now uh
8:23
Keller was from originally from British
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Columbia he came with his girlfriend
8:26
Atlanta cook to niagar top team and he's
8:29
been training and putting in the putting
8:31
in the mat time and he looked really
8:32
good in this he's a tall lanky fighter
8:35
uh Olivia came on strong at the start of
8:37
the fight he was really aggressive and
8:38
really he looked really strong uh Keenan
8:41
just it seemed like he had better cardio
8:42
and he just kept on going and he he used
8:44
his range to to dictate where the fight
8:46
was going to go and so he won that fight
8:48
it was good good look good outing for
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both of the guys uh congratulations to
8:52
both even at a loss you know you can
8:54
congratulate somebody on a loss if they
8:55
did well they did their best they tried
8:57
hard they looked good you know you can
8:58
improve improve get back at the drawing
9:00
board and and take the next fight all
9:03
right next one Isabelle lacro defeated
9:05
Justin pried now this is incredible
9:09
because I was uh fortunate enough to be
9:11
at Isabelle's first two pro fights her
9:13
both her and her husband and Tom patosi
9:15
they used to fight for uh Prospect
9:18
Fighting Championship and one thing I
9:20
took away from her previous two fights
9:22
was her really strong mu Thai and
9:24
especially here clinch some people
9:25
forget about the clinch aspect of it
9:27
they think it's only ground and standup
9:29
know the clinch is in there as well so
9:31
Isabelle really is able to dominate her
9:33
opponents in the clinch and and dictate
9:35
where the fight goes from there this was
9:37
the the first time that I saw her really
9:40
face any serious adversity uh she was
9:42
put down she was mounted I don't know
9:44
actually I take that back I don't know
9:45
if she's mounted but her opponent was on
9:47
top maybe side mount or something if I
9:49
remember correctly and uh Isabelle just
9:51
looked really good in the ground she's
9:52
been working hard on her grappling it's
9:54
it's vastly improved her ground
9:56
submission game and she went for
9:57
submissions she tried different things
9:59
and Sh end up winning the fight it was a
10:00
good fight I think that's the type of
10:02
thing that a fighter if you have
10:04
aspirations to get much better and get
10:06
bigger you really need to be challenged
10:08
like that and sort of answer those
10:09
questions for yourself like how am I
10:11
going to do if I'm not winning the whole
10:13
time how am I going to do if I meet
10:14
somebody who's who's maybe a little bit
10:16
stronger than me and uh Isabelle
10:18
answered those questions good job
10:20
Isabelle next was uh was when I first
10:22
saw it it I was going to be picking it
10:24
fight of the night and that was uh until
10:26
the Tommy Morrison fight happened and
10:28
that's the fight between Kevin Pock
10:29
basier that's how you say say his name
10:31
Kevin powick basier against antoan
10:34
chaput antoan chaput has a very high uh
10:37
grappling pedigree and so a lot of
10:38
people thought that he was going to take
10:39
this to the ground and and win that way
10:42
Kevin was having none of it Kevin faced
10:44
a lot of adversity in the first round he
10:46
got his nose busted open there was blood
10:48
everywhere and a lot of Fighters would
10:50
have given in and just said oh fight's
10:51
over I'm done you know they would have
10:53
been defeated Kevin just stuck to his
10:56
roots he he he's a he's a newfound
10:58
wrestler now after his time with Niagara
11:00
top team uh you know I'm sure he had
11:02
wrestling before but it's different now
11:03
and that really helped him out Kevin was
11:05
able to just close the distance keep
11:07
Antoine close not give him any space he
11:10
couldn't really get his grappling
11:11
grappling game underway and Kevin ended
11:13
up winning a decision not every decision
11:16
or sorry not every Victory can be a
11:18
knockout or or an impressive submission
11:21
or whatever it is sometimes you just got
11:23
to be the guy who's standing stronger
11:25
and taller at the end of the fight and
11:26
that's what Kevin did so really good job
11:28
Kevin
11:29
uh next was uh Tommy Morrison versus
11:32
Jose sandl and to talk about that fight
11:34
let's now bring in our special guest
11:36
Tommy
11:37
Morrison Tommy Morrison welcome to the
11:39
MMA show congratulations on your
11:41
win thank you Samurai MMA 9 it was a
11:45
fantastic event from top to bottom it
11:47
was plagued with a couple issues with
11:49
fights falling out but when the fight
11:51
fans came to the show to watch some
11:53
fights they sure got a fight out of you
11:56
your fight was absolutely fantastic um
11:58
you know you know obviously you have
11:59
your battle wounds right now you've got
12:01
a big big uh swollen black eye you just
12:03
woke up and you've got some stitches how
12:04
do you
12:06
feel I feel pretty good I'm really happy
12:08
about the the outcome of the fight I've
12:10
rewatched the fight and I've seen I did
12:14
really well so I'm happy about that yeah
12:17
you know when people like me I guess I'm
12:20
what's called a pundit right a pundit is
12:22
just somebody who talks about stuff so
12:24
when like pundits and analysts and and
12:26
people that watch the fights they they
12:29
look at Fighters and they always ask
12:30
themselves questions about Fighters
12:32
right like whether you know this or not
12:33
as a fighter in the background all
12:35
people are talking about the fight so we
12:37
ask questions about like okay who is
12:38
this fighter who has he fought before
12:40
what's his record what's his skill set
12:42
how good is he and sometimes you never
12:44
know the answers to these questions
12:46
until after the fights right so coming
12:48
into this event you had I think it was
12:50
what a seven inone record as an amateur
12:52
you had a 5-0 record as a professional
12:55
so coming into this fight you're still
12:57
pretty new in your professional MMA
12:59
career but one of the questions that
13:01
hadn't really been asked of you before
13:03
was uh or sorry answered about you
13:05
before was how well you would deal with
13:08
like strong adversity and you did that
13:11
you answered that question in this fight
13:12
in the first round your opponent Jose S
13:15
Deval Ro well it looked like you can
13:17
tell me how it felt but it looked like
13:19
you were rocked really bad and you were
13:20
wobbly and you looked like had he gone
13:23
strong maybe he could have finished you
13:24
but you just gritt it out and you stuck
13:26
through it and you you finished the
13:28
round and then you ultimately won the
13:30
fight tell tell me what you were
13:32
thinking when that happened in the first
13:33
round and and what you were going
13:37
through uh I knew I could overcome
13:39
adversity before this fight I I never
13:43
had that big of adversity but personally
13:47
I was always sure I could and I show
13:49
that I I could also um when I think when
13:54
I got hit all was happening through my
13:56
mind was just muscle memory honestly cuz
13:58
I didn't
14:00
uh I just uh yeah I don't exactly
14:05
remember when it happened so I I watched
14:08
it again then I remembered but uh yeah I
14:11
think it was muscle memory and uh I'm
14:14
glad I trained that much because it was
14:16
good muscle memory yeah you're
14:18
absolutely right and something very
14:20
similar happened to Kevin powick basj as
14:22
well he got really hurt in the first
14:23
round and he just you know did what he
14:26
did you know as a fighter you you train
14:28
and you practice and you do the Reps
14:30
right the repetitions you do over and
14:31
over and over so your body when you say
14:34
muscle memory your body just kind of
14:35
takes over and knows what to do right
14:38
yeah yeah that I think that's what
14:40
happened I just uh started wrestling a
14:43
little bit I
14:44
clinched uh I footwork that's that's the
14:48
best thing that happened on that time
14:50
was I never stopped moving uh he rocked
14:53
me I just circled around uh I clinched a
14:56
little bit circled around so I think
14:59
that that's something I do really well
15:01
well you sure did going into the fight
15:04
itself um the only thing I'd seen of you
15:07
with Jose soval before was the WIS where
15:09
it seemed to get a little bit heated he
15:11
got a little bit too close to you and
15:12
you put your hand up to his throat
15:14
there's a beautiful photo of you you
15:15
reaching up I don't know if you're uh
15:17
you're you're you're probably too young
15:18
to remember this but former Canadian
15:21
Prime Minister Jean kin uh he um was
15:24
going walking through a protest one time
15:26
long time ago and a protester got too
15:28
close and so he did that he took his
15:30
hand and put right to his throat and
15:31
kind of pushed him away and that was
15:32
forever known as the Shuan handshake
15:34
because Jean cran was shenan so you kind
15:36
of gave a shanigan handshake of your own
15:39
what were you thinking when that
15:40
happened when he got too
15:41
close uh I thought about like pushing
15:45
him pushing him in a away but I just the
15:48
second I was like Ah that's too much so
15:50
I just pushed him a little bit and it
15:53
was it wasn't a deal in my head it just
15:55
a a normal waiting you know my my
15:58
waiting are kind of uh intense uh I like
16:02
to stare
16:04
opponents and yeah it was just a normal
16:07
waiting for
16:08
me when you fight do you some Fighters
16:12
have to look at their opponent as
16:13
somebody they really dislike that they
16:15
hate almost in order to fight them are
16:16
you like that or is it just a
16:19
person uh no I don't I don't hate them I
16:23
know uh they they they worked a lot to
16:26
get where they at and they worked a lot
16:27
to get prepare to fight against me so I
16:30
respect that but at the end of the day
16:33
we're in a cage and we're fighting so I
16:36
mostly don't like you until the Bell uh
16:38
the final bell
16:41
rings when a question I I often ask
16:45
Fighters it's just kind of like a fun
16:48
question is would you rather win a fight
16:50
in the first five or 10 seconds of the
16:52
fight with a KO or submission or would
16:54
you rather go the whole 15 minutes or 25
16:57
minutes for a championship fight and win
16:59
in the last 10 seconds do you have an
17:01
answer to
17:02
that um I think the the last uh the last
17:07
five 10 seconds of the fight yeah yeah
17:09
that'd be thrilling because you get more
17:12
experience and you get to finish at the
17:15
end of the fight so that's win-win I'd
17:18
say it is win-win so you are now six
17:22
and0 as a professional fighter which is
17:23
is pretty awesome and it seems like uh
17:26
Samurai MMA really loves you as a
17:28
competitor they bring you in the fans
17:30
love you you've got a really good thing
17:32
going on so what's your longterm plan I
17:35
know you're going to school what are you
17:36
going to school
17:37
for uh Computer Engineering at
17:40
University of
17:41
Concordia well I H I know that computer
17:44
Engineers can make a lot of money
17:45
probably a lot more money than fighting
17:47
so what is your plan are you going to be
17:50
a pro fighter or are you going to be a
17:51
computer
17:52
guy unfortunately I decided to be a
17:56
fighter yeah yeah
17:59
I think that's the I want to have a plan
18:02
B in case you know anything can happen
18:05
in this game so uh I'll have my degree
18:09
in computer engineering and I'll be but
18:12
my main goal is to be UFC world champion
18:15
so I'll keep being
18:18
fighter yes that's awesome well already
18:21
after this fight just two nights ago or
18:24
no sorry yeah two nights ago um there's
18:27
talk I know Faber glaz of MMA talk is
18:29
saying that your fight with Jose is one
18:31
of the top two fights in Samurai MMA
18:33
history it was a thrilling fight to
18:35
watch so I think you're on the right
18:37
track and uh you know the fans of MMA
18:39
who are watching right now uh want to
18:41
congratulate you thank you very much for
18:43
everything you put in all the training
18:44
all the hard work congratulations once
18:46
again and thank you very much for
18:48
speaking with us thanks a lot for having
18:50
me it's my pleasure anytime all right
18:53
there you go fight friends Tommy uh
18:55
Rambo Morrison after his really
18:57
impressive
18:59
decision victory at Samurai MMA 9 all
19:02
right next we're going to talk to the
19:03
co-main event is Deon kaj versus Marco
19:07
Aledo I mentioned this last week's
19:09
episode how I really like that Deon kaj
19:12
is here from Mostly bfl where he fights
19:15
there's a really good relationship
19:17
between bfl and Samurai MMA that I'm
19:19
really appreciating and I hope you do
19:20
too where there's not as much
19:22
territoriality as there used to be a
19:24
long time ago with fights you know if a
19:26
fighter was fighting in one event the
19:28
everyone say no you can't fight on my
19:29
card now and it was kind of like
19:31
backstabbing and all that kind of stuff
19:32
I never really liked it so it was really
19:34
great to see Deon out here uh it was a
19:36
decision once again Marco Aledo came up
19:38
from Mexico short notice after Kai's uh
19:42
initial opponent Jonathan Ramsey uh
19:44
could no longer make that fight because
19:46
he was injured uh nudge nudge wink wink
19:49
and uh it was a good fight it was uh two
19:52
professionals went at it and Deon ended
19:53
up getting the nod and he deserved the
19:55
win so congratulations Deon finally we
19:58
have Alexander Morgan versus Alexander
20:00
henik as the main event and now let's
20:03
bring in the Chessmaster Alex
20:06
Morgan Alex Morgan welcome to the MMA
20:08
show how are you good how are you I'm
20:12
I'm well thank you for asking but it it
20:14
doesn't matter how I am because what's
20:15
important right now is you you uh were
20:19
unexpectedly put in the main event of
20:20
Samurai MMA 9 and you made the most of
20:23
the opportunity winning your fight in
20:25
dramatic fashion you must feel
20:28
incredible right now yeah I'm I'm pretty
20:31
happy about it uh being the main event
20:33
was good I'm I'm used to it so uh for me
20:36
it doesn't doesn't change nothing I mean
20:39
I was going to fight the seven fight
20:41
anyway there's just no fight after me so
20:44
uh no I was I was I was ready man I
20:47
fooled the place people was expecting me
20:49
for a a big fight uh I took this fight
20:52
because for me it was a big fight and a
20:53
dangerous fight and you know when I take
20:56
dangerous fight I'm getting stressed and
20:57
when when I'm stressed that's where I
20:59
performed the best so that's why I took
21:01
the fight take it very seriously uh went
21:04
in and just do what I do the best and
21:07
finally get a spectacular win and I was
21:10
pretty happy about that for a
21:12
comeback spectacular is a great word for
21:15
it it was a it was a head kick and he he
21:17
was done fight was over and it was right
21:19
at the start of the fight too so that
21:21
had to feel good getting that just done
21:22
and out of the way all that nervous in
21:24
your in your nervous system it was all
21:26
gone yeah exactly
21:28
what did you know about your opponent
21:30
Alexander henek before the
21:32
fight uh I know he was uh he's he was a
21:36
well-rounded MMA fighter uh we watch a
21:38
couple videos he dominate some people on
21:40
the ground he dominate on the on standup
21:42
he had a couple knockout I knew he had a
21:44
lot of experience H so I knew he was he
21:47
was going to be good and he he know how
21:50
to fight you know he's he's good I
21:52
didn't let him the chance to look good
21:54
but he's a very very good fighter
21:56
talented fighter d dangerous fighter too
21:59
uh so yeah when when when I was going to
22:02
fight him I was like [ __ ] this is gonna
22:04
be hard but man I'm the chess master and
22:06
I'm I'm pretty sure I was telling myself
22:07
I'm the Chess Master I'm gonna find
22:09
something I can can find a hole in this
22:12
game and I will uh I will use it to to
22:14
to destroy him and finally uh I found
22:18
this uh this little hold in the game and
22:20
I land the head kick some people say I
22:22
was lucky but I I'm gonna tell you right
22:25
now it was all uh it was all uh prepared
22:30
I I saw it I it was a good read I read
22:34
his his head movement I saw this and
22:36
then lend the head kick and yeah I'm I'm
22:40
I'm gonna do a a video of about it this
22:43
week to uh break it down a little bit oh
22:46
I can hardly wait to watch that that
22:47
always interests me how Fighters and
22:50
their and their coach coaching team are
22:51
able to decipher an enemy and figure out
22:54
how to to counter them so it was
22:56
beautiful on your part that was Fant
22:58
fantastic thank you yeah I got the best
23:00
coach man you know FZ trar Donal Donal
23:05
ex TKO Champion I'm well surrounded by
23:09
good people good training partner I I
23:11
can't ask better man for for real I'm
23:13
always well prepared I have everything I
23:15
need in my Camp to be able to to prepare
23:17
for big fights even bigger fights uh I
23:21
hope is Gonna Come and uh yeah so I'm
23:24
pretty I'm pretty uh happy about that
23:27
when this fight was announced when your
23:29
opponent was named as Alexander a lot of
23:31
people in the ma fight Community were
23:32
going who who's this guy and they
23:34
weren't really sure what to think or
23:36
maybe they thought he was just some guy
23:38
brought into to lose but I in a pure f a
23:41
pure fluke unexpectedly uh during
23:44
Christmas I was in Alberta visiting my
23:45
sister for Christmas and her boys and
23:48
while I was there I asked Brian bird the
23:49
coach of Champions Creed if I could stop
23:51
by a training session just to watch so I
23:53
was there during a sparring day and
23:55
Alexander was there and he was training
23:58
so I'd never heard him before I asked a
23:59
few questions I said who's this guy and
24:01
I was told he's a fighter from the
24:03
Ukraine who's been in Canada for a while
24:04
now and let me tell you Alex when I was
24:06
watching all the professional fighters
24:08
in that room Alexander was Pro probably
24:11
the most impressive fighter in there he
24:13
was uh there were a couple excellent
24:14
fighters in there Josh Fox uh M lison
24:17
and uh oh I don't remember his name but
24:20
it'll come to me but Alexander was just
24:23
from one opponent to the next opponent
24:25
and he was looking really good and he
24:27
didn't seem to get tired he had a great
24:28
cardio so when this fight was announced
24:31
I even said in one of my videos I said
24:33
you know this is going to be a closer
24:34
fight than some of you might think
24:35
because Alexander's he's not a nobody so
24:38
the fact that you dispatched him so
24:41
quickly and so impressively I mean that
24:44
just I I I held you in high regard
24:46
before but you just went up a level in
24:47
my book because you know it's air quote
24:50
easy to beat a scrub it's it's easy to
24:52
beat a crappy fighter but to beat
24:55
somebody at that level and so
24:57
impressively that's that's really
24:59
impressive and you know that that's
25:01
that's what I I say to people like I
25:04
didn't give him the chance to look good
25:05
against me uh one of my strength is that
25:09
even if the guy's good I always gonna
25:10
make him look bad you know anybody in
25:13
front of me even if the guy is a [ __ ]
25:15
Superstar I'm gonna make him look get
25:16
bad even if he beat me I'm gonna make
25:18
him look G look bad so that's one of my
25:20
strength and uh people don't understand
25:22
how good this guy is and beating a guy
25:26
like 18 win six losses that way what
25:30
else can I do more to get in the UFC you
25:33
know what what else like is there really
25:36
somebody that will want to fight me in
25:38
Samurai like that's gonna worth it you
25:40
know yeah I mean I mean I I I don't know
25:44
what to do more to prove that I deserve
25:46
to be in the big league since so long I
25:49
know I had my opportunity at Contender
25:51
series I [ __ ] up cuz I was stressed
25:54
you know it's a different vibe but man
25:56
if you give me a fight in the UFC
25:59
anywhere I'm going to be ready man I
26:01
mean I took this fight I prepare for
26:04
this fight I was ready for this fight
26:06
and you can see it went very well I can
26:09
do this to anybody in the world I'm
26:11
pretty sure and I know it and that's why
26:14
I was so happy about it is like I had
26:17
the the the the the opportunity to show
26:20
people who I am like who I know I am you
26:23
know I I know who I am I know this is me
26:26
this this well the the real [ __ ]
26:28
chest Master this is what I'm able to do
26:31
and this is what I can do to anybody in
26:33
the world and I believe in myself and
26:35
that's the most important thing even if
26:36
people let down on me I I don't care
26:39
because I know inside of me that I have
26:41
what it takes to be in this big league
26:43
and to perform being in the big league
26:46
is something but like perform at that
26:48
level I know I can do it man I'm ready
26:50
for it you know I have 20 Pro fights in
26:52
MMA one pro fight in boxing Pro fight in
26:55
mui I got the experience man I'm to 32
26:57
years old I'm mean I'm getting my Prime
27:00
I'm ready for it man I don't know for
27:02
real I don't know what's next for me I
27:04
don't know what else I need to do to
27:06
prove that I that I belong in the big
27:08
league but we'll see man we'll see I'm
27:11
just gonna be patient at this point take
27:13
a step off and just you know focus on my
27:16
gym and wait for a big
27:18
opportunity I'm gonna read something to
27:20
you that you you posted uh very recently
27:22
I'm just going to read an excerpt so
27:23
just a part of it it
27:25
says a performance of a lifetime I had a
27:29
fearful experienced and dangerous
27:30
opponent in front of me throughout the
27:32
fight I was able to stay calm follow my
27:34
game plan while maintaining a solid
27:35
defense while maintaining a solid
27:37
defense sorry I repeated that made sure
27:39
my opponent wasn't able to touch me once
27:41
this training camp has been extremely
27:43
stressful and I've put a lot of pressure
27:44
on myself to be able to perform this
27:47
training camp was definitely a con
27:48
continuation of a journey where we work
27:50
together to help my MMA game it's been a
27:53
long process filled with small tweaks
27:55
but I finally feel like the puzzle all
27:57
the puzzle pieces we've been building
27:58
for years together are coming together
28:00
nicely yes some people when they they
28:03
watch
28:05
fights they only watch the fights right
28:07
so they'll tune in a to a fight event a
28:09
UFC or something they'll put it on the
28:11
TV and from the start to the end and
28:13
that's it it's over for them but for the
28:16
athletes this is your life you you're
28:18
you're a a head coach at one of the
28:20
triar gyms in rivan nor so you're always
28:23
training every single day I bet I bet
28:25
you don't even take a day off you're
28:27
either training yourself or you're
28:28
training other people and when you're
28:29
not training you're probably thinking
28:31
about fighting exactly yes yeah so this
28:35
is something that you know Fighters are
28:38
people so you've got hopes you've got
28:40
fears you have everything else that
28:42
everyone else has with regards to your
28:44
career in the fight
28:45
game you mentioned briefly why this one
28:48
was so special for you what was the most
28:50
fearful thing about going into this
28:52
fight for
28:53
you not to be able to perform as I I'm
28:56
able to you know I want it so bad to
28:59
show to people like I said that who I am
29:02
like who's the chess master I was scared
29:05
to to lose in front of my people I'm not
29:08
scared of getting hurt I'm not scared of
29:10
getting hit I'm scared to lose because
29:14
when I lose it's it's like I know I know
29:17
people don't see it like that but me I
29:18
see it like I let people down there's so
29:20
many people that believe in me uh having
29:24
my own gym you know that's mean I have a
29:26
lot of people if he went to L this
29:28
weekend to see my fight dude I sell the
29:31
place man I'm I I put ass on seats and
29:34
everybody lot of tickets yeah you can
29:37
ask anybody man the Chess Master put ass
29:40
on seats that's that's all matters
29:42
people come to see me people like to see
29:44
me fight people like me as a fighter but
29:47
I believe they like who I am too you
29:49
know my gym is going pretty well right
29:51
now I have a lot of members a lot of
29:53
people different people people do it
29:55
recreational people do it for competi
29:57
Ian you know and I I treat everybody
30:00
equal and I believe this is one of the
30:02
secret is like yes I'm an animal in the
30:04
cage I want to perform I want to kill
30:07
people in the cage but man I'm a good
30:09
human being and and I I want to prove to
30:12
people like around around me that yes me
30:15
I do it through fighting but everything
30:17
in life you want to do you can overcome
30:19
that's what I want to tell people that's
30:21
what I want to show people you know even
30:22
if I lose my last fight I was like yeah
30:24
I lose my last fight for sure the guy
30:26
was
30:28
uh one um category over you know his
30:31
bigger guys is not my weight lost in a
30:34
close decision but yo guys you know what
30:36
I just bounce back I come back I fight
30:38
in my weight division against a top
30:40
opponent [ __ ] knock him out that's
30:42
how it worked guys you know that's
30:43
that's what I I want people to know and
30:46
um yeah you mention it having a gym is
30:49
is pretty good for me you know why
30:51
because see it's Sunday Sunday is
30:54
sparring I just come back from sparring
30:56
you know and I put the gloves on for the
30:59
the boxing coach or boxing coach is
31:00
going to fight so I put the gloves on
31:02
with with my coach it was good it's good
31:05
I like to sparm man I like it's my happy
31:07
place I like to be there uh when I when
31:10
I'm not uh training I train people and
31:13
when I train people you know it's for me
31:15
it's like a a workout because I train
31:18
mentally my brain I I play movement and
31:22
technique and It Go like through my
31:25
brain and I I keep repeating this you
31:28
know sorry for my English man I try to
31:30
explain the more I can uh but uh you
31:33
know it's always it's always in my head
31:34
and I think and I think and it make me
31:36
think to other thing and new techniques
31:38
so I can ask farz or or Donal you know
31:41
what you do with this technique this
31:42
technique so so for me it's mental
31:44
training and it's the best thing I can I
31:46
can have you know at the gym it's I can
31:49
live from my passion I can stay in the
31:51
gym I have fun you know my life is good
31:54
man even when I lose fight my life is
31:57
good I like it I like my people around
31:59
me I'm surrounded by good people and uh
32:02
yeah that's
32:04
it well it sounds like you've you've got
32:08
a really good
32:09
life yeah I I like I I like I'm a happy
32:13
I'm a happy guy you know I'm a happy guy
32:15
H just winning fights is just the is
32:19
just the cream of the cream you know
32:20
it's it's some some gravy I'm pretty
32:23
happy because I put so much so much time
32:25
in it but uh
32:28
I like what I do man you know I'm I'm a
32:30
martial artist I'm a fighter I like
32:32
fights I like I like help people I like
32:36
I like to be in the gym uh for me it's
32:39
great it's uh grateful for me you know
32:42
to help people is good I know I I I'm
32:45
here yes yes I'm a coach but I'm more
32:47
than a coach I'm a I'm somebody to look
32:49
at for a lot of people and you know you
32:51
ask me one of my fear it's I don't want
32:54
to disappoint them no
32:58
well Alex it was a fantastic fight it
33:00
was thrilling to watch I I don't like
33:02
asking the question that some reporters
33:04
do when they ask right away like what's
33:05
next what are you g to do I'm sure you
33:07
really have no idea yet it's going to
33:08
take some time you'll sit down with your
33:09
coaches and your team and you'll figure
33:10
it out what's what your future is g to
33:12
look like regardless of what happens I'm
33:15
confident you're going to do well and
33:16
you're going to excel at whatever it is
33:17
you you challenge so congratulations
33:19
once again is there anything you'd like
33:20
to say before we go I just want to say
33:23
thank you to all the fans uh all my
33:25
sponsor that uh with me uh guys thank
33:29
you to to to everybody for support me
33:33
and thanks to you too to receive me in
33:35
the podcast uh guys have to follow this
33:38
guy he's doing a great job so uh thank
33:41
you to everybody thanks for supporting
33:43
me and uh I love you
33:46
guys I'm sure he is just thrilled with
33:49
the result uh coming off a loss so it's
33:51
always good to get a win back in the
33:52
colum and he's right I mean what can he
33:54
do next I mean it's clear that he's one
33:56
of the the top small handful of fighters
33:59
in Canada and I would love to see him
34:00
get a chance in the UFC or pfl Bellator
34:03
or one or anywhere so we'll see how that
34:06
goes our next guest as I mentioned
34:08
before is the president of Fight League
34:10
Atlantic Derek Clark Derek Clark welcome
34:13
to the MMA
34:15
show thanks very much for having us Andy
34:18
oh it's it's my pleasure I'm really uh
34:20
thankful that I get to speak to you
34:22
because you have just since you and
34:25
Fight League Atlantic your promotion
34:26
your mixed martial arts promotion since
34:28
you've come onto the scene you've just
34:30
very slowly and steadily uh been
34:32
climbing that Hill man and your
34:34
promotion is absolutely fantastic now it
34:36
was it was it was really good before but
34:38
you're reaching whole new levels now
34:39
fresh off a a pretty successful weekend
34:42
I'd say fight Le Atlantic 13 just give
34:44
me your overall thoughts on the event
34:45
and how it
34:46
went sure uh again thanks very much for
34:49
the platform Andy we very much
34:50
appreciate what you do in Canada uh it's
34:52
you know it's it's not an easy job
34:54
covering mixed martial arts so
34:55
appreciate yourself and and all the
34:57
other guys and girls who do cover the
34:59
sport um from on behalf of John and I we
35:02
want to thank everybody who does show up
35:03
support our events or sponsors athletes
35:05
teams coaches everybody involved our
35:07
staff first of all um an incredibly
35:10
sucessful successful weekend obviously
35:11
we lost our main event uh with Christian
35:14
Savo Christian chain you know not a lot
35:17
of happy customers when it comes to that
35:18
not a happy main event when you have
35:20
Christian savwa working working so hard
35:22
to to get that opportunity and and you
35:24
got to you know show some love to
35:26
Christian taine the guy's not a quitter
35:27
and these things happen sometimes in
35:30
Combat Sports but overall like stepping
35:32
up Drake frell came in and put on a
35:34
great performance uh so did Marco Rubio
35:36
in the main event and and all the
35:38
fighters in general just a a fantastic
35:40
event with a lot of action and that's
35:42
what we we really focus on out here
35:44
exciting fights like I can put 15 Pro
35:47
fights on a card all day long no problem
35:51
but it's got to be the right fight
35:53
that's exciting and the fans have to
35:55
really be excited to want to come
35:58
back I've talked about this a few times
36:01
recently that fight promotions when they
36:03
get introduced into a to a geographic
36:05
area they have different models they can
36:07
follow and Fight League Atlantic took
36:09
the uh Viewpoint of starting off
36:11
Grassroots so he brought in a lot of new
36:13
Fighters guys who had never fought
36:14
before in the early days there were o
36:16
and O Fighters fighting o and O Fighters
36:18
and slowly over time those Fighters got
36:20
you know one Victory two Victory three
36:22
victories they were amateur when they
36:23
started they moved on to professional I
36:25
think that's a really smart way to do it
36:27
man like not only are you bringing in
36:28
the local Fighters you're going to bring
36:30
in the local eyeballs and ticket sales
36:32
but these guys are getting a ton of
36:33
experience and you've got a bunch of
36:34
guys who are loyal to the promotion guys
36:36
and girls who are loyal to the
36:38
promotion where did you get that idea
36:40
from to to run your show this
36:42
way you know what it's it's kind of how
36:44
it started back when uh I was doing
36:46
submission series promotions that's how
36:48
it all started when we started in 2014
36:50
doing Jiu-Jitsu shows that was we were
36:52
no one knows this but we were before
36:53
flow grappling flow grappling tried to
36:55
come out and buy us after our first show
36:58
uh submission Series yeah the like lock
37:00
and finish it was called AJ asram
37:03
contacted us he was looking to buy us
37:04
and and it just didn't work out uh they
37:06
weren't exactly polite to deal with so
37:08
shout out to him he was an [ __ ] um
37:11
but yeah it's it's always kind of been
37:13
that way you know local local local we
37:16
haven't had that opportunity out here in
37:17
the east coast and you look at our
37:18
Jiu-Jitsu scene out here now it's huge
37:21
and that's why because you give people
37:23
opportunities you have to stay
37:25
consistent do what you say going to do
37:27
and give people opportunities and and
37:29
they'll flourish and look at us now and
37:32
I always say it out here it's it's it's
37:34
yeah ticket sales are one thing but if
37:36
it's like the old movie you know if you
37:37
build it they will come and that's kind
37:39
of what I've always and same as John
37:41
like John you know John like John
37:45
refereed my first jiu-jitsu tournament
37:47
that I competed in and it was him and I
37:49
always talk about this because John he
37:51
was very much involved heavily in the
37:53
scene before I got involved tournament
37:55
uh doing tournament and just being
37:57
involved that way and uh when we started
38:00
doing events him and I kind of got along
38:02
and always like in a really polite and
38:04
happy non-confrontational
38:06
non-competitive way we wanted to work
38:08
together to make the scene better and
38:10
for everybody else and uh anyway he
38:13
wrapped my first Jiu-Jitsu scene and and
38:14
I was kind of in the middle of the match
38:16
he's like I like your style man and I
38:17
was like I like your style and then we
38:19
ended up being good buddies after that
38:21
and that's yeah so that's kind of where
38:23
it all came from that's what it's about
38:24
is just giving back to what we never had
38:26
growing up right and we say it a lot but
38:29
yeah so you guys almost had like a step
38:31
brothers moment where you were like do
38:33
we just become best friends you know
38:35
like that's that's a big thing out here
38:37
Andy is like we're we're all friends out
38:39
here like it's it's a different
38:40
promotion I think that and I've seen
38:41
interviews with you in the past other
38:43
people talking and saying like I come
38:45
from a long long long long customer
38:47
service background of taking seniors on
38:49
tours around the world by myself to
38:52
luxury vacations and I worked for Disney
38:54
for 10 years it's about customer service
38:56
these are Fighters at one point but
38:58
they're also they're customers so it's
39:01
you know you have to treat these people
39:02
with the respect that they deserve and
39:04
and that's that's giving them something
39:06
that they never had before you know
39:09
so I I'm not saying this just a shiny
39:12
one but I have never heard one single
39:14
person say any one single bad thing
39:17
about fight Le sorry Fight League
39:19
Atlantic or Derek Clark it's everybody
39:21
loves you the fighters especially feel
39:23
like they're really well taken care of
39:24
it feels like they're heard when they
39:25
bring up concern and things like that so
39:27
I think you know you're creating your
39:29
own legacy right like we all do the way
39:32
I've heard it said uh that people don't
39:34
remember every interaction they have
39:35
with us but they remember the way that
39:37
that we make them feel and everybody
39:39
feels like they love Derek Clark and
39:41
Fight League Atlantic so that's got to
39:43
feel pretty
39:45
great that kind of gave me shivers a
39:47
little bit Andy to be honest man uh
39:49
because a lot of times John and I in
39:50
this business deal with so much negative
39:52
like as you know you've been involved in
39:53
the sport for a long time it can really
39:55
weigh you down um you know like just
39:57
some of the emails you get and the
39:59
negativity that people really come come
40:00
at you with can really be hard um and
40:03
it's hard to notice the happiness or the
40:06
positivity like we just we're just
40:08
ourselves and and there's no fakeness
40:10
about it and and that's the way it
40:11
should be and that's very kind if you to
40:14
say and very kind of you know we get
40:15
into it with athletes you know it
40:17
happens all the time it's it's a it's a
40:19
passionate high intensity sport there's
40:22
a lot going on there's two shows run at
40:24
once it's not every uh not every event
40:27
not every interaction is just going to
40:28
be about cupcakes it's sometimes there's
40:30
hard conversations
40:31
and uh intense conversations but like
40:34
you just said it's it's about you know
40:36
doing things the right way and and
40:38
hopefully in the end we get the respect
40:40
from people and that's that's like you
40:42
said that's what matters you know we can
40:44
all do these events and it's you know
40:47
having this Legacy but like you say a
40:48
legacy of being kind is is the key for
40:52
sure another thing I really like about
40:54
Fight League Atlantic and this is a
40:55
selfish perspective from somebody who
40:58
covers the sport as you know my website
41:00
m.ca I've got an upcoming event section
41:02
where I list all the fights in Canada
41:04
and oftentimes an event will be finished
41:06
uh some promotion somewhere in Canada
41:08
and you know that's it I I won't know of
41:10
another one until it's almost
41:12
approaching or you know they'll give me
41:13
a month's notice or I'll I'll hear kind
41:15
of rumors there's a fight happening
41:17
Fight League Atlantic man you've got a
41:18
plan laid out even on your Instagram you
41:20
have like all the dates that show FL 13
41:22
fl1 14 fla 15 lots of advance I think
41:25
almost like a year in advance that seems
41:28
like you're really well organized and
41:30
and how much of a of a business I know
41:33
it's this is a business for you it's a
41:35
passion but it's also a business how
41:36
much of a business is this for you and
41:38
what's your long-term goals with the
41:40
with the
41:42
organization well that's again um
41:45
organization is key for us like John you
41:48
know John owns three or four different
41:49
businesses I'm heavily involved like
41:51
this is my full daytime job 12 hours a
41:54
day pretty much you I'm on my phone
41:56
running this business and John's on the
41:59
back end supporting me doing everything
42:01
else he doesn't he's not out in the
42:03
front as much but he's handling a lot of
42:06
stuff in the back end we have a big big
42:08
team and we've been doing it like I've
42:10
been doing this since 2014 we our first
42:12
event that we did submission series Pro
42:14
was was uh January 15 2024 or 2014 sorry
42:19
so we just passed the 10 year mark of
42:21
when we started this Danny who runs our
42:23
shows um who's streaming he started
42:26
streaming on his own he we bought the
42:28
equipment slowly every event we kept
42:30
putting more into it and learning on our
42:31
own and that's how we became the way we
42:34
are just like you said Slow you know
42:36
putting everything back into the
42:37
business and and growing slow and being
42:40
organized I I think that's a big thing
42:41
about being organized so athletes people
42:43
like yourself people can plan if you
42:46
don't know when a fight is going to
42:48
happen then it's like how do I plan my
42:50
year out at all yeah so you know it's I
42:55
think other promotions use that a little
42:56
bit as an advantage they try to do that
42:58
a little bit of you know so other people
43:01
don't know but like I'm a big proponent
43:02
like I have a great relationship I tried
43:04
to get along great like uh with Daniel
43:06
from Samurai great relationship I have
43:07
great relationship with Jay from bfl a
43:10
great relationship with sunny at unified
43:12
and that's how it should be like we're a
43:14
small country with a small group of
43:16
athletes at the end of the day
43:17
everybody's trying to get to the next
43:18
level so we got to all stop competing
43:20
against one another and realize we're
43:21
all trying to get each other to our
43:23
level but the UFC is where everybody
43:25
wants to go risen or wherever they want
43:27
to go so the more we can work together
43:29
the better it is for our
43:30
country it's funny how attitudes have
43:33
changed because when I first got in the
43:34
sport locally anyway in the maritimes
43:36
there were several MMA promotions and
43:39
and different gyms and they wouldn't let
43:41
their Fighters fight in one other
43:42
promotions fight card and vice versa and
43:44
stuff like that and everywhere these
43:46
days like you mentioned Samurai in bfl
43:48
uh when I went to durm fight series uh
43:50
last year for the first ever event they
43:52
had the Durham Durham fight series guy
43:54
they had Woody from BTC and they had
43:56
Jamie from Prospect all hanging out
43:58
together uh I think I saw you at the one
44:00
of the Sam Samurai 6 I saw you and John
44:02
there or maybe just you um so it's
44:04
wonderful I love it absolutely love it
44:06
that you are getting together and it's
44:07
like it's I don't know if one big happy
44:09
family is the right phrase but you guys
44:11
are all have having a common goal you're
44:13
working towards MMA getting big in
44:16
Canada and just doing well and letting
44:17
the fighters fight exactly and and
44:20
that's the way it should be we went up
44:22
to UniFi when we were up at the UFC we
44:23
went and bought tickets and check out
44:25
and support sunny and and Rob and that
44:26
show too and if you're a fight fan
44:28
you're a fight fan and everyone needs to
44:30
lead the [ __ ] for the side
44:31
especially and that's where I like I
44:33
struggled in this man coming up in this
44:35
sport like originally doing this I had a
44:36
lot of bad [ __ ] locally said about me
44:38
and calling the commission on me and
44:39
people cutting my throat like man come
44:42
on like it's it's foolish but it's all
44:44
ego based right like that's just the way
44:46
it is and when people see something that
44:47
somebody does better they get jealous
44:50
and instead of using that as fuel to
44:51
fire you and you get better on your end
44:53
they just continue to talk [ __ ] and use
44:54
it as a scapegoat but and like that's
44:58
the way it should be we all got to get
44:59
along and like you said it doesn't have
45:02
to be one happy family but at least
45:03
there has to be that mutual respect of
45:05
like hey like I can't get my fighter a
45:07
fight and they're under contract with me
45:09
you make that phone call and say hey can
45:11
I get him a fight with your brand so it
45:13
helps out both organizations so they can
45:15
have a full card and and it keeps
45:17
athletes busy which in the end helps our
45:19
sport grow period ABS when athletes
45:22
absolutely like what just happened this
45:24
weekend with Christian savwa again for
45:26
the second time like it's it's hard it's
45:30
hard on the poor guy it's hard on
45:32
athletes you know so you know it's funny
45:35
when I was speaking with Christian I
45:37
interviewed him a few weeks ago in
45:38
preparation for this main event and we
45:40
even talked about it it's on the video I
45:42
posted on YouTube where I said it looks
45:44
like this show is going on I just talked
45:45
to Christian traine yesterday he's good
45:47
to go you're good to go let's just hope
45:49
this fight happens and we both said yeah
45:50
knock on wood this fight happens and we
45:52
kind of laughed and I remember I had uh
45:56
I I like being organized as well so I
45:57
pre-plan my videos my content to be
46:00
posted it's already saved as draft so I
46:02
woke up Saturday morning or sorry Friday
46:04
morning whatever the morning was of your
46:05
event I had all my Christian uh Sawa
46:09
stuff saved uh my Instagram post and I
46:11
just woke up I sort of my eyes were
46:13
still blurry and I just opened up my
46:14
Instagram and pressed went to my drafts
46:16
and pressed send and then you messaged
46:18
me almost right away saying man this
46:20
fight's off I'm like what happened this
46:22
fight's off so quickly I can't even
46:24
imagine how
46:27
I know Christian traine feels terrible
46:29
terribly but there's a lesson for him
46:31
then too like I I don't know his 100%
46:33
history but you know at this level you
46:36
can't you can't miss weight it used to
46:38
be years ago that if you missed weight
46:40
man you are Pariah you were done and
46:43
people would think twice about bringing
46:44
you in even at all and it seems like
46:46
people are missing weight left right and
46:48
Center these days and I I'm not trying
46:49
to disrespect him I you know I I feel
46:51
terribly for him I know it wasn't easy
46:53
and he he really tried and that's why he
46:55
went into what was a kidney failure but
46:58
I mean at this level especially if
46:59
you're a main event you need to be
47:00
professional about this man you need to
47:02
plan you need to get a nutritionist you
47:03
can't be cutting 30 pounds overnight
47:06
like maybe they do in the UFC where they
47:07
have like uh the IVs to to rehydrate and
47:09
all that stuff you need you need to be
47:11
ready and I agree yeah for for
47:14
Christians T what I mean what's to say I
47:17
mean these guys they put in weeks and
47:21
months of preparation in fact we T
47:24
Christian savan I talked about this
47:26
where it's more it's more than just the
47:28
preparation for this fight right
47:30
because these guys are professionals
47:32
this is what they do for living and so
47:34
the one thing they can't get back is
47:36
their time their life this is like three
47:38
months four months that I'm not going to
47:41
say it's wasted because you're still
47:42
training you're still improving your
47:43
skill set but that that flow where
47:46
you're working on bringing your career
47:48
from here to here that time is wasted
47:51
it's it's gone and so I can't even
47:53
imagine how terrible he must feel
47:56
yeah I got to give a lot of respect to
47:58
to Christian Sava and how he handled
48:00
this phone call those are no never phone
48:02
calls that uh John and I either like to
48:04
make uh it's it's horrible it's the
48:07
worst part of this business for sure um
48:09
but he handled it like you know I I told
48:12
Christian on the phone I said like I
48:13
almost cried broke into tears when I
48:15
called him and told him because you know
48:16
what goes into this for these kids and
48:19
and he's on the cusp of great doing
48:20
great things that he's worked a long
48:22
long time to get there for um and then
48:25
on the other hand you feel bad for taine
48:26
like he's a wonderful kid you know these
48:28
things happen but um you know I always
48:31
say in this business it's it's there's
48:32
three things that uh hold a fighter back
48:34
for making it to the event and it's
48:38
travel well first Medicals travel weigh
48:41
in those three things and I always tell
48:44
people that's why it says everything on
48:45
our events card subjects change no
48:47
refund policy and some people don't
48:49
understand that it's fine but that's how
48:51
it is in Combat Sports or or it is in
48:52
any sport like I always use this an
48:55
example example it's you know for people
48:57
it's if you go to a Maple Leafs game and
48:58
Mitch Marner is not playing do they give
48:59
you a refund no they don't it's yeah
49:02
it's part of live sports unfortunately
49:04
and Combat Sports just takes it a whole
49:06
different level there's so many Hoops
49:09
that they have to get through in process
49:11
just to get to that cage and but it's
49:15
going back to that like I wouldn't I
49:18
wouldn't offer taine a fight at 170
49:20
again like it it's just you know same as
49:22
Dorian duai I would never offer him a
49:24
fight at 185
49:26
the amount of money John and I have put
49:28
on the line and has gone out the door
49:31
from wasted flights and fights since the
49:33
last year is ridiculous and MMA like you
49:37
said it's happening more and more and
49:39
more no one's making weight and the only
49:41
people are losing is the promoter no one
49:44
talks about that the other fighter
49:46
obviously too but the promoter it's
49:48
losing big time and it's it needs to
49:51
stop like because technically in the
49:53
contract we could come back but no one
49:54
does cuz that's just not how it is right
49:56
but yeah you know make make the weight
50:00
like yep yep it's it's it's frustrating
50:04
for sure well let's move on to some some
50:07
happy happy discussion let's talk about
50:08
Fight League Atlantic 13 you had a bunch
50:11
of great fights in the card and I'm just
50:12
going to run through some notes I took
50:13
from the event and we can maybe talk
50:14
about some of the fights and get your
50:16
perspective all right yeah all right so
50:19
the first fight of the night let me just
50:20
go to my notes Here was I Brett Smith
50:23
defeated Damen Senter you know decision
50:26
uh my notes were just a good fight it
50:28
was a good fight Went to went to the end
50:30
both brand new guys you could tell but
50:31
they looked like they were doing okay um
50:33
they were uh uh very clearly new
50:36
Fighters and you can tell they learned a
50:38
lot it's one of those things right like
50:40
everyone thinks they can be a
50:42
fighter I'm not talking about these guys
50:44
I'm talking about people in general yeah
50:46
uh but and even these guys I'm sure
50:48
they've been training for a while but
50:50
it's exciting to know they had their
50:51
first ever experience and they finally
50:52
get to go and now oh wow that's what
50:54
it's like to be a a fighter because in
50:56
the gym in the gym you know you you're
50:58
you're Invincible you're doing great you
51:01
feel good on yourself and then you get
51:02
into a cage against somebody who's not
51:04
your training partner he's not your
51:06
friend he's not going to go easy on you
51:08
he's trying to trying to win the fight
51:09
too and so yeah you know was that was
51:12
what I took out of that fight it was a
51:13
good fight though agreed I they're very
51:16
well said that's exactly you know two
51:18
young guys who a coup both them the
51:21
backstory between those guys they've
51:22
they've competed each other in grappling
51:24
local grappling tournaments like four or
51:25
five times so it's a funny matchup
51:27
because they knew each other so well
51:29
they' compete each other again against
51:31
each other so much but never in a fight
51:33
so I was interested to see what would
51:34
happen between the two and they and they
51:36
both showed up it was a great grueling
51:38
fight between two big kids and like you
51:40
said it was you know it's there's why
51:43
the certain cards are built a certain
51:44
way and and I always say the first fight
51:47
on a card is is just as important as a
51:48
main event sure very much the UFC does
51:52
sets the tone right and that's why that
51:54
fight was was first
51:56
awesome okay we go on to Matt Swan
51:59
defeated Cody o hallerin now when I
52:01
posted my results for FL 13 I gave a
52:04
certain fight a fight of the night and
52:05
somebody commented that this should have
52:07
been the fight of the night I agree it
52:08
was excellent fight uh what are your
52:10
thoughts on that fight it was a
52:12
phenomenal fight that's exactly what
52:14
fans want to see you know like and
52:16
that's what amateur fights really bring
52:18
like there's no hold up there's no
52:20
hesitation right like they're going for
52:21
it and man like what an exciting fight
52:24
from both those guys there was
52:26
everything you want in a fight you know
52:27
they finished with a submission they
52:28
both dropped one another and it was
52:30
awesome yeah great great great fight I I
52:33
I've been in the middle of dealing with
52:34
this snow so I haven't had a chance to
52:36
to think about the fight at night at all
52:38
but I would say like just I'm just
52:40
trying to think right off the top of my
52:42
head like it was yeah it was one of the
52:44
top ones for sure great performance two
52:47
guys who are over six feet tall that are
52:49
fighting at 140 pounds crazy oh I didn't
52:51
realize they were that tall holy moly
52:53
yeah yeah
52:56
okay we're not going to talk about every
52:57
fight but uh we're going to go on to
52:59
Chris rou great debut really strong is
53:01
what I put down I remember that he won
53:03
his fight uh he looked really good and
53:05
that's one of those things where you
53:06
never really get an appreciation of of
53:08
how good a fighter is when a fight's
53:10
over pretty much that quickly sure it's
53:12
impressive sure it's great but there's
53:13
still a lot of questions to be answered
53:15
about this fighter like you need to see
53:16
him face some adversity but uh to to
53:19
really know you know what he's got but
53:21
he looked really impressive and it was a
53:23
good start as far as I'm concerned he
53:25
did and and it's funny because that
53:27
guy's like he's a super high level
53:29
wrestler like almost made the Olympics
53:31
like very good wrestler and he always
53:34
say he's like no I'm fighting this fight
53:35
on the feet and you
53:37
know he certainly did he he put out a
53:40
top prospect and Ben leas you know Ben
53:42
has had the maritimes on hold here the
53:44
last couple months just being a little
53:46
bit of a star and and and I think that
53:48
was a great fight for both of them you
53:49
know it's that's again what the amateur
53:51
ranks are about um and Chris showed a
53:54
great game plan came out overwhelmed Ben
53:56
and uh super humble in defeat too so or
53:59
in in the in the victory so yeah great
54:01
fight for both guys Hunter Savage said
54:04
Chad Cox his coach taught him how to be
54:06
humble and how to love himself and this
54:08
is something that that people involved
54:11
in martial arts in general know and
54:13
understand is that sometimes a martial
54:15
arts environment uh can be lifechanging
54:19
literally life lifechanging for some
54:22
people it can show you the first bits of
54:24
of positive human interaction you can
54:26
have parental figures you can have as a
54:28
coach a good coach can be there for you
54:30
in life can really teach you how to be a
54:32
person a good person not just a good
54:34
fighter and so when I heard those
54:35
comments it just made me all ni andn
54:37
armm inside and I loved
54:39
it I agree that that that's a big thing
54:42
that like I really try to again I come
54:46
from like a customer service Disney
54:48
background and yeah you know like guys
54:49
in this community some of them be you're
54:51
a [ __ ] BL blah blah blah like good man
54:54
that's fine I don't care care I'm very
54:55
confident in my own skin and comfortable
54:57
in the man I am and that's just the way
55:00
that I believe our athletes should be
55:01
like and Chad Cox is a very similar
55:04
mindset the chainsaw a great guy and
55:07
being humble like there's a guy who's
55:08
put a ton on of miles on his body he's
55:11
done a lot for this community out here
55:13
um and I love seeing him find success in
55:16
in in that gym he's a great guy a great
55:18
part of this promotion and and that's
55:20
the way you not everybody you know I'm
55:21
not the bot by any means not everybody
55:23
has to be humble but uh it's a wonderful
55:26
thing when you see a kid that young come
55:28
off such a great finish be that composed
55:32
yeah awesome okay let's move on to what
55:35
I said was a fight of the night Dylan
55:36
Shepard defeated Devin Turner with a
55:39
unanimous decision what were your
55:40
thoughts on that were you able to are
55:41
you able to watch every fight when it's
55:43
happening or are you busy doing promoter
55:44
stuff in the
55:45
back no uh John and I actually sit cage
55:48
side uh so a lot of people probably
55:51
don't know this they probably see me on
55:52
my phone the whole time I'm dealing with
55:53
pay-per-view issues or dealing with
55:55
whatever uh throughout the whole time
55:57
when they're when they're having issues
55:58
I'm the one that's dealing with because
56:00
we just don't have a customer service
56:01
department yet but then I'm also the one
56:03
who's posting the winners so I'll run
56:06
back you know hey great job great fight
56:08
post the winner then I got to go on
56:09
Facebook delete the win like there's a
56:11
whole process that has to happen so
56:12
there's a lot of work that goes on
56:13
behind the scenes but I do for the most
56:15
part get to watch some some events it
56:17
depends what happens you know sometimes
56:19
you're out back sometimes you're
56:21
whatever you're doing uh de put no to
56:23
fire but this event um it was great I
56:26
was able to watch a lot of the fights
56:27
and that was one that I really wanted to
56:29
catch um I have a lot of respect for
56:32
both of those kids both of them um come
56:34
from different kind of walks of life um
56:37
but both very similar kids and uh just
56:40
humble humble uh in gracious in defeat
56:43
Devon Turner was he put on a great fight
56:46
uh didn't fight the fight that he wanted
56:47
to fight but you know he ran into Dylan
56:49
Shepard who was in my opinion one of the
56:51
smartest fighters on our entire roster
56:54
uh the kids are very very very talented
56:55
fighter great fight IQ and just getting
56:57
better um wasn't the most exciting fight
57:00
I don't think for uh what they thought
57:02
like obviously they were probably Dylan
57:04
was probably trying to get the finish
57:06
andan with h Devon trying to keep it
57:07
standing up but that's a championship
57:10
fight and Dylan fought a smart fight to
57:12
to take home his second uh belt and I
57:14
love seeing an amateur defend the belt
57:16
because we haven't seen that yet
57:17
everyone's gone pro which is
57:19
understandable too but in my opinion
57:21
it's great to get that experience get
57:23
another belt and then move on
57:26
yeah one of the things that people might
57:28
not realize is that sure a knock out's
57:30
exciting sure a submission can be
57:32
thrilling to watch when it happens but
57:34
sometimes when you get two fighters who
57:35
are very close you're not going to have
57:38
huge advantages right it's a game of
57:39
maybe it's not a game of inches like in
57:41
football but it's a game of millimeters
57:42
right like you Juke left and and you
57:45
know you miss a strike that could have
57:46
knocked you out and you know small
57:48
little increments like that mean all the
57:50
difference and when those two guys are
57:51
so evenly matched I'm sitting on the
57:53
edge of my seat watching fights like
57:54
like that I love it exactly like that
57:57
that kind of fight could have changed
57:58
hands very quickly like you know Dylan
58:00
was doing well the first two rounds
58:02
Devon came back a little bit in the
58:03
third and fourth and and and Dylan
58:05
turned it on the fifth and but there was
58:07
some you know there was great grappling
58:09
exchanges and it was it was exciting for
58:11
my end to start to finish so okay let's
58:14
move on now to the main event Drake
58:15
Ferrell defeated Marco Rubio Antonio UIL
58:18
TKO punch us from the back Mount 237
58:21
round two that was a good fight Drake
58:23
frell I I confess I didn't really know
58:25
too much about him so when you mentioned
58:27
to me on the on the day of the fight
58:28
that he was being brought up for the
58:29
main event I did a quick little research
58:31
and he's a he's good-looking kid he
58:32
looks promising he's got some good
58:34
talent very much so he's a a kid who's
58:37
been competing for us since he he like
58:39
he
58:40
competed I think in my second ever
58:42
grappling show and he he's a guy who
58:44
trained with Kent Peters down in Cape
58:46
Retton and then made the move to the
58:47
mainland now he's with the he was with
58:49
TJ and um he was training with us a
58:51
little bit and picked a county Jiu-Jitsu
58:53
on his way to Halifax he's made made all
58:54
the stops at Marc Andro and then he
58:57
finally found his home with uh with
58:58
Gavin at Tower one and the team there so
59:01
he's a stud of a kid uh another young H
59:04
humble wonderful kid I love the guy I
59:07
think he might like he's a red seal
59:09
already he's got his education taken
59:11
care of and uh and he works full-time
59:13
down in the shipyard there and and does
59:15
this as well so he's a he's a great kid
59:18
great family who's uh supported him all
59:20
the way and uh and a shout out to Marco
59:22
as well for doing uh oh you still there
59:26
yep y uh sorry about that uh shout out
59:30
for Marco fantastic fight not a fight
59:34
that a lot of people are wanting to jump
59:35
in there to take so yeah great for him
59:38
stepped up and uh he was bringing it he
59:40
was fighting the whole time and uh again
59:42
it's uh we'll see what happens with him
59:44
he's another guy we're going to bring
59:45
back very soon and uh yeah you see lots
59:48
of awesome good to hear all right Derek
59:52
uh before we get going maybe you could
59:53
just give us a sneak peek do you have
59:54
any plans or any big news you can share
59:56
about Fight League Atlantic 14 and maybe
59:58
a main event or do you have any fighters
1:00:00
in mind that you know are going to be on
1:00:01
the card already you can give us a bit
1:00:03
of a sneak peek sure yeah uh we we do
1:00:06
have uh we have about five or six fights
1:00:08
lined up for that card we're getting all
1:00:09
of our media out from this card here in
1:00:11
the next seven days or so seven to 10
1:00:14
days usually is what it takes for us to
1:00:15
get all of our Medi out um and then
1:00:18
we'll start dropping these fights um
1:00:20
nothing on a main event yet we do have
1:00:22
uh one that we're looking at um very
1:00:24
much
1:00:25
you very well might see Christian sabwa
1:00:27
be the main event to this card as well
1:00:29
um you know this kid again he's been
1:00:31
through the rough in the ringer and uh
1:00:34
you don't want to leave Christian on the
1:00:35
Shelf so long so if if we can find him
1:00:37
the right fight which is our plan uh he
1:00:40
will be the main event at FL 14 as well
1:00:42
awesome um so yeah we we'll see what
1:00:45
happens uh we have a couple other great
1:00:47
fights in there we're not going to
1:00:48
announc just yet but we we do have the
1:00:50
Kum uh scheduled for Friday night um
1:00:53
which is a grappling show which uh we
1:00:56
have an eight uh female bracket a 16
1:00:58
male bracket and then uh who knows uh
1:01:01
who you'll see in the main event there
1:01:02
we got a high Lev guy that we're looking
1:01:04
to bring into the the main event um but
1:01:06
yeah you'll definitely in FL 14 you're
1:01:08
going to see some some some very
1:01:11
familiar names uh from the community uh
1:01:13
guys who've been around for quite a long
1:01:15
time and deserve the shine so happy to
1:01:17
have them back and then we're going to
1:01:19
move into F 15 our first fight card in
1:01:22
Halifax the Halifax Regional mpal
1:01:24
Darkness Sports FX super excited about
1:01:27
that and we have a huge Main Event lined
1:01:30
up for that fight that uh we'll we'll
1:01:32
talk to you about in the next couple
1:01:34
months once once we get it finalized
1:01:36
I'll I'll pass it over to you awesome
1:01:39
that's good to hear I love it I'm really
1:01:40
happy for Success Derek congratulations
1:01:42
on everything um I don't have anything
1:01:44
else to ask right now at this point I
1:01:45
just want to thank you for being a part
1:01:47
of the first ever MMA show I don't know
1:01:49
where this is going to go yet but maybe
1:01:51
it'll be uh something bigger and better
1:01:52
someday like like fight L Atlant it'll
1:01:54
grow slowly and get to be where it is
1:01:56
now uh so thanks a lot I appreciate you
1:01:58
Derek 100% and very honored to be on the
1:02:02
first episode Andy you've done a lot for
1:02:03
the the sport in our country and a lot
1:02:06
of you guys don't get the recognition
1:02:08
that you deserve um you know it's it's
1:02:10
an uh a thing that a lot of time you
1:02:12
know it's it's not a high paying thing
1:02:14
it's it's not a it's done of a lot of a
1:02:16
passion a lot of the time so you be very
1:02:18
proud of yourself you've been a great uh
1:02:20
uh addition since the beginning of
1:02:22
Canadian MMA yourself favor
1:02:25
and Dylan and a lot of others so keep it
1:02:27
up did you say it's not a high-paying
1:02:29
gig wait are there people getting paid
1:02:31
for this yeah yeah well it's like MMA is
1:02:34
a promoter man it's the same thing right
1:02:36
like it's it's it's not a high-paying
1:02:38
like promote people who think you're
1:02:40
making money and promoting you're you're
1:02:42
sadly mistaken it's it's yeah a long
1:02:44
grind and it's all of this stuff in
1:02:46
combat Sport and that's why again going
1:02:48
back to working together when you work
1:02:50
together we you know as we all said like
1:02:52
I was saying to Sunny you know Rising
1:02:54
tide sale All Ships and and and that's a
1:02:57
very important thing that we should all
1:02:58
remember yeah for sure I I remember when
1:03:00
I was writing for Sherdog all those
1:03:02
years ago it was a great gig right I
1:03:04
made some decent money doing it as just
1:03:06
a part-time gig when I was in the
1:03:07
military but once I left sherd dog and I
1:03:09
went out my own I mean the only money
1:03:11
that that I see is the money that is
1:03:13
coming out of my wallet and going
1:03:14
towards gas to get to monton or getting
1:03:17
a hotel for a night or paying my hosting
1:03:19
for for the internet so yeah we do this
1:03:22
because we love it not because we want
1:03:23
to be Super Rich 100% same as us right
1:03:27
and so don't ever think that you're not
1:03:28
giving back you guys are a huge parts of
1:03:30
this and and we as a promotion certainly
1:03:33
appreciate what you guys do so thank you
1:03:36
all right Derek Clark I appreciate you
1:03:37
thank you and I we'll talk to you
1:03:45
soon