The Maximum Fighting Championship is set to kick off its 2012 campaign tonight in Edmonton as MFC 32: Bitter Rivals goes down at the Mayfield Conference Centre. The event, which is broadcast live on HDNet starting at 7 pm PST, will be the last one that sees the MFC using a ring as going forward MFC President Mark Pavelich recently stated his intention to exclusively use a cage going forward.
The night’s main event will feature a five round non-title bout pitting the heavy handed Dwayne “D-Bomb” Lewis (12-7) against ATT representative Wilson Gouveia (12-8). Both men tasted defeat at the hands of Ryan Jimmo, who recently vacated his MFC light-heavyweight title upon signing with the UFC, when they last fought and will certainly be looking for redemption. Lewis had won 9 of his last 10 fights going into his title fight with Jimmo and is certainly eager to get back on the title hunt after taking nearly a year off to heal nagging injuries. In his way stands Gouveia who has not seen action in over a year and comes into his showdown with Lewis having lost 3 straight. The fight offers an intriguing matchup of strikers, one set on getting back on the road to championship gold, the other aiming to regain some of his former relevance before it is gone forever.
The co-main event was set to have MFC lightweight champ Antonio McKee (26-4-2) defend his title against #1 challenger Brian Cobb (19-6), that was until McKee weighed in for the bout an incredible 7 lbs. over the 155 limit and Cobb came in 0.6 lbs. over the cut-off weight, resulting in both fighters having to forfeit 20% of their purses back to the promotion and the fight being switched to a tree round bout. Infuriated by McKee’s lack of professionalism and respect for his title, Mark Pavelich immediately announced that McKee was being stripped of the MFC title and will be released from the organization following the conclusion of tonight’s bout. “I am extremely disappointed and incredibly frustrated by the fact that McKee missed weight by such a ridiculous amount,” said Pavelich. “That’s completely unacceptable, particularly for a fighter with the years’ of experience that he has in this sport. “The MFC has taken his belt and he won’t ever wear it again.”
We’ll have to wait and see how the fallout from his missing weight affects McKee’s performance in the cage tonight, for the fans sake let’s hope he can muster up the professionalism to put on the performance he being paid to.
This evening will also see the MFC’s welterweight division thrust into spotlight as three fights will go down in the 170 lbs. division – all of which have implications for determining who the top two challengers for the title will be since it was vacated by Douglas Lima, who went on to win the Bellator Season 5 Welterweight Tournament last November.
In his first bout since his stint of season 13 of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Lesnar vs. Team dos Santos, and subsequently in training suffering the most insanely broken nose you have ever seen, Edmonton’s own Ryan “the Kid” McGillivray (11-5-1) returns to the MFC to take on organizational newcomer Diego Bautista who fights out of Anaheim, California and comes into the bout with a perfect 7-0 record. “This is where I started my career, I had my very first fight here,” said McGillivray. “I think I’ve had between 10 or 12 fights here and I have a lot of good memories of my time here.”
The other welterweight matchup will feature ATT Atlanta’s Dhiego “Maluco” Lima (6-0), the younger brother of the aforementioned Douglas Lima, working his way to reclaiming the division’s championship for his family when he takes on Nathan Coy (9-4). Coy, a former All-American wrestler from Oregon State University who now trains with the American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida, faces a stiff test a Lima comes into the bout on the heels of his decisive first round KO of Jamie Toney at MFC 30.
The third welterweight battle will see Los Angeles’ Jamie “The Ghost” Toney (14-7) try and get back on track after his loss to Lima when he faces newcomer Kyle “The Jackhammer” Jackson (6-1), who trains out of Salt Lake City.
Other fights set for MFC 32 include a pair of lightweight matchups that will see “Dirty” Dan Ring (4-0-1) pitted against James Haddad (4-1), while Matt Jelly (1-1) faces Garrett Nybakken (3-3). Starting off the nights action will be undefeated middleweight Brendan Kornberger (2-0) taking on Allen Hope (7-9).
Here are the weigh-in results for “MFC 32: Bitter Rivals”:
Main Card (HDNet):
– Dwayne Lewis (205) vs. Wilson Gouveia (204)
– Antonio McKee (162) * vs. Brian Cobb (155.6) *
– Ryan McGillivray (171) vs. Diego Bautista (170)
– Dhiego Lima (171) vs. Nathan Coy (169)
– Jamie Toney (169) vs. Kyle Jackson (170)
– Dan Ring (154) vs. James Haddad (158) *
Preliminary Card:
– Garret Nybakken (155) vs. Matt Jelly (155)
– Allen Hope (186) vs. Brendan Kornberger (184.6)
* must forfeit 20% of his purse for being over the contracted weight for the fight
