Interview with the Owner of Canada's Top Promotion MFC, about Ontario Sanctioning

Last night the news had spread like wildfire across the MMA community that Ontario, the mecca of MMA, had finally opened it's doors to sanctioning.
Now like everyone else I was excited and happy but a little overwhelmed because things are about to get really crazy for Canadian Pro Fighter.

As I was thinking to myself about how great this was for me, I thought of someone else that has a huge stake in the Ontario sanctioning, the biggest MMA promotion in Canada, the MFC or Maximum Fighting Championships.  So I got Mark Pavelich the President and head of the company and discussed with him a few things.

Mark was very passionate about Ontario as he grew up in Windsor and is one of the very few Liberals in Alberta; he said he has "always wanted to come home to hold a show" and he "has thought about it everyday at least once for 11 years".  Mark also went on to say that this will change people's lives, and that the MFC is going to make a home in Ontario and Mark and his family will be purchasing their very own house in Windsor because of the commitment he will be putting forth for Ontario MMA.  A commitment he said that "will have the MFC in Ontario about 8 times a year. " I asked him when he thought we could see the first of many shows from the MFC to be promoted in Ontario?  Mark was very direct in saying "the second it's sanctioned, whenever I can." 
A lot of people don't know this but when Vancouver sanctioned MMA they waited just for the UFC, so that they could be the first.  Mark went on to say that "it would be a tragedy if a Canadian show wasn't first in Ontario".  He then said that "we will be in every Ontario city Barrie, Brantford, Windsor, London, not just Toronto and he will bring it regularly."

When Mark was asked about the fierce competition in Ontario he just said "no one can do what we do in Canada, all the promoters in Quebec and Ontario, have not been able to come close to the success of the MFC, and that will continue to be the trend."  He went on to say, "it's not arrogance when you work 16-20 hours a day, every day and you love the business you are in, MMA is all I know.  To all the haters, just come out and enjoy our show."

While Pavelich is very optimistic about Ontario, he "isn't cracking the champagne yet" and is being very realistic about the whole situation.  Recently on an Eddie Goldman interview Eddie kept congratulating Mark about Ontario being sanctioned, Mark said "congratulate me when I sell 6000 tickets."  MFC is certainly the biggest promotion in Canada but Pavelich wants Canada to embrace the MFC as their own, and I truly believe that the MFC will be the home to Canada's top MMA fighters for some time to come.

While the MFC is the biggest Mark says "they still need help, the more help the better",  although there will be a lot of competition in Ontario Mark "isn't worried, we'll see where it goes.  People will get really excited, mortgage their homes, doing anything to get into MMA, but they don't understand the make-up of the business.  People will go broke trying, how much will they love the sport when they go broke because of it?"

Seeing as he expects a lot of competition and wants to make an impression on the Ontario MMA scene right off the bat, I asked Mark who he had in mind for his first show?  The only thing Mark Pavelich would say is "I'm going to bring the biggest guns, some new stars and really stack the show."  He went on to say that he is not a fan of promotions he is a fan of the fighters, and he listed " Jon Jones, Clay Guida, Tom Watson, Ryan Ford and Nick Diaz" as some of his favorites.  From a list like that you know that the shows MFC puts on will be guided with a great amount of excitement.

Mark ended the call by saying, "I just want to be able to have fun, enjoy the scene and relax a little bit.  I know I am a prick but I used to be a nice guy, I was fun, I want to get back to that." 
I think now that Ontario will be sanctioned, there will be a lot of people enjoying the scene, myself included, and Mark anytime you want to hang out and watch some fights, you've got my number.

I will be in touch with Mark Pavelich as he is one of the pioneers of Canadian MMA, being the first promoter to promote a show outside of Quebec and you can bet that Canadianprofighter.com will be there.