Presenting the West Coast Can-Am Championships, at BCIT in Burnaby, BC, May 29th and 30th. Ill be in the modified Muay Thai Division on May 30. See you there!

Premiered in 1979 as the First Annual West Coast Can-Am Championships, this tournament has developed into one of the most prestigious and longest-running annual tournaments in Canada, as it enters the 31^st year in 2010.

The goal of this event remained the same throughout the 31 years, to provide a safe, fair and fun competition event for Martial Artists of all styles. The Can-Am is known for its quality 5 ft and 6 ft trophy awards for both forms and fighting competitions, as well as handsome awards for judging officials.

Over the years, many world-famous Martial Artists from all styles such as Karate, Kung Fu, Wushu, Taekwondo, Hapkido, Tang Soo Do, Tai Chi, Jiu-Jitsu, Kenpo, have competed and performed in the Can-Am.  The Can-Am has indeed become a showcase of Martial Arts.

There are over 700 divisions to compete in, such as hand forms (Kata/Pattern), weapons forms, Karate Style point-fighting, Continuous Fighting, Sanshou fighting, Pankration, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Each category is further divided by gender, age, and ranking.

In this year’s 31^st Annual, we are again anticipating top competitors coming from China, the United States, and other parts of the world, and of course, our own excellent Martial Artists of Canada. To more accurately reflect the international level of competition, this tournament will soon be renamed “The International Can-Am Championships”. This historic name change will be announced in the 31^st Annual Awards Banquet, to mark the official entry of this quality event into the international arena.

Honor Combat Presents Circus Maximus, Honor Combat’s next MMA fight event, to be held on May 21st at the Plaza of Nations. Also appearing at the event is Thornley with special guests Southern Death Threat. Hard driving rock for hard driving fights. The Martial Arts Nomad will be there to report for his fight blog.

As of Saturday March 27, the event has been cancelled, since Vancouver parties to hosting the event cannot manage to sanction MMA in Vancouver, even though it has been sanctioned by Vancouver City Council. I dont know about this one, folks, but it must be a heartbreaker for the organizers. Lets hope they come through Vancouver again in the near future.

The following is CANCELLED:

To better serve MMA fans, MMA Expo has made a change in location. Event organizer Gerald Chopik announced today that MMA Expo has moved its location to Pacific National Exhibition, The Forum Building, 2901 East Hastings Street, Hastings Park, Vancouver, BC. Its still on at the same time, Saturday April 11  and Sunday April 12. Everything in the event is going forward, as advertised, with the location change. See you there!
More info: http://vancouver.mixedmartialartsexpo.com/

A great fight night

River Rock Theater, inside River Rock Casino in Richmond on Saturday, January, 23 was host to the first ever MMA fight night inside the cage since the City of Vancouver agreed to sanction Pro Mixed Martial Arts Fight events on a two year trial basis. West Coast Promotions, together with River Rock Casino Resort put on this amateur fight night with all the preparations that a pro event would have.

Cage Night at the Rock

FightNews.com has awarded the team of Manny Sobral, Neil Pope, and Alister Brodie all of West Coast Promotions as the Promoter of the year. In recognition of their work putting on top level fight nights at The Rock and Red Robinson, calling them ‘… a real class act’. They are of course also the guys who run the North Burnaby Boxing Club.

Manny Sobral talked about the transition to MMA in an interview with boxingcinema.com: “It was an evolutionary decision on behalf of West Coast Promotions as we are in the combative sports promotion business.  There is a lot of cross over between the fastest growing sport in N. America, MMA, and boxing so we felt it important to be promoting yet another very exciting avenue of sport.

There are people still wondering about the safety factor of Mixed Martial Arts. Fighters attended pre-fight medicals, and as pointed out ahead of the event in their press release, “…all the officials for the event have been trained and certified by either IPRO (International Professional Ring Officials) or C.O.M.M.A.N.D. (Certification of Officials for Mixed Martial Arts Development) training programs and have many years of experience in their respective fields.” Paramedics are also on hand for the duration of the event.

The first cage fight in greater Vancouver was a very well organised event. The River Rock Theatre had an enthusiastic full house.

MMA Cage

And like any event I have seen, trainers and fighters from gyms from various cities around BC and as far away as Alberta came together to make a great night. Fight of the night was awarded to the women’s MMA match between Wendy Roy and Sarah McLeod, which ended in a draw based on identical scores by all three judges. These two fighters fought a determined match until the end and demonstrated skill, strategy and surprises. MMA is all about the surprises, that is what the crowd has come to see.

Iman Rahmim of Versus21

An award was also handed out to Versus21 (disclaimer, where I train), by F.I.L.E.S News, for the best new martial arts gym in Vancouver.

MMA in a cage had a great debut in Vancouver’s Lower Mainland. UFC 115 is slated for June at GM place, and there are going to be more great fight nights to come in this town.

Photos

Link to full set on Flickr.com.

Fighers on the ground

Fighters in Guard

Coaches shouting directions

Card Girls Are Lovely

Fighter Wendy Roy

Fighters Sarah McLeod and Wendy Roy

Emilio Ditrocchio and Bazooka Joe

Fighters in Guard

Right Cross

Ground Work

Fighter Ready To Enter

Link to full set on Flickr.com.

Fight results

Fight Decisions published from West Coast Promotions, January 26, 2010.

Source: WestCoast Promotions, Press Release.

The Audience at River Rock

Other Sources of news for this event online:

Photos: MMA at the River Rock, Vancouver Sun.

MMA rolls into River Rock, Vancouver Sun.

Ground and Pound: Swinging Sisters Highlight MMA Event, Vancouver Sun.

Saturday Night Nearly Sold Out, Vancouver Sun.

Gionco International Presents

Championship Kickboxing & MMA Bouts

Featuring Dean Lirette vs Jerry Wang

for the ISKA BC Championship

Plus Five MMA fights

Friday January 29, 7 PM

Fraserview Hall, 8240 Fraser Street ( Marine Drive) Vancouver BC

MMA at the River Rock Casino, 23 January 2010.

West Coast Promotions is pleased to announce the first ever live amateur MMA event at the River Rock Show Theatre. With Vancouver City Council’s recent approval of professional MMA in the City of Vancouver this is a great opportunity to showcase amateur MMA in Richmond.

For the first time in Lower Mainland MMA history, the bouts will be contested in a CAGE… (the way it was meant to be!).

Tickets range from $29.99 to $99.99 and are available through www.ticketmaster.ca or at the River Rock Box office which can be reached at 604.247.8562

More info: West Coast Promotions

Here is some more MMA action from the Honour Combat fight night on November 27th at Edgewater Casino.

The first one is the Jonathan Agnew and Tak Sasaki filmed from the crowd by Sukhi Dhaliwal:

Here is the same fight shot by Stephen Hui of the Georgia Straight:

Stephen Hui also caught a round of a fight earlier in the evening between Jordan Knippleberg and Roland Wheeler.

First in a series of photos for Honour Combat Championships at Edgewater Casino in Vancouver, 27 November 2009.

Link to more photos from my flickr.com pool

Friday night is going to be a good fight night! If the MMA night at Edgewater Casino is sold out, go an check out the Fight Night at the View, 7 PM Friday November 27th  2009, featuring kickboxing and MMA fights. Info: http://www.gerrygionco.com/upcomingevents.html

Update:

Congratulations to Sensei Dean Lirette, I saw on Sensei Blake’s blog that Dean won his fight decsively in Victoria at Quest For The Title IV.

Osu!

Sensei Dean Lirette from the gym where I train, Versus21, is fighting at Quest for the Title IV. Go Sensei Dean! Hit em hard!!!!

Saturday October 3, Doors @6, Fights @7.

Victoria Arts Connection
2750 Quadra St.
Victoria BC Canada

More info to be found at: http://questforthetitle.com/