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

http://hcc-mma.com/

Amateur MMA fights at Edgewater Casino, Friday November 27 2009.

TICKETS ARE ON SALE!! They will go fast. You can purchase them at the Edgewater Casino, and Zulu Records.

Ticket Prices
$40 for General seating (not a bad seat in the house)
$50 Ringside Seating ($10 more gets you closer to the action)
$300 VIP (Bottle Service can seat 6 people)

http://hcc-mma.com/

Honour Combat FaceBook Page

Honour Combat On Twitter

Listen to 99.3 the Fox for ways that you can win two tickets, ring side, with three Bachelor Plan Girls. Watch the fight, and come party with us after.

Check out The Bachelor Plan website contest to win tickets.

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/

Update: Kirash Moghaddam and Adam Blanchette both won their fights in convincing fashion. Ali says in is blog: ‘Adam looked great and managed to use his jabs and low kicks really well… just like that Adam improved his record to 3-0 in less than a year and a half of training… Kirash was a whole new fighter this time around. His opponent looked quiet dangerous up until the bell rang after that he just looked more beat up every second of the fight. Kiarash was truly a “beast” out there.

Way to go guys! Osu!

A couple of friends of mine, Adam Blanchette and Kirash Mogghadam are fighting at Fighter’s Realm 3. If you are in Courtenay, come by and see the action!

Saturday September 26, Fights @ 7 PM, Doors @ 6 PM
Warrior’s Realm Academy
2785 Mansfield Drive
Courtenay, BC
250.703.0092
www.warriorsrealm.ca

2009 Western Canadian Martial Arts Championships

October is coming soon and that means its time for the 2009 Western Canadian Martial Arts Championships. Its a great place to several different disciplines of martial arts, different classes and different age groups all together at one place. I attended last year’s event and blogged it, since a fellow martial artist and occasional sparring partner, Adam Blanchette, competed in kickboxing.

This year promises an exiting tournament with two days of action with new and expanded divisions in Karate, Kung Fu, Grappling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Modified Muay Thai. Dont forget that besides fighting or just watching, this is a community event that needs volunteers for setup, registration tables, timekeeping and other tasks. Volunteering gets you the best seats in the house and a sweet T-shirt if you register before October 9th.

There is also the event Facebook page.

See you there!

Western Canadian Martial Arts Championships 2008

The 2008 Western Canadian Martial Arts Championships was the first tournament I have ever attended. I was really impressed by the size of the local community and how everyone could come together to create such an amazing event. There was a full range of events going on all day long, like a veritable martial arts festival. People of all age categories gathered to gain rank in Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Hapkido, as well as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Kickboxing.

I was there as a part of the Versus 21 team to cheer on Adam, our entry into the kickboxing matches and Josh who entered into BJJ at the last minute. That was my first reason for being there – cheer on Team Versus 21.

getting ready to fight

But something else I saw that day was what made the greatest impression on me. For a while I turned and watched the juniors who were there to win higher ranking belts and challenge themselves. I remember seeing a young man, about 10 years old, in a Tae Kwon Do match. I saw him take a kick to the gut that knocked him to the mat. We all know that feeling, from one time or another in our lives. And when you are so young, its your whole universe that has just caved in. He lay there folded up for about 20 seconds. Then he sprang to life and bounced back to his feet with a Kiai shout. A good recovery by any measure. I dont recall if he won the match or not. Its not really the point. I was really impressed by how he found the inner strength to get up again when he was down and face off again. He meant it. He was determined. He will be able to draw upon that inner strength for the rest of his life. Years from now, when he is in a rut, he will think back to that time and use it to pick himself up and try again. Isn’t that what martial arts is for?

Versus 21 team: ali, sensei blake, adam, iman, and norm

It was humbling to see other people as well, who tried and failed. The students were there in their gis, representing their schools with pride. A few of those students took a heavy hit. Maybe it was a moment of inattention, they their guard down or maybe their opponent got in a lucky kick. They looked like they were knocked into next week, stunned, bloody nose and all. Of course first aid attendants were on hand to attend promptly to everything. But there is no first aid that can provide much comfort for the hurt deep in the eyes of those students. They believed in themselves enough to be there, trying hard for that next belt, only to have those hopes crushed. Lets hope they will come back and use that experience to face a new challenge and prevail.

sensei blake and adam