(Photos: Sherdog.com, nytimes.com)

David Loiseau has certainly had his ups and downs with the UFC over the years in terms of his performances in the octagon, but one thing is for certain… The Crow is hard to finish!

Loiseau, a French Canadian fighter born to Haitian parents, was devastated by the recent disaster and beyond that was inspired to make a difference by offering his services as a professional fighter, openly requesting that a major MMA (read UFC) organization would facilitate a charity match with all of his earnings going to help the Earthquake ravaged country.   

Loiseau was once a hot prospect in the UFC and was fed to the lions a bit early in a title match against a peaking Rich Franklin @ UFC 57.  After being out of the organization for close to 2 years, Loiseau was invited back for UFC 97 in Montreal last year, but lost in a truly lopsided match against Ed Herman who (like Dana White likes to say) isn’t known as a “world beater” at 185lbs.  That loss had him immediately dismissed for a second time from the organization.

It appears that the UFC thinks that match isn’t in their best interest, but with what has become an annual Montreal event now looming on the horizon, it seems a bit callous not to take Loiseau up on that offer. The Crow may not developed into a world champion, but he has the heart of a champion… I’m sure Rich Franklin would agree! And after the number of head shots he has taken in an effort to advance his career and to entertain the MMA fans and utlimately earn $$$ for the UFC over the past few years, is it really such a big request? Loiseau has been clear that he isn’t looking for a contract, just a one and done fight to provide support to people that genuinely need it. 

This sounds like a selfless offer to me, and if the UFC can’t step up and make this fight happen then it’s a pretty sad sign of their commitment to their fighters, regardless of whether they currently with the organization.  For a company looking to expand to a truly global entity to distribute their product, it would certainly be a non-global move to ignore this request.

Maybe they would simply be ashamed of the money they would be offering if the fight was staged at Loiseau’s standard UFC salary. Hey, for his title match beating at the hands of Rich Franklin, he earned a reported $9,000 dollars… so maybe it makes sense that the UFC doesn’t need that kind of focus on their typical fighter’s salaries.

The timing is great, the offer is on the table and we will see if the UFC steps up and delivers a fight of the night kind of performance by honoring this request to help those in need.  Either way, David Loiseau has done the right thing by offering his services in the best way he can; as a fighter!

 Check out the following link to the Canadian Red Cross  - where you can quickly and securely provide an online donation to support the Red Cross efforts in Haiti.  (Every little bit counts…)

UFC 85 “Bedlam” is fast approaching and on June 7th, the heavily injury plagued fight card will finally be executed in London, England.  The UFC had it’s work cut out for them with this card and although there is no title match in the event, there are a few significant fights in terms of contender rankings.
This card did not have me entirely excited at first but even through the pick and prediction process, has revealed itself as a much better line-up than you see at first glance.

Lets get on with the picks…

Main Event:
Matt Hughes Vs. Thiago Alves

Matt Hughes is a great fighter with a hall of fame career just waiting to be recognized once he retires.  A lot of people think that Matt is past his prime and after dropping back to back matches to GSP and then commenting on his own ability to compete in today’s MMA world, most people had written Hughes off.
Thiago Alves is a young gun looking and dreaming for the kind of success that Hughes has already experienced.  After stringing together a nice win streak including his most recent victory of the very tough Karo Parisyan, Alves has been granted the quickest route to the number 1 contender spot… and that is through Matt Hughes.

Read the rest of this entry »

(Photo:Hardcore Championship Fighting)

The Fight Network has reported that Calgary based MMA organization, Hardcore Championship Fighting has confirmed that they are shutting down operations.  Apparently a number of factors from financial to personal problems led the organization to announce its demise. While it may not have been a perfect fight promotion, the company was successful at attracting some highly respected fighters such as Assuerio Silva, David Loiseau, Hector Ramirez, ‘Babalu’ Sobral, Antonio Nogueira and Aleksander Emelianenko.

 The last event, “Crow’s Nest, held on March 28th  featured a main event showdown between former UFC Middleweight contender, David “The Crow” Loiseau and Todd Gouwenberg.  The Canadian MMA fans will certainly miss the promotion and the higher calibre of fighters it was able to attract, although the wait for a replacement may not be too far down the road.  Commenting in the same article on the Fight Network, former CEO Keith Crawford made the following statement,

“[The decision to cease operations was made] one week ago, and the reasons are confidential. I plan on promoting mixed martial arts, and I will be announcing in two weeks the new organization.It will be on the same level [as HCF], or possibly we’ll try to take it up a level. The fighters are welcome to explore other opportunities in the MMA business. The [HCF] contracts are obviously void.”

It’s obviously not good news that the promotion has run out of steam, but the promise of bigger and better things is enough to give hope for the future at least…