Mega fight card set for Moncton
Published Friday October 30th, 2009
Details of 17-bout event announced yesterday
Steven Williams is celebrating Halloween late this year.
The promoter confirmed at a news conference yesterday that he will give fans a treat with the biggest mixed martial arts card ever held in New Brunswick. The 17-bout event is set for Nov. 28 at the Moncton Coliseum and it will feature a format that's never been seen in this province.
There will be a mixed bag with 10 professional MMA fights, six amateur MMA bouts and one professional boxing match.
"I wanted to give Moncton an opportunity to get a big taste (for the fight game)," said Williams. "The last show we did in July the fan turnout was really positive and now I want to bring it to the next level.
"I feel like Moncton is ready for a show of this magnitude. My objective is to draw 3,000 fans to this event. If we can do that, it will be the biggest gate ever for an MMA card in Moncton."
Chris Johnson of Rogersville and Dale Simmonds of Riverview will square off in an eight-round pro boxing match that serves as part of the double main event on this card.
Johnson trains at Team Saigo in Moncton, Simmonds is from Simms Knockdown MMA in Moncton and both are MMA fighters by nature. Both will be making their pro boxing debut and the vacant Maritime cruiserweight title will be on the line.
In the other main event, Shawn Marchand of Ontario and Matt MacGrath of Prince Edward Island will meet in pro MMA action. Marchand will be defending his Elite1mma Canadian middleweight title.
Marchand is 8-5. MacGrath is 7-2.
Tickets will go on sale tomorrow at the Moncton Coliseum box office, Dooly's on Mountain Road and Elmwood Drive, online at www.monctoncoliseum.com/ or by phone at 857-4100.
The prices are $30, $40 and $60 for bowl seats and $99 and $150 for ringside seats. The VIP tables are $600, $700 and $800.
This will be the eighth mixed martial arts card in three years in Moncton. There was a crowd of 1,700 for the last event in July at the Tim Hortons 4-Ice Centre.
"This will be the seventh card that I've promoted," said Williams.
"The first-ever MMA event in Moncton drew a crowd of 900 at the Moncton Coliseum. That was promoted by Extreme Cage Combat.
"The first couple of shows that I promoted drew between 1,000 and 1,200 fans. The fan base has been growing steadily with each show that's taken place here. I think we have a solid base of 1,700 fans now and I'm confident we'll keep building on that."
Other pro MMA bouts are:
* Nova Scotia's Ricky Goodall (3-1) vs. Team Saigo's Kurt Pelletier (2-2) in middleweight.
* Team Saigo's Dan Fowler (2-1) vs. Scott Fraser (1-1) of MacFit Martial Arts in Dieppe in light heavyweight. Fowler is the Elite1mma Canadian heavyweight champion.
* Team Saigo's Alderic Keith (2-0) vs. Nova Scotia's Jeremy Josey (1-0) in middleweight.
* Team Saigo's Jon McGrath (3-1) vs. Nova Scotia's Tim Kelly (2-3) in middleweight.
* Team Saigo's Eric St. Pierre (3-2) vs. Ontario's Jesse Ronson (0-0) iin welterweight.
* Team Saigo's Shelby Murray (1-0) vs. Nova Scotia's Mike Murphy (0-0) in bantamweight.
* Chance Whalen of Simms Knockdown MMA vs. Nova Scotia's Justin Steele.
* Jason Bernava of Simms Knockdown MMA and Team Saigo's Philippe St. Pierre will face opponents who haven't yet been named.
Following are the amateur MMA bouts with everyone making their debut:
* Matt Turple of Simms Knockdown MMA vs. Radafy Ranaivo of Nova Scotia.
* Kameron Johnson of Simms Knockdown MMA vs. Joey Durette of Team Saigo.
* Damian Rose of Team Saigo vs. Shawn Wallace of Simms Knockdown MMA.
* Greg Savoie of Team Saigo vs. David Jardine of Nova Scotia.
Jonathan Lambert of Fredericton and Team Saigo's Taylor Davies will face opponents that haven't yet been named.
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