MFC 32: Mark Pavelich expanding to the U.S., anticipating new champions, without compromising himself

Mark Pavelich is the owner of the Maximum Fighting Championship, not the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and it’s time to recognize.

Pavelich (Twitter: @MarkPavelich) and his crew have been building the MFC for over a decade and have continuously improved over the years.  From a regional show in Western Canada to now being on the brink of entering the United States, Pavelich has assembled a premier mixed martial arts organization.

The MFC is approaching their first show of 2012, MFC 32: “Bitter Rivals”, which takes place Friday at the Mayfield Inn Trade and Conference Centre in Edmonton, Alberta.  The event showcases a superfight between Wilson Gouveia and Dwayne Lewis in the main event.  Two welterweight bouts, Dhiego Lima vs. Nathan Coy and Ryan McGillivray vs. Diego Bautista, and a lightweight bout between Antonio McKee and Brian Cobb will also take place.

The McKee vs. Cobb bout was scheduled to be lightweight title affair.  Unfortunately, that changed when McKee, the title holder, was stripped of his belt after coming in seven pounds overweight.  With the championship bout cancelled, the two welterweight bouts take a front seat as they will determine the future of the vacant title in the 170-pound weight class.

“It’s going to make some sense of it finally,” Pavelich explained to MMADieHards.com.  “That’s what we have to do; we have to make some logical sense of it.  If Ryan McGillivray beats Diego Bautista, then he and the winner of Dhiego Lima and Nathan Coy will fight in May.

“I’m working on the 185-pound division right now, too.  I’m not really happy with it right now.  I have to work on that.  We’re not the type of promotion that just puts two guys together to have a champion, that’s not our style.  We like quality fights and quality champions.“

Concluding a champ for various divisions is the focal point for MFC in 2012.

The MFC lost two champions during 2011, the former welterweight champ Douglas Lima went on to Bellator, and the former light heavyweight champion Ryan Jimmo was acquired by the UFC.  Pavelich has some reconstructing to do, but he realizes this is what happens when you operate a business similar to an Ivy League school.

“We’re the Harvard of MMA and everybody knows it,” Pavelich explained.  “We’re the highest level you can get to before you go to the UFC.  There’s nobody higher than us.  There’s a lot of fictitious rumors that this show is bigger or that show is bigger, they’re not that big.  We get better T.V. ratings than Bellator by miles, we have better sponsorship deals by miles, it’s just the facts.  We draw more people to our live shows than they do.

“The thing with Jimmo was that he defended the belt a bunch of times, he has nobody left to fight here.  That’s the reality of it.  You have to give Jimmo credit for that, and we’ve always had a great relationship and I wish him the best of luck.  I think he’s going to do well.”

Along with crowning champions and working with the Branch Out Neurological Foundation, Pavelich’s other goal this year will be to break into the U.S. market.  He said that he is on the verge of signing a deal with Live Nation and once the deal is done the fight date will be announced.

Being the No. 1 Canadian MMA promotion has been fruitful for Pavelich, but it is time to test the bigger market down south.  The U.S. houses promotions such as the UFC, Strikeforce and Bellator, that many consider to be greater than the MFC.  People are under the general consensus that an MMA promotion should be operated in the fashion that UFC president Dana White runs the UFC.  Pavelich begs to differ, and if the people making these claims knew him in the least, they would agree with him.

“When people compare and say, ‘Are you like Dana White?’ ‘Absolutely not,’” Pavelich said.  “It’s no offence to Dana; he’s got a great niche at what he does.  I don’t use profanity when I speak in public, and most of the times not even in private anymore.  I’m a practicing Christian, which most people don’t realize.  In my lifetime I will probably be known for something much greater than the MFC, not a financial thing, but more of a humanitarian thing.

“I am not like anybody else, I’m like me.”