Samourai MMA 9 transpires on February 2nd at La Tohu in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
SMMA 9 combatant Kevin Popowick Bastien joined LM2 in the lead-up to this card. He offered great insights ahead of his Antoine Chaput contest.
Excerpts from the conversation with Dylan Bowker of MMA Canada can be found below.
Samourai MMA 9
Popowick Bastien was just getting off of a busy time supporting Niagara Top Team compatriots competing at Unified MMA 55 and UFC 297 after we spoke. He was actively helping Zack Powell ahead of his UMMA 55 co-main event effort. The surging 155-pounder joked he didn’t have a mortgage payment to put down on tickets for UFC 297. Popowick Bastien stated he just watched the show at Jasmine Jasudavicius’ place of living and saw her historic January 20th performance there.
The connectivity to UFC Toronto did not end there as Popowick, in his pro-MMA debut, fought Serhiy Sidey. Popowick felt his former opponent should have won the Ramon Tavares fight itself. He also felt Sidey should have earned fight of the night outright for his
Tavares rematch.
Kevin Popowick Bastien has been with NTT for around four years now. He moved out from Quebec with Powell and others to take in lessons under the proverbial Niagara Top Team learning tree.
‘Pop Pop’ is also back with Samourai MMA after earning a hometown win via RNC under that banner. This transpired in May of last year against Faudel Bentayeb at SMMA 6.
Kevin Popowick Bastien
His opponent Chaput has also fought under the Samourai banner multiple times before. In getting some specifics on this upcoming opponent, Popowick Bastien said,
Kevin Popowick Bastien vs Antoine Chaput
The rising lightweight combatant distinctly remembered his first fight with NTT relative to later fights after training with the team. This in the localized context of how much his wrestling has grown since aligning with the team. Getting great lessons imparted to him by names like Chris Prickett can certainly have that effect. Popowick Bastien claimed he couldn’t stop a takedown when he first got to the gym but has even grown now to a scale where he is more of a confident offensive wrestler. This considering he was very striking-centric before coming to Niagara Top Team.
His dad went from a chef to a mechanic and his mom worked three jobs during his upbringing. A lot of work ethic lessons were instilled in Popowick Bastien from his parents that he applies to his path as a martial artist.
He used to not let his mom go to his ammy kickboxing bouts. But now Popowick Bastien’s parents are at the fights and are there to cheer him on during every part of his MMA tale. That story unfurls in an apropos fashion at Samourai Chapter 9 as Kevin Popowick Bastien looks to secure his sixth pro-MMA win.