Mark Pavelich was the figurehead for Maximum Fighting Championship between March 2001 and October 2014. During this decade-plus tenure, MFC cemented itself in the world of mixed-martial arts. Pavelich’s vision ultimately manifested itself into arguably the most prolific Canadian MMA promotion ever and he created a stage that had international credibility. It was a dream fuelled by being intensely inspired from watching Pancrase tapes at the Pavelich home. Many history-making moments went down in that ring but Pavelich has very much distanced himself from combat sports promotion since then. He doesn’t even make a point to do MMA interviews. Pavelich admitted during this conversation that this was his first MMA interview in over four years.
Bowks Talking Bouts
Pavelich has a myriad of feelings in regards to MFC’s history but also the present landscape for MMA in the country. Pavelich said, “It’s almost like a fond memory. It’s funny though. Said to someone the other day…I could come back tomorrow and I could conquer Canada with my eyes closed. Could be in the top four or five in the world within probably six months. I’ve seen some of the shows out there and they’re just lame as shit. There’s no progression from when I left. And that’s disappointing. I laid down the foundation to show people exactly how you should do it in this country. You should be duplicating it exactly.”
Canadian MMA Nowadays
For a promotion to really stand out nowadays, Pavelich sees a need for presentation. Not just presentation but also making the show a confluence of promising local prospects but also reputable, world caliber talent.
Pavelich said, “I always wanted to build up the fighter to get to this point locally that he would end up fighting, for example, Ryan Ford was fighting Douglas Lima in the main event. Well that was Ryan Ford’s opportunity right then and there in that moment to go farther. He lost and then what happened? Lima blew up.”
Pavelich continued, “There’s nothing that I’ve even remotely looked at or seen or you’re making any noise or doing anything spectacular. It’s like people are just showing up. There’s no thought process into making a big production. It was funny because when I was putting on shows, I could have used just local talent all the time and just kept doing that. Instead look at the people that fought in MFC, man. The Ben Hendersons of the world. The Paul Daleys, the Ryan Jimmos, the Jason MacDonalds. You can go on. Travis Lutter, Douglas Lima, Dhiego Lima. There’s a million gazillion fighters that fought in MFC and I never had to do that once. I always felt like I was going to deprive people of their money when they’re watching my show. I don’t think these shows think the same way I thought.”
Mark Pavelich
The strides MFC were able to make came as a result of a tireless effort being put into it.
Pavelich quipped, “When I did the MMA world, it was 18 hours a day doing it. There was nothing else. There was no Christmas, there was no Easter, there was no nothing. It was just this. When I did it for that long at that level, I laugh about it now. I was easily the second most interviewed promoter on the planet next to Dana White. When I stopped I thought ‘someone should just take it over’. Even Stephane with TKO. He runs a great show and everything but he’s in Quebec. You ask anybody outside of Quebec and Ontario, unless you’re a hardcore MMA fan, no one knows what his brand is. And he’s on UFC Fight Pass.”
There were multiple instances of outside groups wanting to buy out MFC. It had become an internationally known property with elite level sponsorship and advertising deals never before seen in a Canadian MMA organization. Eventually though, Pavelich had weighed out the pros and cons, coming to the decision of just washing his hands of it and ending MFC on a high note.
Mark Pavelich said, “Four times. There was one when we were rolling and then there was at least four times where there was almost a deal then there wasn’t. There was a big company out of New York that was very close and then we did our due diligence. We’re one of the few MMA shows that can show paperwork for the last 16 years. Revenue, did our taxes, did all those type of things. So we do have books. So people can see that we were a lucrative MMA company. We sold out our last show. We renewed our TV deals. I looked at my wife and I said ‘I’m not doing this no more. I’m not doing it.’ And she’s like ‘Mark, really?’ and then she smiled and that was the end of it.”
Making History
Pavelich continued, “Nobody in my organization could sell the MFC or MMA like me. I said it the other day, I go to Sunny’s shows, I go to Boxing shows, I told people the other day ‘that’s it, man. I’m never ever going to another live Boxing show or another live MMA show for as long as I live.’ And people think I’m crazy….You have to understand, I started in this business when there was nobody. I’m the one that told everybody what the acronym MMA stood for. Nobody knew what it stood for. If I had five cents for everybody I told what MMA stood for, I would never have to work another day in my life. That’s a fact. I was here when nobody else was here. It was me and the UFC. There was no Strikeforce. There was no nothing. It was just me and the UFC.”
Pavelich previously mentioned how some promotions need to do more on the presentation end of things. The main reason for that is to create a sense of ambiance. A tangible electric feeling in the air that you’re watching some special history-making moments unfold before you.
Pavelich stated, “Even Sunny. I love Sunny and he’s my friend and we get along great. But his show is at whatever number it’s at and it still looks like MFC 4, 5…..It still looks good and he’s making everything better but it still doesn’t look like the last MFC I did. Not even in the same planet. And I love Sunny. So it’s like you understand I’m saying this about someone I love. I look at it and I’m like ‘there’s tables. People are having dinner.’ MMA and dinner don’t go together. They don’t. There’s no atmosphere. My shows were nuts. I mean nuts. People were swinging from the light fixtures. There was an atmosphere, you were at a fight, you weren’t having dinner.”
Maximum Fighting Championship
While MFC primarily promoted out of Edmonton, they had quite a few shows spread over the country. One of these outside forays saw them book a show in Pavelich’s hometown of Windsor. This show would outdraw some significant promotions that ran in the same market. In a surface area way, it seemed like a great moment but it was a situation wrought with drama.
Mark Pavelich said, “Then I signed a deal with AXS TV and Mark Cuban and HD NET, that made me North America-wide. I thought for sure when I went to Ontario and it was despicable what they did. They made another show the first show in Ontario. Some bullshit show that no one knew what it was before the MFC. We were the second show. When we went to Ceasers Windsor, sold the whole place out, six thousand people. And I thought to myself ‘wow, these commissions they just don’t understand the protocol of MMA. And the history of the game’ But that’s the sad part to me. It’s like no one really remembers. They don’t know. They don’t care.”
Pavelich continued, “I go to Windsor. It’s nuts at Ceasers Windsor, six thousand people, crazy. Bellator calls them up and says ‘hey, man. We’ll come and do a show at your place’ You know what Bellator got in Windsor? Eleven hundred people. Don’t take my word for it, go check.”
Mark’s father Matt Pavelich is in the hockey hall of fame but would provide great insights to Mark’s MMA efforts. When he brought his dad to a live UFC event, he was confused as to why they were watching the fights on a screen. The cage obstructed the view for Matt which prompted Mark Pavelich to go with the combat framework of a ring for his MFC shows as opposed to a cage.
AXS TV
Mark Pavelich quipped, “It’s the best thing to watch if you’re watching it on television. If you’re watching it live, the best is the ring. My ring wasn’t just a ring. It was 32 feet, it was huge. It was the nicest ring in MMA. Was better than Pride. It was better than anywhere else. I had the nicest ring and I made it huge on purpose. Five roped ring because I wanted people to have room to fight. You see these other rings in the past, people had these very small rings. People were falling out. Whatever the case may be.”
A 40-foot entranceway and championship rings were used for the 40th show. The ramp nearly touched the roof for MFC’s 40th installment. It was this kind of ever building, grandiose sense of promoting that translated to so much success for Maximum Fighting Championship.
Pavelich uttered, “At one time, I had a deal with AXS TV, TSN, and The Fight Network all at the same time. No one has done that since. So I wanted to have it everywhere. I was consistently on the phone with people. Doing interviews, doing sponsorship deals, doing fighter deals. And that was what I did for 16 years. I always wanted to make it one step better….Was obsessed with doing that.”
The best and worst of MFC
MFC was responsible for honing a lot of great talent in MMA. Names that still resonate with fight fans in a big way today. Pavelich quipped, “We were never like a feeder system for the UFC. If you do the mathematics, there’s no show in Canada…I don’t think the rest of the shows altogether had more fighters in the UFC than MFC. Like back and forth you know? MFC to UFC, UFC to MFC. I’m including Unified, TKO, Lee Mein’s show; altogether did not have what the MFC had for UFC/ MFC back and forth stuff.”
One noteworthy name that came through the MFC ranks over the years was Bobby Lashley. The pro wrestling star who had made his name in WWE was in the nascent days of his MMA career when the idea of him fighting for MFC became discussed. The idea quickly got out of hand and became a troubling saga for the MFC promoter.
Mark Pavelich said, “Don’t be mistaken. That Bobby Lashley thing was not my idea. It was AXS TV’s. They wanted him to fight in MFC. My idea was for him to come in MFC and fight who I wanted him to fight. That was the first time in history I ever let someone else pick an opponent for an opponent. The bum they put him with, it was horrible. I was never so embarrassed in all my life in MMA than having to accept, because they paid for Bobby Lashley. I already had an opponent that would have kicked his ass four ways from Sunday. But instead, they had some chump come in and he choked him out in four seconds and made Bobby Lashley look like he was the man.”
Bobby Lashley
Pavelich continued, “I saw Lashley hitting pads in the back and I’m telling you, the guy missed the pads. He couldn’t even hit the pads correctly. To me, it was embarrassing. I let everybody know that after the fight that this would ever happen again. AXS TV paid for the Bobby Lashley fee but between you and me and the rest of the world, I would never do that again. Compromise who I was just for that one fight….I run this organization where my best guys; people that are my friends that I know, they’re getting beat up by other people. I couldn’t give them soft fights. It just wasn’t the way the organization was run.”
As a continuation, Pavelich quipped “You had to fight the next lion next….The only time in 16 years I compromised that was with Bobby Lashley and it made me sick to my stomach. For some reason, they had his obsession with Bobby Lashley….They paid for the chump to fight him. The guy basically laid down in the fight one minute in and Bobby Lashley looked like he was the man….I’m never doing that again. I felt horrible to the fans because I thought the fans deserved so much more than to see a bullshit fight like that with Bobby Lashley.”
Sareen, Patry, and Coker
The former MFC head honcho did reference some shows that are doing their part to stand out though. Mark Pavelich stated, “I think Sunny’s doing the closest job. I mean he’s doing a great job putting his stuff together and he’s at the River Cree. He’s working on his fight cards. But that’s no surprise either right? He calls, we talk to each other probably four times a week. I still open up any advice for him. I like Sunny very much. He has progressed his show from the first time I saw it to now, probably about four hundred percent better. So as far as I’m concerned, he’s the best show in the west and TKO is the best show in the east. There’s nothing else really. I feel horrible to say that but it’s true.”
On the Canadian scene, Pavelich thinks there’s a great deal of untapped potential. Pavelich quipped, “Stephane, why don’t you run across Canada? Why don’t you go into the states? You have the ability to do it. He knows the game. He was around the same time I was around. But he doesn’t do it. He needs that comfort of Quebec to guide him through.”
Pavelich also had some curious remarks to make about Scott Coker. A man who seems respected enough in the MMA sphere for his promoter roles with Strikeforce and nowadays for Bellator MMA. While Pavelich does not dislike Coker personally, he doesn’t necessarily understand why people talk about him in the certain light that they do.
Mark Pavelich stated, “They’ve got to start talking. UFC is always going to be the biggest show in the world. I don’t watch Bellator. I don’t. I’ve never thought Scott Coker was a good promoter. I thought he was a horrible promoter. I’m sure he’s a really good guy and I’ve talked to him multiple times in the past. But promoter-wise, I thought it was a joke…Scott Coker has no promotional skills whatsoever. I mean zero. I always thought, are people joking? When he was with Strikeforce, he was horseshit. When he was with Bellator, no one really watches Bellator like they should with the amount of money they’ve spent. Why more people should be watching it. ONE FC is big in China and Japan, wherever. No one knows it here. This is what you’re dealing with in MMA in this day and age.”
Mark Pavelich MFC
One of the reasons that MFC stood out so much was that they built the brand so well. They never framed themselves as a stepping stone league to UFC or tried to carve out this comfortable place as a regional show. MFC always aimed to frame their product as the best in the world and the confidence that permeated from that created faith in the brand.
Mark Pavelich said, “There was only one small differentiating thing that used to drive me nuts. I was adamant that my brand stood alone. That the Maximum Fighting Championship stood alone. That was my biggest concern….Even Pat Miletich who’s a great announcer; would always say ‘oh Thales Leites from the UFC’…I hated that. It drove me nuts. For me personally as a brand it drove me nuts. I argued with them immensely about it. I said ‘why are we promoting this brand?’ They don’t promote me.”
In summation Pavelich quipped, “I want Sunny to be bigger. Want Stephane to be bigger. I want Sunny and Stephane to start fighting….That’s the best thing that can happen to Canadian MMA. I want them to start fighting like we used to fight back in the day. People paid attention when Stephane and I fought. So I want Sunny to pick a fight with him. I want one of them to say ‘I’m going to be the biggest show’. They both work hard to be the biggest show but guess who wins? The fan.”
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