It would appear that Maximum Fighting Championship president Mark Pavelich is behind on some fees owed to the River Cree Resort & Casino located near the city of Edmonton, Canada according to TheGarv.com.

Pavelich has reportedly been suspended by the Association of Boxing Commissions for “non-payment of fees owing to the commission” which will be lifted once he pays up.

The Garv.com was tipped off today that a member of Canada’s athletic commission filed a request to to the head of the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC) to officially suspend Mark Pavelich, president and promoter of Maximum Fighting Championship (MFC) for “non-payment of fees owing to the commission”.

6/17/10: It looks like the fees owed by Pavelich and MFC stem back to an event in February, and more than one attempt was made to arrange payment with no response from MFC. From what I understand, the suspension is officially in place, but will be lifted if Pavelich settles up. He’s expected to do so in the next few days.

The MMA News has interviewed the MFC president in the past, and is known for some of his colorful comments on the UG forums. Hopefully this won’t effect some of his promotions upcoming events such as the HeatXC show next month and the next MFC show in the fall, which he’s looking to hold in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada for anyone living in that area. That event should showcase an MFC middleweight title bout featuring BJJ specialist Thales Leites.

UFC middleweight fighter Joe Doerksen (45-12) was the only Canadian fighter to walk away with a victory in Montreal at UFC 113 last month. He stepped in for an injured Tim Credeur at the event and defeated Tom Lawlor by submission in the second round of their preliminary card fight.

Doerksen had already made a previous agreement to appear at a Canadian Fighting Championship 5 in Manitoba before the Montreal event. The UFC has allowed Doerksen to honor his previous agreement and will now face Shawn Marchand in the main event of the Canadian show.

Here is the press release.

It’s Fight Week For CFC 5

There is less than a week before CFC 5 and fans are excited to see one of Canada’s top promotions live on June 4th. With no MMA in Manitoba the past few months, fans are anxiously awaiting the chance to see the best fighters that Manitoba has to offer including Joe Doerksen.

Joe Doerksen is coming off his victory of Tom Lawlor at UFC 113. Doerksen submitted Lawlor in the second round and was the only Canadian out of seven to win in UFC Montreal this year. Incredibly, the UFC has allowed Doerksen to honor is agreement to fight on CFC 5 and fans will be the ones to benefit. Doerksen will be taking on Shawn Marchand in the main event. Marchand is an up and coming Canadian fighter who already is the Middleweight champion from a maritime promotion. Doerksen should not overlook this Ontario fighter as Marchand has not lost since 2007 and is looking at this fight as his opportunity to knock off a UFC veteran.

Not only will Doerksen be fighting in his hometown, but “Fight of the Night” Eric Perez will be in the Semi-Main Event of CFC 5. Perez has been victorious in the three CFC fights that he has appeared in and he has also walked away with a Fight of the Night performance on each occasion. “I like a war,” says Eric Perez, “I want this one to go three rounds and I knock him out late in the third.” Perez is not the only one who likes to put on a show. Former Ballroom Zombies singer, Robin Black is no stranger to entertaining fans. Black is coming back to Winnipeg to challenge Perez in a fantastic Bantamweight matchup.

In another battle of Bantamweights, Winnipeg’s Roland Delorme will put his undefeated record on the line against Regina’s Sean Quinn. This fight has not received as much attention as the previous mentioned fights, but, rest assured, this one has Fight of the Night written all over it. This is a battle between two nationally ranked fighters in their weight division. Delorme has come off two consecutive victories over Remi Morvan – the last one at CFC 4. Quinn is a tough fighter who has also appeared in the Canadian Fighting Championship. Quinn took out the tough Francois Lacombe at CFC 3 last year. Expect big things from these two fighters!

Fan favorite Lance Cartwright will also be returning to the Steel Circle. The Snake is fresh off his supporting actor appearance in the prison-based action movie “Locked Down” and promises to bring his crowd-pleasing brand of MMA back to the CFC. He will be facing Steve Skinner, who like the previously mentioned Marchand and Black, is an MMA champion of a Moncton promotion. The Snake will have his hands full on June 5th.

Fans can purchase tickets to see Joe Doerksen, Robin Black, Eric Perez and the rest of the CFC 5 fighters this Friday, June 4th for as little as $40. You can get VIP seats by calling 772-2599 or General Admission through Ticketmaster.Remember that this event is now open to fans sixteen years old.

The rest of card will be just as entertaining with local Winnipeg fighters Dominick Blais, Mark Durant, Dwight Sutherland, and Agostino DeNatale returning to action. Ronson Sabourin and Travis Gervais will also make their hometown CFC debut.

Here is the full card for the event:

Main Event

Joe Doerksen vs Shawn Marchand

Semi-Main Event

Robin Black vs Eric Perez

Roland Delorme vs Sean Quinn

Lance Cartwright vs Steve Skinner

Dominick Blais vs Matt Spisak

Mark Durant vs Jesse Ronson

Dwight Sutherland vs Guillaume Fortier

Ronson Sabourin vs Chris Myra

Agostino DeNatale vs Kyle Anderson

Travis Gervais vs Justin Bloomer

Thomas Gerbasi, UFC - Middleweight prospect Tom Lawlor had the better entrance, but Manitoba veteran Joe Doerksen had the better exit in UFC 113 prelim action at the Bell Centre Saturday night, as he roared back from a shaky first round to submit The Ultimate Fighter season eight alum in the second stanza.

Thomas Gerbasi, UFC - 56 fights into a pro mixed martial arts career that began back in 1999, you would be hard pressed to find anything in the fight game that would rattle Joe Doerksen. So when he got the call to come in on short notice to replace the injured Tim Credeur against Tom Lawlor this Saturday night in Montreal, despite having just fought a three rounder on April 16th, it was simply business as usual for the Manitoba native.
And that means "yes", he'll fight.

MMA veteran Joe “El Dirte” Doerksen (44-12) will replace an injured Tim Credeur at UFC 113 after Credeur pulled out of the event after suffering an undisclosed injury during training.

Doerksen took the fight on short notice and will step into the octagon against Tom Lawlor (6-2), no official word has come from the UFC so there is no word whether this fight will take place on the main or preliminary card.

UFC 113 takes place May 8 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and features a light heavyweight title rematch between current champ Lyoto Machida and challenger Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.

Doerksen, who is from Manitoba, Canada, will fight for the seventh time under the UFC banner when he steps into the octagon against Credeur. Over his 50 fight career Doerksen has bounced around from the UFC, the IFL, Sengoku, KOTC, and fought for the WEC middleweight title, losing to Paulo Filho at WEC 29. His most recent stint with the UFC saw him lose back-to-back bouts to Ed Herman and fellow Canadian Jason MacDonald.

Lawlor dropped his last fight to Aaron Simpson at UFN 20, losing a split decision in a three round battle that saw both men walk away with the “Fight of the Night” bonus, netting each man an extra $30,000. Before that loss, Lawlor had victories over C.B. Dollaway at UFC 100, Kyle Kingsbury at the “TUF 8″ Finale, and was eliminated by Ryan Bader at the “TUF” quarterfinals.

EDMONTON (Feb. 25, 2010)—Super Channel, Canada’s only national pay television network, is proud to air Canadian Sarah Kaufman courtesy of SHOWTIME® as she headlines the STRIKEFORCE Challengers Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) event tomorrow/Friday, Feb. 26, in an effort to become the first STRIKEFORCE women’s welterweight (135 pounds) champion in history.

Kaufman (10-0, 2-0 in STRIKEFORCE), a former dancer turned undefeated MMA fighter, will fight Takayo Hashi (12-1) of Tokyo, Japan in a live HD offering on Super Channel beginning at 11 p.m. ET live from San Jose, Calif. The card also includes two middleweight (185 pounds) matchups – Trevor Prangley (22-5) vs Karl Amoussou (11-2-1), and Luke Rockhold (6-1) vs. Paul Bradley (12-1).

Though gaining respect and popularity, the sport of women’s MMA is still in its infancy. There are many firsts ahead for the athletes competing in the formative years of women’s combat sports. Nevertheless, some women have already made serious strides. One who has worked hard and attained numerous firsts is Victoria, British Columbia, Canada’s Kaufman.

At 17 years of age, Kaufman stumbled upon MMA when a school opened in the building where she was studying dance. She was supposed to meet a friend to check out ZUMA Martial Arts but the friend never showed and Kaufman went in anyway. Initially she enrolled in an aerobic kickboxing class but before long she was taking every class head instructor and BJJ black belt Adam Zugec offered.

Kaufman competed in tournaments to hone her skills and began fighting MMA professionally in 2006. Beginning her “road of women’s MMA firsts” was competing in the first women’s MMA bout held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, when she beat Alexis Davis by TKO at the Ultimate Cage Wars show in April 2007. Her bout at TKO 29 in June ‘07, where she beat Valerie Letourneau with strikes in the second round, was the first women’s bout in the promotion’s history.

Her follow-up fight that year, yet another first, was competing for and winning the first Hardcore Championship Fighting women’s bantamweight (135-pound) title. There she pounded the experienced Ginele Marquez, stopping her with strikes in the second round. Kaufman defended the title five months later, beating down Molly Helsel and scoring her seventh consecutive career victory by KO or TKO.

Kaufman made her STRIKEFORCE debut last May as a late replacement for Kim Couture (1-2, 1-1 in STRIKEFORCE) in a bout with Miesha “Takedown” Tate (8-2, 0-1 in STRIKEFORCE). In the opening round, Kaufman moved forward, landing lefts and rights and stuffing the takedown attempts of Tate to control the opening phase. In turn, Tate dominated the second period after getting an early takedown and controlling Kaufman on the mat for the majority of the round. In the third, Kaufman continued to stuff takedowns and landed a hard right hook midway through round. Kaufman dominated the remainder of the contest, landing strikes standing and on the ground, and took a unanimous decision victory.

Her second STRIKEFORCE bout last June was also her most recent “first.’’ It was the first women’s bout contested under five-minute rounds. In round 1, Shayna Baszler got an early takedown and applied a unique Josh Barnett-inspired choke but Kaufman worked hard, released the pressure and gained top position. Shayna was able to tie her up against the cage and avoid strikes in the clinch to close out the round. In the second, Baszler again worked to control in the clinch but Kaufman found the range with her strikes and began to strike effectively. Using leg kicks and superior in-and-out movement, Kaufman had her way in round 2 and closed the round with a flurry of strikes. The final round opened with Baszler’s frantic attempt to bring Kaufman to the mat. She successfully pulled guard but a follow-up sweep and subsequent kneebar attempt only led to Kaufman getting behind her and back to her feet. Kaufman’s confidence grew as she used distance effectively and flustered Baszler, tagging her at will. In the final 30 seconds, Baszler rolled for a kneebar but Kaufman stayed closed, avoided the submission and took a unanimous decision win to stay unbeaten.

At just 24 years old, Kaufman is 10-0 in a sport where many competitors don’t even have 10 fights under their belt. Now Kaufman prepares for the biggest first of her career; the STRIKEFORCE Women’s 135-pound title. She must take on a skilled grappler in Hashi. And if successful, the victory will serve as not only yet another in a long line of “firsts” but also as a historic achievement.