This week's installment of HDNet Fights Video Vault, our weekly
fight-of-the-week feature, features PRIDE, UFC and WEC veteran John
Alessio and Canadian welterweight Andrew Buckland.

Alessio and Buckland met on the main card of Maximum Fighting
Championship's May 2009 event, "MFC 21: Hard Knocks."

The HDNet-televised event saw Alessio (24-14 at the time) come to the
bout in desperate need of a win after dropping back-to-back fights to
Andre Galvao and Paul Daley. Meanwhile, Buckland (9-3), entered the
fight having won three of his past four contests and looking for the
highest-profile win of his career.

The Maximum Fighting Championship loves an exciting fighter and welterweight
Pete “Secret Weapon” Spratt more than fits the bill. Of his 20 wins, ten
have come via KO and eight by submission. Only half of his fights have gone
beyond the first round and only two of those ended in a decision. Pete
Spratt obviously comes to win. And his experience in impressive – in his 11
years as a professional MMA fighter he’s been in the ring with Carlos
Newton, Robbie Lawler, Georges St. Pierre, and Josh Koscheck, to name a few.

Pete Spratt first appeared in the Maximum Fighting Championship against Ryan
Ford at MFC 15: Rags to Riches, on February 22, 2008. It was anything but a
smooth introduction to the organization. “A lot of funny stuff happened”,
recalls Spratt, “and it put me at a disadvantage mentally, so I couldn’t get
things done.”

What kind of funny stuff? Well it started with his corner man being deported
to Brazil after weigh in, leaving Pete to scramble for a replacement. Then
during the fight, Ford landed two solid elbows to Spratt’s head after the
first-round bell. A dazed Spratt ended up losing that fight via a rear naked
choke in the second round for a loss that MFC CEO Mark Pavelich himself has
called, “a robbery”.

But true warriors never give up and Pete Spratt was willing to give the MFC
another chance. Just under one year later, Spratt returned against Nathan
Gunn in MFC 22: Payoff in a fight that has earned it’s place in the annals
of Maximum Fighting Championship history.

Spratt was behind on the scorecards in the second round when he noticed a
pattern in the way Gunn was ducking his head. A former Golden Gloves boxer
who currently trains under former WBC champion “Jesse” James Leija, Spratt
knew what to do. He landed three vicious right hooks right on target, then
closed the deal with a thunderous, perfectly timed uppercut that, to quote
Pavelich, “looked like it was out of Popeye”.

Gunn dropped like a sack of rocks and Spratt went down in MFC history,
scoring the 2009 Knockout of the Year. Anyone who’s seen that fight will
understand why Pavelich says, “when he’s matched well, Pete Spratt is one of
the most exciting fighters out there”.

On May 7, 2009 at Maximum Fighting Championship 25: Vindication, Spratt will
be facing off against Luigi “The Italian Tank” Fioravanti. When asked about
his opponent, Spratt’s response is matter-of-fact. “He’s a good,
well-rounded fighter and I’m not going to approach it any differently than
any other fight… just a lot of hard training.” And what does hard training
mean to Pete Spratt? It means muay thai with Mark Dellagrotte, Brazilian
jiu-jitsu with Rodrigo Pinheiro, boxing with “Jesse” James Leija, and a
two-week training camp with Dan Henderson and Team Quest or Randy Couture
and Extreme Couture.
(more...)

In an interview with the Brazilian Tatame site, former UFC middleweight title challenger Thales Leites (15-3) revealed his opponent for this Thursdays Bitetti Combat 6 event as Minnesota Fight Factory’s Rico Washington Sr. (4-4). Leites also stated that his next Maximum Fighting Championship bout would be on May 7th against one of thee possible opponents for the MFC middleweight title.

The Bitetti Combat 6 event will also be available live online from Brazil from bitetticombatppv.com for $12.95 on February 25th.

“They had obtained an adversary for me, I go to face Rich Washington, that faced the Ximú in the last edition of the event. I do not know nothing of it, I go to look for more today in the Internet.”

“I was knowing that my fight in Canada (MFC) goes to be day 7 of May, then is plus a reason to fight here, senão would be six months without fighting. The event goes to be in a bigger enclosure for bullfighting, one card better, then they had decided to move for day 7 of May.”

Leites defeated Dean Lister at MFC 23 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada last December, earning a unanimous decision over “The Boogeyman”.

The full Bitetti Combat 6 event card appears as follows:

- Paulo Filho (Paulão) vs. Yuki Sasaki
- Jeff Monson vs. Glover Teixeira
- Thales Leites vs. Rico Washington
- Fabio Maldonado vs. Guto Inocente
- Cassiano Tytschyo vs. Danilo “Índio” Villefort
- Cristiano Marcello vs. Emiliano “Cobra” Vatti
- Yuri Villeford vs. Júlio Cesar Merenda
- Luiz Firmino “Buscapé” vs. Francisco Drinaldo “Massaranduba”
- Leandro Batata vs. Gustavo Sampaio Labareda
- Luiz Cesar vs. Felipe “Mongo” Arinelli
- Ediene “Índia” Gomes vs. Amanda Nunes

Click here to view the embedded video.

Maximum Fighting Championship vice president and Heat XC president Dave Pavelich talks about this Friday’s upcoming “MFC 24: Heat XC” event in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada as well as clearing up some rumors about the MFC’s future plans.

“MFC 24: Heat XC” Fight Card

- Lightweight bout: Yves Edwards vs. Derrick Noble
- Light heavyweight bout: Nick Penner vs. Chris Price
- Light heavyweight bout: Dwayne Lewis vs. David Heath
- Middleweight bout: Tom Watson vs. Travis Galbraith
- Welterweight bout: Nathan Gunn vs. Thiago Goncalves
- Welterweight bout: Dami Egbeyemi vs. Paapa Inkumsah
- Welterweight bout: David Letourneau vs. Nick Hrynchyshyn
- Light heavyweight bout: Jared Kilkenny vs.Jason Kuchera
- Welterweight bout: Elliot Duff vs. Jason Gorny
- Light heavyweight bout: Eric Chouinard vs. Zach Blaber
- Matt Jelly vs. Garret Nybakken

HT: MMACanada.net

A recent press release from the Maximum Fighting Championship has caused quite a stir, after the article denounced Chris Price for withdrawing from its upcoming MFC 24: Heat XC event later this month. The article painted Price negatively and MFC president Mark Pavelich has come out to apologize for the article, saying he was unaware of the articles content offering his sincere apologies to Price, Price’s family, and MMA fans.

A link to a copy of the original article can be found HERE.

Following is the MFC’s official apology.

With all do respect,

There was a Press Release on the Chris Price situation that went out from our office yesterday; it was brought to my attention by some MFC Fans. I do not read or edit 90% of things that go on the sight. There was a paragraph
that was in the release that was written by one of our staff writers. After reading it myself I thought it was absolutely uncalled for and was extremely offensive. I would like to apologise first and foremost to Chris Price and his family as well as anyone who received it today. It is not the position of the Maximum Fighting Championship to make attacks on personal issues in Mr. Price’s current family situation. We wish Mr. Price the best of luck in the future and I will find the time to proof read every article prior to going on the MFC website in the future.

Sincerely,

Mark Pavelich MFC President

Maximum Fighting Championship