Mixed Martial Arts Expo Hits Toronto

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Mixed Martial Arts Expo Hits Toronto
Sean McManus

The International Center in Toronto was a busy place over this past weekend.  The showroom floor was jammed with Mixed Martial Arts fans from the opening of the doors on Saturday morning to the closing of the doors on Sunday evening.  To say the third installment of the Expo was a success would be an understatement.  

This year’s event was highlighted by a press conference from Affliction Banned and The Fight Network which announced their partnership to air the one hour under card of Affliction’s debut show on July 19th on its’ Network.  In attendance at the press conference were Andrei Arlovski and Ben Rothwell and Ontario’s own Mark ‘The Machine’ Hominick.

Other highlights of the weekend included seminars by Matt Serra and Pete Sell, and autograph signings by Sean Sherk, Dan Henderson, Frank Trigg and Shonie Carter.  Fans lined up for hours to get a chance to chat with their favorite fighters.  The seminars put on by Matt Serra were nothing short of inspiring.  Serra was portrayed as having great coaching skills on the TUF series as both a competitor and a coach and every bit of the clever editing was on point – Serra was patient and consistent with each student who came through his seminars.  He obviously carries a passion for teaching and it was evident throughout the weekend.

Also at the MMA Expo was the Salvosa Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Tournament.  Saturday consisted of the Gi divisions and Sunday showcased the No-Gi divisions.  Anyone who took in the tournament was treated to some great matches.  Ontario houses some fantastic students and a special shout out goes out to brothers James and Brett Copithorne from Bruckmann’s Martial Arts in Oshawa who both took home first place on Sunday in the No-Gi intermediate tournament in their respective weight classes.  Another fight I had the pleasure of watching was the Intermediate Middleweight Gi division match up between Gavin Clark and Taylor Salomon with Taylor dominating most of the fight but falling prey to a slick knee bar with seconds to go in the match to Gavin, also of Bruckmann’s Martial Arts.  Congratulations to all who entered and represented the sport so well and a special thank you to Omar Salvosa for putting it all together.  The full official results can be seen here.  

Fans were treated to a phenomenal weekend of Mixed Martial Arts at the Expo.  Special thanks to Gerry Chopik who is the President of the Mixed Martial Arts Expo – great job again this year Gerry, you and your team put on a fantastic weekend.  With the top talent and press release that highlighted the Expo this year, fans are eagerly anticipating what is in store for the next edition of the Expo.

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