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News and Notes from Canadian MMA By Kelsey Mowatt Carvalho and Curran Battle it Out for America's Shooto SLW Championship UFC 46 "Super Natural" veteran Jeff Curran defeated Canadian Team Shah Franco fighter Antonio Carvalho by majority decision this past Saturday, earning Curran the 145-pound Shooto Championship for the North American region. By all accounts the fight between the pair of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belts was extremely close, with one judge declaring it a draw, and the other two awarding it to Curran. The first portion of the fight saw the fighters standing and exchanging mostly from the clinch, with the latter half of the contest fought on the ground. With a slight edge in the exchanges from the clinch, and through striking and remaining active in his guard, Curran was awarded the victory. "It was a very tense fight for sure," reported previously undefeated Carvalho. "The first round was pretty much us working in the clinch and trying to get an advantage over each other. It was more of a feeling out round. I really didn't know what to expect from Curran so I was also a little too cautious, which meant that the round wasn't very exciting for the fans. The second and third round we opened up more and it was pretty much a ground war. I certainly know that the third round was my strongest round in the fight." "I didn't get the feeling he wanted to stand and exchange with me or go to the ground," said Curran. "I felt like he was trying to stay in the clinch. Going into the third round I knew I was winning, which was good enough for me, so in the third round I didn't really want to risk anything." Carvalho knew that the fight had likely been awarded to Curran, and was quick to give credit where credit is due. "I always hate leaving anything to the judges because that just comes down to someone else's perception of the fight," Carvalho noted, "This certainly wasn't a very easy fight to judge. My initial reaction was that I felt that maybe I did not do enough to win the fight. When I heard one judge call it a draw I had a little glimmer of hope that maybe I could pull this one out. However, the other judges gave it to him so he won. I have no excuses; Jeff is a fantastic fighter and a great champion for Shooto Americas." The win for Curran brings his MMA record to 28-7-1, while Carvalho incurred the first loss of his career to set his to 8-1. Macdonald-Starnes Headlines National Fighting Challenge Chancing a potential last minute loss as the selection process for The Ultimate Fighter's third season begins, Jason "The Athlete" Macdonald has agreed to fight undefeated Surrey native Kalib Starnes this Friday at the National Fighting Challenge. Macdonald's manager, Mark Pavelich, confirmed to FCF today that they have in fact agreed to fight Starnes on just four days notice. Starnes scheduled opponent, Dennis Hallman, dropped out of the fight recently due to an injury, and according to Pavelich, the contract offered to Macdonald was too lucrative to turn down. Starnes has been creating a local buzz in the Vancouver region as of late through fighting on several local cards; the middleweight is off to a 5-0-1 start in his young MMA career. For Macdonald, regardless of the short notice, he will go into this fight as the favorite, due to the extensive experience he has gathered during his 13-5 career. Both these two Canadian middleweights have been rumored to be under the UFC's consideration for The Ultimate Fighter Season 3, which Pavelich acknowledged would be used as a factor to motivate Macdonald this Friday. The NFC will be held at the Squamish Reservation in North Vancouver this Friday, November 25. |
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