THANKS TO.....

"Damn...... That belt looks great on you Jay!"

LOL that is what I thought to Greg when I visited FCF today. Congrats Jason.

TTT!

TTT for great training partners, sponsors, friends and managers!

TTT for big tough Canadian Light Heavy Weights getting major International attention!

Everyone should keep a close watch on the big fella from Red Deer..... 2004 belongs to "The Athlete" !!!

Check out this interview with Jason...

http://news.adcombat.com/article.html?id=6674

... This guy is pure class.

TTT for Canada's own Champion, Jason "The Athlete" MacDonald !!!

congrats Jason, definitely deserved.... let's see the next step, you know you're ready.

C

PIC: New AFC Champion JASON MACDONALD!

Canadian Jason MacDonald just won the AFC Light Heavyweight belt by defeating Anthony Rea from France by an arm and neck crank on May 1st. More could be said in an opening paragraph but we'll let MacDonald himself do the talking...

KM: First off congratulations on the belt. What do you think about winning the belt? JM: Thank you, thank you. I'm honored to hold the AFC belt. As far as I'm concerned AFC is one of the biggest small shows in North America and it's an honor to hold their belt.

KM: Over 10% of the fighters in AFC that came from smaller shows have moved on to Pride or UFC. JM: That is what I'm really hoping to do. I came as far as I can in Canada. I've beat all the top Light Heavyweights there and for me to stay in Canada and fight Canadians I'm going nowhere. I'm looking to branch out and fight all the B-level North Americans and Europeans to get me to that next step which would be UFC or Pride.

KM: Those of us in the US haven't heard much about you so far. JM: Not yet anyways.

KM: AFC's matchmaker mentioned scouting you out but what do you think gave you this shot? JM: I'm training with a new team of guys up in Canada. Bill Mahood is the other top Light Heavyweight in Canada, Denis Kang (is) one of the top Middleweights up there...we've come together under a new manager named Greg Allen as a team to propel all three of our careers to the next level. (Carlson Gracie Sr. black belt) Marcus Soares is behind us and I really think it is going to take the three of us to the next level.

KM: Observant readers know I've been documenting Kang for a couple years while Mahood is fighting in the next TKO for the Canadian belt but most fans don't know who they are either. How would you describe them to the average fan? JM: They are top-level guys. They are every bit as good as every guy in the US and Europe for that matter. We, being from Canada, are a little secluded up there and we only have a few shows to showcase our skills so it's very important for us to come down and show everybody what we have. With Marcus Soares behind us and the three of us coming together to train we are only going to get better.

KM: As far as your fight tonight, Anthony was coming in with the odds advantage. A lot of people knew of him. How did you feel about being the underdog? JM: The only reason Anthony Rea was the favorite was because people down here had seen him fight before. They had seen him fight in the past few AFCs. He has I think a 5-1 record so he doesn't have a ton of experience. A couple of those wins were in Pancrase-type fights in France. I don't think experience-wise I consider him a better fighter than me. Coming from Canada as you said people don't know us as well or what we are capable of or how skilled we are. I fought a lot of great strikers. I fought Bill Mahood and they don't come any better than him. I wasn't worried about Anthony Rea's striking skills. Everybody said he is a fierce striker and he knocked out his last opponent. You know what, I dealt with powerful strikers before. I never change my fight strategy for the opponent I'm fighting. I fight my fight and impose that fight on my opponent whether they are a striker, grappler, whatever they are. I have a lot of respect for him (Rea) and think he is a fantastic fighter but I was confident I had the skills to beat him.

KM: A lot of fighters talk about they want to be the underdog, that it takes the pressure off. JM: I've had enough fights under my belt now I don't feel a whole lot of pressure. Coming down here to AFC I really didn't feel pressure because no-one knew who I was. For me to lose people are going to say 'he was going to lose anyway' but for me to come down here and showcase my skills they take a minute and say 'that guy is for real, I want to see more of those guys, bring them back'. That is what I wanted to do with this trip. It was a win-win situation for me. It was moving on to different markets, moving in to the US market. Now people know who I am and hopefully other organizations around America will pick me up and see I'm an exciting fighter, I always come in great shape, and I come to bang, come to fight.
KM: How did you train for this fight? JM: I never change my training strategy. I'm a full-time correctional officer in Canada so I work full-time and am married with two children. For me time management is very important. I get up in the morning and do an hour of cardio and a half hour of weights and I go train. Every day I train in grappling, Greco, kickboxing, and jiu-jitsu. Twice a month on the weekends I try to come together with Denis Kang and Bill in Vancouver and fine-tune our training and pick up new skills. Then I go back home and polish those skills and wait until the next weekend I can go train with them.

KM: That fight ended literally right in front of me so I had a great view of Rea's back but couldn't see your side. It looked like a neck crank from side control. JM: Yeah, arm and neck crank. I hit him with a really hard right hand in his guard which stunned him and I really feel I could have finished him off with punches there but he kind of got caught under the ropes. I had to pass his guard into side mount and pull him out from underneath the ropes. He was still a bit dazed and it was just right there and I grabbed it and cranked it. He kind of twisted out a little bit so I was really torqueing on it pretty hard and I just readjusted and locked it in. I knew I was going to finish him right there.

KM: Any sponsors to thank? JM: I would like to thank Sprawl. They just picked our fight team up and gave us some fantastic fight clothes. I would like to thank my nutritional sponsor Bio-X Nutrition. They supply me with supplements that allow me to train as hard as I do. I would like to thank my manager Greg Allen and to the American and North American fans look out because Jason MacDonald is on the scene.

ttt