With the purchase of the Strikeforce promotion by Zuffa last weekend, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, it was only natural for several of the other promoters to field questions about selling their brands should Zuffa come calling.
Bellator Fighting Championships CEO Bjorn Rebeny has already stated that his promotion is not for sale and that they “control our own destiny.”
Maximum Fighting Championship owner Mark Pavelich was asked about his thoughts over the purchase and whether he’d ever consider selling his company to the UFC.
“People ask when they UFC are coming to buy us. Listen – I don’t want to sell the Maximum Fighting Championship. I’ve got it tattooed on my guts. That’s the difference between me and everybody else. Scott Coker is a super nice guy, but you could see he had a lack of passion for MMA when he spoke. He’s a good guy. He’s a great guy, but when we’re talking about mixed martial arts, it’s a different story – he doesn’t have what I have….he never will. It’s engrained in me. It’s not engrained in him. After the heavyweight debacle, the makeup of the organization started to change. Did Coker do a great job for a long time? I thought he did, but he still lacked passion and he lacked drive.”
The MFC is about to debut in Ontario, Canada on April 8 with their MFC 29: Conquer event which features two title bouts and will air on HDNet. Former UFC veteran Marcus Davis will debut at the event along with another former UFC fighter Hermes Franca. Franca faces faces Drew Fickett on the live broadcast.
HT: AddictedMMA.com via MaximumFighting.com