If all goes according to Kajan Johnson’s plan, the Canadian lightweight contender, who recently tried out for The Ultimate Fighter 15 in Las Vegas, will soon be coming to a television set near you. “I feel really good about my performance i…
If all goes according to Kajan Johnson’s plan, the Canadian lightweight contender, who recently tried out for The Ultimate Fighter 15 inLas Vegas, will soon be coming to a television set near you.
“I feel really good about my performance in the tryouts,” Johnson recently explained to Bleacher Report. “I did very well in jits, awesome in striking and I murdered the interview.”
According to the man they call “Ragin,” who first tried out for the tournament as a middleweight a few years ago, he would be taken aback if he didn’t make it through the show’s casting-process.
“I would be kind of surprised if I didn’t make it on the show,” Johnson admitted. “I don’t see what else they could possibly be looking for. Not to toot my own horn, but I have the skill, the look, the charisma, marketability.”
If Johnson has his way, however, a stint on The Ultimate Fighter would only signal the beginning of a long run in the UFC’s Octagon.
“I think I’ll do really well on the show,” Johnson noted. “I’m very confident that I will be [The Ultimate Fighter 15] champion.”
“Ideally, going on the show would result in the world knowing my name and style, a solidified place in the UFC and a title-shot not too far away. I’m gonna win the show and beast on the UFC like a grizzly eating a salmon.”
If—on the outside chance, as Johnson claimed—he doesn’t make it into this season’s lightweight tournament, the always-confident 155-pound contender won’t be too upset.
“If the producers pass on me, I keep at it, man,” said Johnson, who has notched victories in seven of his last eight outings and spends time training at the TriStar Gym in Montreal. “Keep beating guys with good records and I’ll get in soon. I know it.”
“I know I have what it takes. I’ve known for a while. I’m gonna beast on the UFC whenever they let me in. It’s only a matter of time. I will not stop until I’m at the top with a belt on my waist. UFC champ or dead—that’s what it is.”
When Mitch Clarke first learned that he was to take on John Cholish in the UFC—the pinnacle of professional mixed martial arts competition—the Saskatoon, Saskatchewan product was admittedly caught off guard. “I was getting ready to go…
When Mitch Clarke first learned that he was to take on John Cholish in the UFC—the pinnacle of professional mixed martial arts competition—the Saskatoon, Saskatchewan product was admittedly caught off guard.
“I was getting ready to go to a strength and conditioning session and I got a phone call from my manager saying, basically, that my original fight was cancelled,” Clarke, 26, explained to Bleacher Report. “I started to get kind of uppity. Then he said it was because I was fighting in Toronto for the UFC.”
“I was surprised when I heard the news, of course. I was expecting to get a few more fights in before I would get a shot at this.”
According to Clarke, however, his bout against Cholish at UFC 140 on Saturday evening could’ve been over well before it was scheduled to begin.
“I was supposed to keep it confidential,” Clarke explained. “My manager said that I could tell my coaches, but to tell them not to tell anyone and, of course, not tell anyone myself. I told a couple of my coaches and, eventually, I looked at my phone and I had 30 texts, 12 missed calls—everyone was saying that I was fighting in the UFC.”
“I thought that something really bad had happened, because I really wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. I guess someone from Cholish’s camp had spread the word, though … I was not a happy-camper. I thought that I would for sure get in trouble and maybe even lose my job.”
Fortunately for Clarke—and Cholish, a student of the legendary Renzo Gracie—the two combatants kept their jobs with the UFC. Despite the leaked report, the two are still to meet in the Octagon on Saturday evening.
Although Clarke, who is undefeated through the first nine professional matches of his career, is a few months—or years—ahead of his own schedule, he nevertheless feels ready for his Octagon-debut.
“He’s good at a lot of things, but he doesn’t keep a tremendous pace,” Clarke noted. “He’s more systematic. It’s a very interesting fight. I’m a good grappler, I work my stand-up a lot, too, and I like to keep a higher pace.”
“I feel confident in my abilities. I think this is a very winnable fight.”
Looking past his match on Saturday—although the Canadian lightweight is quick to insist that he isn’t looking past Cholish—Clarke is hoping to one day become a star within the confines of the UFC.
“I’d like to be someone who competes well and someone that people want to see fight,” said Clarke, who is the proud owner of six submission victories and another two by way of knockout. “I want people to buy the pay-per-views that I’m on to see me compete.”
Since the very beginning of Melvin Guillard’s run in the world of mixed martial arts—which began nearly 15 years ago—the man they call “The Young Assassin” has had one constant goal in the sport. “My intentions were …
Since the very beginning of Melvin Guillard’s run in the world of mixed martial arts—which began nearly 15 years ago—the man they call “The Young Assassin” has had one constant goal in the sport.
“My intentions were to be a world champion—a UFC champion—from the very beginning,” Guillard, 28, recently told Bleacher Report. “Ever since I first saw the UFC, I’ve wanted to be a UFC champion.”
After a year of amateur wrestling, Guillard, who was born in Louisiana, first tried his hand at mixed martial arts at 14.
“I used to have all of the old UFCs on VHS, but I lost them in Katrina,” Guillard explained. “I was always into fighting. My mom couldn’t afford to put me in karate or tae kwon do and when I started wrestling, it was free. My wrestling coach in high school was fighting MMA at the time and he got me into it. I just fell in love with it, man.”
A professional in the sport since the tender age of 16—he routinely fought opponents twice his age in his early days; Guillard, who also competed in boxing and kickboxing, notched victories over Joe Jordan, Diego Saraiva and Kyle Bradley before appearing on The Ultimate Fighter in 2005.
Since leaving the TUF house, Guillard has won 11 of 16 matches in the Octagon—including victories over Marcus Davis, Dennis Siver, Gleison Tibau, Jeremy Stephens and Evan Dunham—and is regarded by most as one of the world’s top lightweight contenders.
In Guillard’s most recent match—likely the closest he has thus far gotten to a title-shot in the UFC—the explosive lightweight was submitted by Joe Lauzon at UFC 136.
Despite his most recent outing, Guillard is, perhaps not surprisingly, still on a mission to one day claim UFC gold.
“I know in my heart that I’m going to be the champion soon, I just have to put in the work,” Guillard said.
“I’m a person that cares about life, and right now, that belt determines where my life is going to go from this point on…Becoming a world champion is the ultimate goal—that’s why we do this.”
Although his aspirations in mixed martial arts have stayed the same, Guillard, who has been a mainstay in the UFC since 2005, is quick to insist that he has consistently been evolving outside the sport throughout the course of his career.
“I’ve matured over the years, of course,” Guillard, who is married with pair of canine companions, explained. “That comes with age. Of course you’re going to mature and start settling down and start thinking things through before you go out and always act crazy. That comes with maturity—that has nothing to do with fighting.”
“I was a kid when I first got in the UFC, now I’m a grown man. Of course, if you’re a kid, you’ve got to grow with the sport and you go through your ups and downs. As a man, you’re going to go through your ups and downs, too, but when I started, I was literally a 14-year-old kid—now I’m a 28-year-old man. That’s years of maturity, mistakes and ups and downs. I’ve really matured a lot.”
Although Guillard doesn’t attribute his maturation to mixed martial arts, he can’t help but reflect “every day” on how important the sport has been in his life.
“Without this sport, I don’t know where I would’ve ended up or what I would’ve been in to,” Guillard admitted.
“I could’ve possibly been selling drugs or something like that, because that’s the kind of stuff that was going on when I was a kid. As much as my parents kept me away from it, I was still around it. I had friends that did it—I never did—but I had friends that were into it. Had I not been a fighter and had my mind set on wanting something out of my life, I could’ve probably ended up like one of those guys that are in and out of jail or in prison for a long time.”
As for the nickname—much like his aspirations to one day hold a UFC championship—Guillard has no intentions of changing that any time soon, either.
“I’ll be 50 years old—like Herschel Walker—and I’ll still be ‘The Young Assassin,’” Guillard, who is to return to action against Jim Miller at UFC on FX: Guillard vs. Miller on January 20th, said with a laugh.
“It’s not about your age, man; it’s how you feel. I know some guys that are younger than me right now and they get out of bed every morning and they’re hurting like they’ve been in a tragic car accident. It’s all about how you feel when you wake up in the morning and I feel great.”
At age 20, most young men don’t know what they want to one day do for a living. If all goes according to his plan, Sam King will someday make his living in the world of mixed martial arts. “I started wrestling when I was 14,” said Kin…
At age 20, most young men don’t know what they want to one day do for a living.
If all goes according to his plan, Sam King will someday make his living in the world of mixed martial arts.
“I started wrestling when I was 14,” said King, who wrestled for three years at Archbishop M.C. O’Neill in his native Regina, Saskatchewan before coming to Complete Martial Arts and Fitness two years ago. “(After high school), I didn’t do anything for a year and I started training at Complete.”
“I just liked fighting, so I started training,” King explained with a laugh. “When I played hockey, I was always the fighter. I was an aggressive kid, I guess.”
According to King, who trains under AJ Scales six days a week in Regina, it didn’t take long to come to the conclusion that this is what he wanted to do for a living.
“I’ve loved it from the beginning,” King said. “I intended on fighting from the very beginning, too. I see myself one day making a career out of this—I want this to be my life.”
According to Scales, a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and undefeated mixed martial artist, it wouldn’t be a stretch to see King one day collecting cheques in the highly-competitive world of mixed martial arts.
“(Sam) has a great attitude,” Scales noted. “He’s very disciplined and he’s willing to learn anything …I think he can go very far. We’re grooming him to do all the right things and take all the right steps. If he wants to be a professional in this sport, I think he can.”
King, who recently spent time at the famed Tiger Muay Thai academy in Thailand, is now preparing for his first mixed martial arts match—a two round amateur contest against Chris Berry under the Saturday Night Fights banner on Saturday in Regina.
“I feel good and I just really want it to happen,” King said. “I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time…I’m going to go in there, touch gloves and see what happens.”
“I feel really good about (Sam’s upcoming match),” Scales added. “He’s been in the gym six days a week, he’s done all of the work that he had to do to come into this match on Saturday and I feel very, very confident.”
Although King intends on picking up a big victory on Saturday evening and wants to go as far as he can in the sport, he is nevertheless taking his career one fight at a time.
“The next step is just to get back to the gym, get better and start looking to the next one.”
For nearly two decades, Troy Lavalley has been involved in the world of martial arts.“I wrestled in high school,” Lavalley, who was born and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan, said. “After high school, I started training in jiu-jitsu…I…
For nearly two decades, Troy Lavalley has been involved in the world of martial arts.
“I wrestled in high school,” Lavalley, who was born and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan, said. “After high school, I started training in jiu-jitsu…I trained in jiu-jitsu for a couple years, and then I moved to the United States and I started kickboxing.”
“We’ve been watching the UFC since the beginning—UFC 2 is when we started watching. The sport was growing so much—all of my friends in the States and all of my buddies up here were doing it—and having my background in martial arts, it was pretty natural to make the crossover into MMA … It was really to test myself.”
Since making the transition to mixed martial arts, Lavalley has contested—and won—a pair of amateur matches and is currently scheduled to contest his third career mixed martial arts match against Cody Moliger on Saturday under the Saturday Night Fights banner in Regina.
According to Lavalley, 35, his long run in the world of martial arts is no coincidence.
“I always enjoyed team sports, but I always enjoyed individual sports a little more, because you’re not focused on the team,” Lavalley explained. “The only person that you’re going to let down is yourself if you don’t train and eat properly. I enjoy the camaraderie amongst the teammates, too.”
“Athletics have had a very positive influence in my life,” Lavalley said. “I think I could’ve went down a couple wrong paths if I hadn’t had it at certain points in my life, so it’s been pretty important…I’d like to think that I’d be in a good position (without martial arts in my life), but practicing martial arts keeps your head on straight, keeps you grounded and it stops you from making bad decisions in life.”
While the sport admittedly plays a major role in Lavalley’s life—specifically over the course of the past year—there is a good chance that his forthcoming match could be his final foray in the sport.
“In my line of work, you’ve got to travel and you can’t put in the amount of time that’s required to compete at a very high level,” Lavalley said. “In the last year, I’ve been fortunate enough to have that time.”
“I own part of a directional drilling company, and we just started an environmental clean-up company, I’m the part-owner of Complete Martial Arts and Fitness and the co-promoter of Saturday Night Fights, so I’ve got a lot of things on my plate,” Lavalley said.
“It can be too much, to be honest. For the commitment and the training that it takes to be successful in this sport, you almost have to be 21, 22 and not have a lot of commitments. I’m doing it because I love the sport and I want to fight in my hometown again. I’m not sure if I’m ever going to do it again. It takes a lot from you and a lot of understanding and a lot of help from a lot of people.”
“There’s always that chance that I’ll take another match. I’ll have to sit down with the people in my life and find out how hard it was on them—because I can see how hard it is—but we’ll see. It’s a possibility.”
Regardless of how many matches Lavalley will have in the future, he is quick to insist that he is by no means closing the door on his time in the world of martial arts.
“After my fight, I’m going to concentrate on doing some sport jiu-jitsu,” said Lavalley, who is pursuing his brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. “I’m not saying it doesn’t take commitment—it’s still hard work and it takes a lot of commitment—but you’re not training two times a day, six days a week.”
Following Kajan Johnson’s impressive victory over Richie Whitson at MFC 31 in October, it probably wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the Burns Lake, British Columbia product’s confidence is at an all-time high. “I would change n…
Following Kajan Johnson’s impressive victory over Richie Whitson at MFC 31 in October, it probably wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the Burns Lake, British Columbia product’s confidence is at an all-time high.
“I would change nothing about my last performance,” Johnson, who has long been regarded as one of Canada’s brightest young mixed martial artists, told Bleacher Report. “If I had to grade my performance against Ritchie, I’d say it was a 10.”
After Johnson’s most recent win—his seventh victory in his past eight outings—the young lightweight is anxious to get back into the ring. According to Johnson, the sooner, the better.
“I’d like to be on the MFC card in late-January. [MFC president Mark Pavelich] has told me I’m on it, but I’m still waiting for him to confirm an opponent.”
According to Johnson—as evidenced by his enthusiastic post-fight interview in November—one potential challenger for ‘Ragin’s” return to the ring is Marcus Davis, who twice fought under the MFC banner in 2011.
“Yeah, I said Davis, but I don’t know if it’s going to happen, though,” Johnson explained. “I don’t think Pav wants that fight. If I did fight him, though, I’d beat that ass!”
Although the MFC has recently given matches to Brian Cobb, Drew Fickett and Antonio McKee, Johnson insisted that he feels there isn’t much left for him to accomplish in the confines of Canada’s most respected organization.
“No, I don’t think there’s that many interesting fights left in MFC for me,” Johnson opined. “That’s why I’m callin’ out Dana White so much on Twitter. Let me in, Dana!”
As you can probably tell, Johnson, looking past his potential return in January, is hoping to soon make the next step in his career.
“I would do very well if I signed with the UFC today,” Johnson, who recently spent time training at the TriStar Gym in Montreal, said. “There is a lot of talent there, but there’s no one like me. I’d fight anyone in that division … At this point in my career, it’s my goal to be the best fighter in the entire world, get the UFC lightweight belt and ball outta control.”
If all goes according to Kajan Johnson’s plan, the Canadian lightweight contender, who recently tried out for The Ultimate Fighter 15 in Las Vegas, will soon be coming to a television set near you.