Coming off knee surgery, Roger Hollett beat Marcus Hicks in Halifax on Saturday. (MFC)

While Edmonton fans will be eager to see how local hero Ryan Ford does in his first fight coming off of a loss, another fighter who knows something about having win streaks come to a halt suddenly is fighting in the main event of MFC 18 on Friday.

Former UFC light-heavyweight David Heath started off his mixed martial arts career with eight straight wins, including the latter two in the UFC.

But three straight losses in under a year, and he was cut. He totally understood.

"I wasn't fighting worth a damn. If I were running the UFC, I would have released me too."

Heath said part of his downfall was overconfidence. He was injured six weeks
prior to his second loss -- the famous choke by Renato (Babalu) Sobral in which Babalu wouldn't let go after the tap out -- but he took the fight nonetheless, partly because he needed the pay day, but mostly because he thought he could win anyway.

In hindsight, he said he would have pulled out. And then in his next bout, against newcomer Tim Boetsch, he didn't expect to have the fight taken to him. He was caught with a knee and went down, and almost as fast made his exit from the organization.

Heath is now thrilled to have the opportunity to fight with the Edmonton-based promotion, which had actually offered him an deal after his second win in the Octagon, in which he beat former MFC fighter Victor Valimaki. Heath was still under contract with the UFC, so he declined. But Pavelich came calling again once he became available.

Heath was originally slated to challenge Halifax native Roger Hollett for the light-heavyweight title on Friday's card. But Hollett, coming off knee surgery, felt he needed a tuneup fight first. Instead, Hollett demolished Marcus Hicks in his hometown ECC promotion this past Saturday.

Heath was okay with that decision.

"I would have been his toughest opponent to date so I totally understand him
wanting to ease in there," Heath said.

If Heath wins his bout against Emanuel Newton, he will get his shot against
Hollett at MFC 19 in December.

The MFC has announced a new three-event deal with Mark Cuban-owned HDNet, starting in Dec. 5 with MFC 19: Long Time Coming. The MFC's initial three-fight partnership to air MFC events on the high-definition network's HDNet Fights ended with MFC 17. Cuban was in attendance for that show, and the parties were soon able to work out a new deal.

"HDNet Fights seeks out the best partners around the globe and this past year the MFC brought some amazing action to HDNet," said Andrew Simon, CEO of HDNet Fights.


Since Valimaki lost his light-heavyweight belt to Hollett in August 2007 in what was his last fight with the MFC, Valimaki was out of action for almost a year. But he earned two wins over the summer with King of the Cage, in Montreal and Edmonton.

Valimaki has now signed with RAW Combat in Calgary and is scheduled to fight
in its Oct. 25 card at the Stampede Corral. That card will also include top-notch Canadian middleweight Denis Kang.


The new season of The Ultimate Fighter, which debuted last week, featured
two Canadians, but only one moved on. Halifax native and MFC fighter Ryan
Jimmo was unable to earn one of the 16 spots on the show, losing a decision.
Polish-born Krzysztof Soszynski, who lives in Winnipeg and is the current TKO heavyweight champion was much more impressive, knocking out his opponent
in 19 seconds.

Ford, asked about whether he would consider trying out for the reality show,
said he wasn't really interested.

"When you try out for the Ultimate Fighter, it kind of builds your name. I'm going to build my name the way I'm doing it now," Ford said. "Plus I don't see myself being in a house with all those guys."