Former Hardcore Championship Fighting (HCF) co-owner Dave Houshiar is back in business with a co-promotion between Alberta-based Legacy Fighting Championships and his own Raw Combat company, according to MMACanada.net.
This news was released by the Fight Network awhile back; however there was some confusion regarding the particulars, so we went straight to the source and interviewed Dave Houshiar regarding his thoughts on HCF and his new organization.
HCF had staked itself as one of Canada’s premier mixed martial arts promotions over the course of the past year with an impressive stable of fighters, including Aleksander Emelianenko, Mike Pyle, Jason Day, David Loiseau, Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Joe Riggs, Gideon Ray, Hector Ramirez, Rob MacDonald and others.
Unfortunately, Keith Crawford announced earlier this month that the organization was folding, ending months of speculation regarding a new investor. In Crawford’s press release he did mention that he and Dave Houshiar would be continuing on in the business — albeit not together.
Some of Dave’s thoughts on the collapse of HCF:
“To be honest, I don’t really consider it a collapse. If I had to put a label on it, I think I’d refer to it as being more along the lines of an evolution. HCF provided an excellent start point for me … I learned a lot about the sport and had an opportunity to develop many solid relationships with numerous key players. Overall, it was a great experience, but I do feel that I took the promotion as far as it could go. I’m now in the process of transitioning to the next level.”
Dave was also cordial when asked about his status with Keith:
“Keith is a very interesting guy. As far as status is concerned, we’ve both decided that it’s best to move forward in different directions at this point in time. I wish him all the best with his future endeavors.”
After the dismantling of HCF, Dave has turned around quickly with an impressive card under the new banner. The card set for June is solid with quality UFC, WEC and Pride FC veterans such as David Loiseau, Hector Ramirez, Carlo Prater and Derrick Noble.
When asked about the direction he plans on taking with Raw Combat, Dave responded:
“…I can sum it up by saying that we intend to take the best elements of HCF and then crank the volume way up. I’m planning to go big with Raw Combat. We’re going to build a brand that will come to be known for showcasing the most exciting aspects of Mixed Martial Arts action…Things are about to start moving very quickly with Raw Combat.”
The June 20 card is an impressive start for the promotions inaugural event. With world class talent promising an exciting night of fights, the Canadian MMA future looks bright. Check out the official card after the jump.
Raw Combat: Resurrection
June 20, 2008
Max Bell Centre, Calgary, Alberta
Travis Galbraith vs Hector Ramirez
Dan Hornbuckle vs Nabil Khatib - Raw Combat WW Title Fight
Andrew Buckland vs David Loiseau
Garett Davis vs Carlo Prater
Jason Maxwell vs Derrick Noble
Bibiano Fernades vs Juan Barrantes
Kajan Johnson vs Ariel Sexton
Marcus Vinicios vs Brandon MacArthur
Myles Merola vs Kurt Southern
Len Tam vs Chris Desaultels - LFC LW Title Fight
Nathan Gunn vs Max Dalsin
Adam Farr vs Dami Egbeyemi
Mike Rowbotham vs Mike Zvonick
It is interesting to note that UFC President, Dana White has acknowledged some interest in bringing back one time UFC middleweight contender, David ‘The Crow’ Loiseau, if he could string together some victories. David has dropped four of his last six fights and is coming off a unanimous decision win over Todd Gouwenberg back in March.
To read the entire interview with Dave Houshiar click here.
30 Comments »
Hispanic version
of Rampage…NICE….
this is great for MMA in Canada. i was sad to see HCF fold they had some pretty good fighters. i am looking forward to seeing the SickDog again.
Something tells me Zuffa isn’t going to like that “LFC” logo very much.
Looking at the logo, I’d be surprised if Zuffa didn’t send a C&D letter by the end of the week.
Exactly what I thought when I saw it. These guys are done already!
It’s already in the mail!
At the Max Bell arena :-s I mean the Round Up Center works prefectly well for this… but the Max Bell… its painted similar to those lego houses we used to build when we were kids and last time I checked the place is a dump.
Anywho outside of the location lol the event looks pretty good and I might actually pick up some tickets
It’s also interesting to note that guest commentators will be Denis Kang and Phil Baroni…
I’ll have to watch just for the Crow. Hope to see him in the Octagon one day again.
I was with David on the weekend and he’s pumped…he’s definitely trying to get back to the big show…
Personally, I don’t expect to ever see the same “Crow” that we saw destroy Evan Tanner. Well then again, he might be able to do that to the current Evan Tanner again…
David Loiseau’s performance against Joey Villasenior was hands down the second worst performance I’ve ever seen in an mma fight. It was number one until Kalib Starnes took the cake in his last fight, fight?, can that even be called a fight…
Typical of Canadians not named GSP. (just joking Seamus)
ViolentMike,
I understand why you would say that from what you have seen. But I have seen every Crow fight, including his last fight in March. He looked like the Crow of old, using a more wrestling based offense and very vicious ground and pound. We cheered him on to victory, and his confidence is back from hearing him after the fight. So to you, and everyone, don’t be so quick to be a keyboard warrior and count out young talented fighters. And I will be at Khatib’s opening of his new gym to train with him, he will win the title on that night.
The Khatib/Hornbuckle fight is going to be a war…mark my words…fireworks written all over that one…
They both look like mean bastards.
Khatib is very exciting…
Max Bell Centre, Calgary, Alberta
If i culd go, i would. Hmm..I think i’ll try and get some friends to car pool from Saskatoon here…It would be nice!..:)
Hmm Something tells me that the WWE is going to take issue with the Raw Logo, looking very similar to the WWE Monday night RAW, and RAW is WAR logo. Someone call Vinnie Mac
i think they are seeing how many C&E letters they can possibly get for one poster.
err i meant C&D letters.
“FIGHT START AT 7:30″
Nice grammar. Hahah.
go ramirez!
Phil Baroni - Special commentator? Did you guys see his last interview? It’s getting hard for him to put a sentence together this is not good for the show. On the other hand, it’s better to have him as a commentator than as a fighter.
Sexton, Khatib, Merola, Davis; looks like all the old fighters from HCF. I was wondering why they folded. If the new leadership of this “raw combat” can keep working with Legacy we could have some sweet shows.
good to see more mma events in canada, hope the ufc come back with a good ppv and lastly good to see the good ol wwf style raw font was used i loved the old’school monday nite wars when i though wrastling was real-lol
Your PRedictions
for me, The Crow going to win, an Ramirez to, I think Barrantes going to defeat Bibiano Fernandes also
Does anyone no if kids 15+ can go ?
Can kids 15+ go ??
Can kids go??
I was at the event last night here in Calgary and it was obviously their first show but all in all, the fights were great! Too bad the arena was half full at best, Calgary needs to get on board and start supporting MMA. Yes, granted it was mainly unknown fighters ,with the exception of a few, and the tickets were a little pricey, it was a test run on a live production which did have some problems but overall was good. Lets start with the set-up. Very nice size black cage in the middle of the arena. Black railed floor entrance way to ring for fighters. An impressive double half circle light display at the entrance. Rail lighting above both sides of the walkway to the cage with some impressive light displays. Circular light display over the cage. When it comes to the floor seating, lets not get into that but thats ticketmaster being fucking retards and telling people there was will-call when there really wasnt so a good number of people stood around and waited for ticketmaster to send a list over. Then, ticketmaster sold tickets to rows that weren’t even there!! Kind enough of RAW combat guys to let us grab chairs and make our own row on the floor!! Other than that, the floor set-up was good, good views all around in a small arena like the Max Bell. Show started late but the music came up loud and the show was on. I should have brought a notepad to assist my memory on the names of the guys and what fight ended how but i will do my best here. Quick note, they brought the guys in for the first 3 fights and then announced them in the cage then after that they were announcing them before they came out, to assist people with knowing who was coming up which helped and more people cheered when they knew who was who or mostly were they were fighting out of. Also, after the fights, the fighters were leaving back down the same walkway they came in but changed it to a side exit after a while because they were doing the fights quicker because they started late. Anyway, first fight, spectacular! One guy getting his ass worked but ended up putting the other guy in a wicked armbar and winning! One fight ended in a beautiful Gogoplatta. Like i said, i wish i had brought a notepad…lol.sorry. Lee Tam won the Lightweight title fight. In the main event, Hornbuckle won the welterweight title with a dominant performance that ended in round 1. KO of the night went to David ‘the crow’ Loiuseau for the impressive KO of Buckland 13 seconds into round 1. Even knocked out Bucklands tooth in the process!! lol. Out of the 11 fights, 9 were great and 2 were snoozers. Dont know what happened to Ramirez but that fight didn’t happen. So all in all, the fights were great, presentation was a work in progress but good. Got to get more fans out next time, i would recommend going to see LFC/Raw combat. And a note to the announcer, when your announcing the winner of a title fight, make sure you announce he won a title!@!@@@@