http://www.mytelus.com/sports/articl...icleID=2387449
Led by former UFC welterweight champion Carlos Newton, the Toronto-based Dragons are Canada's entry in the fledgling International Fight League. They make their mixed martial arts debut Saturday in Moline, Ill., against Frank Shamrock's Razorclaws of San Jose.
Newton, 30, believes the team-based IFL can go where the Ultimate Fighting Championship can't.
"UFC's been around for 10 years and was the first show on TV, but UFC is scratching on the window of the mainstream audience. It's not broken through yet," Newton said in an interview at Warrior Martial Arts, the supersized suburban Toronto gym run by his manager Terry Riggs.
"IFL will be the one to break through."
Newton has no beef with the UFC. In fact, he wishes it well knowing a healthy UFC, North America's dominant player in mixed martial arts, is good for the sport.
He just believes that the IFL brand of MMA is more palatable to the public.
IFL fights take place in a ring, rather than a cage. Elbow strikes to the head are prohibited, helping prevent cuts that end bouts early. That's good news for both the fighters, and the IFL's TV network, Fox Sports Net, which has a better shot of more action without premature stoppages during fight cards.
"It is much more mainstream than the UFC will ever be, just from appearance value," Newton explained. "I've been able to walk into bars here in Newmarket and seen the PGA (Tour golf) and the IFL side by side on TV screens. I've never seen the UFC walking into a family establishment on TV."
The team setup makes for more strategy. Coaches can choose their lineups to get better matchups on the best-of-five fight card. And if they win the pre-fight toss, they can choose the order of the bouts.
The IFL's league format also helps avoid the focus on champions in the UFC and other promotions, where title bouts traditionally headline cards. The UFC, for example, found itself short on champions earlier this year when both Chuck Liddell and Rich Franklin, two of its four title-holders, were sidelined through injury.
The IFL started with four teams, with cards in April and June in Atlantic City. Now it is up to eight squads, with the addition of the Dragons and three others, and has launched a fall tournament that began Sept. 9 in Portland.
The first full league season will kick off in January with 11 events planned.
Like the Dragons, each team is led by a marquee fighter who will coach his squad and take part in so-called "super fights" on the card.
Other squads are the Anacondas (coach Bas Rutten, Los Angeles), Pitbulls (Renzo Gracie, New York), Sabres (Antonio Inoki, Tokyo), Silverbacks (Pat Miletich, Quad Cities, Ill.), Tigersharks (Maurice Smith, Seattle) and Wolfpack (Matt Lindland, Portland).
Four more teams are planned for the 2007 season.
The Dragons will be a road squad. Ontario does not sanction mixed martial arts events. Neither does New York.
Newton, who has fought sparingly in recent years, says it was veterans like Smith, Gracie and Rutten who convinced him to come on board.
"We've got your back, we did our homework. . . . It's an amazing opportunity,"' he remembers them saying.
"They said we've had no disappointment with them so far. They (the IFL) really do take care of the fighters, they really have it structured so that in the end the fighters benefit. Guys like us being around in this game for as long as we've been, we made our mark, this is our chance to take care of our future generation."
Newton's stable of fighters has been put on salary, with additional fight contracts and win bonuses.
"I know exactly what other coaches are paying their fighters," Newton said. "I know the budget they have to work with, they know my budget. The fighters in between teams discuss (money) with one another."
Newton says each of his fighters stands to make in excess of US$60,000 next year, even if they lose all of their fights.
That beats what newcomers to the UFC earn, he says.
The only Canadian to hold a title in the UFC - the championship belt hangs proudly on the wall of his gym - Newton has a special relationship with the UFC. He still attends many of its marquee events.
"I am a former world champion, that will never change regardless of how much they like me or don't. Having that, yes it is in everyone's best interest to make it a good-working relationship."
But Newton is a realist.
"UFC generally, they do have their fighters' best interests at heart, but you have to be a damn good fighter. They have to see a need for you at that time. If they don't see a need for you in the present moment. . ."
He is also a businessman, who knows the bottom line. And like other fighters, he knows that the UFC has prospered in recent years.
"Everyone knows it's pretty obvious that they've recovered their losses, their revenues are astronomically big. There is a lot of consensus out there we're not getting the good end of the stick and we need to start standing up for ourselves."
Newton plans to coach and occasionally fight - he has moved from welterweight (170 pounds) to middleweight (185) and looks like a compact bodybuilder with his powerful torso and bulging arms.
MMA will always be a key component of his life but he also has a construction company on the side. Newton describes himself as a sponge when it comes to business.
"I know my strengths and weaknesses. I'm very good at sizing people up. And when I see someone do something, I see myself saying 'you know what? I can do that too."'
"I know I've got dedication, commitment, discipline and all that good stuff," he added. "I've been fighting for 10 years. I got a UFC title. That was the goal I laid out for myself when I was 16 years old. I achieved it. And I realised I achieved it not because of my skills or whatever but because I chose that goal and I stuck to it.
"It's a matter of doing it again."
It all makes for a crazy schedule. But that doesn't faze Newton.
"I'm good at dealing with people and multi-tasking. MMA itself is multi- tasking."
Coach Carlos Newton on his team: "They've got a lot of camaraderie and they have a lot of history together. And it shows."
Newton on choosing the Dragons as team name: "When kids hear about the Dragons, I want their imagination to go wild. A dragon is not a real thing. Already when you talk about a dragon, we're using our imagination to conceive of it."
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Notes: Jason (The Athlete) MacDonald has achieved his dream of making it to the UFC. The middleweight, a native of New Glasgow, N.S., who now makes his home in Red Deer, Alta., has been added to the card of Ultimate Fight Night 7 - The Final Chapter, to be shown live Oct. 10 on Spike TV. MacDonald, a corrections official in Bowden, Alta., will fight Ed (Short Fuse) Herman on the undercard of the Tito Ortiz-Ken Shamrock fight in Hollywood, Fla.
A look at the Toronto-based Dragons of the International Fight League:
Rob Di Censo, lightweight (Woodbridge, Ont.): Excellent jiu-jitsu and ground skills. Has improved striking game.
Claude Patrick, welterweight (Mississauga, Ont.): Good jiu-jitsu and striking, worked hard to become well-rounded fighter."
Joe Doerksen, middleweight (Winnipeg): Most experienced member of the team, with UFC background. Well-rounded fighter who is being counted on to show his teammates the ropes.
Brent Beauparlant, light-heavyweight (Montreal): Good wrestling background and striking skills. Very solid chin. Has fought as a heavyweight.
Wojtek Kaszowski, heavyweight (Toronto): Powerful striker with fast moves.
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