Blackout Media Corp (BKMP)

[analyzethis]

Great DD Ovation!!! Now we're back to being a "newtwork" and "broadcaster"!!! And Pro Elite isn't on the PROGRAMMING page of TFN but I'm sure it will draw a PR when it does!


Here is another reference:

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Fighting/2007/01/22/3425937-cp.html

The Crow ready to rise

By NEIL DAVIDSON




Canadian MMA fighter David (The Crow) Loiseau poses for a photograph inside a fighting ring on Monday. (CP/Nathan Denette)

TORONTO (CP) - Last year was a tough one for David (The Crow) Loiseau.

The mixed martial arts fighter from Montreal absorbed a five-round beating from then-champion Rich Franklin in March, lost to rising star Mike Swick in September and had his contract cancelled by the UFC.

"At first I was very mad and I was very angry, but I've come to realize that it's business and that it's their organization, they do what they want and there's nothing I can do about it," Loiseau said in an interview Monday.

Still, the middleweight says there are no hard feelings. The fight game's always been like that.

"Fighters, they're not mistreated but they're taken for granted. They don't take care of us as much as they might make it seem. If David Loiseau loses twice in a row, there's another guy. They cut me just like that, in a heartbeat. They don't care if it'll affect my financial situation or not.


"It's business. They're cold-blooded with the fighters and that's one thing I've come to live with. I'm not mad at them for that, because this is the way the game is."

It's not just the UFC. It's everywhere, says Loiseau, who amazingly seems cool with it.

"It's all business and I respect it. I respect the UFC, because they don't act like it's personal. From the get-go, it's business."

Loiseau (14-6) has a three-fight, one-year deal with new employer Elite, which has set up its own MMA Organization with a TV deal with Showtime in the U.S.and The Fight Network in Canada.

The Crow is set to take on Joe Villasenor (22-5) on the undercard of a Frank Shamrock-Renzo Gracie main event in Southaven, Miss., on Feb. 10.

The Pro Elite circuit will feature the same rules as the UFC and take place in a cage.

Loiseau entered 2006 on a high after scoring wins over Gideon Ray, Charles McCarthy and Evan Tanner in 2005.

The 27-year-old Canadian was seen as a high-kicking machine with wicked elbows that could carve an opponent like a can-opener. Loiseau split open Ray's head and punished McCarthy with a spinning backheel to the body before taking him down with a knee.

Franklin, however, was made of sterner stuff.

The 185-pound champion punched, kicked and slammed Loiseau around the ring at UFC 58. Loiseau never quit and even mounted the occasional counter-attack, but it was like flinging an unarmed man into the lion's cage at the zoo.

Loiseau emerged looking like Franklin had taken a baseball bat to his head. There were no broken bones - and only a few stitches needed - but it took a week for the facial swelling to subside.

And the lopsided loss left marks elsewhere.

"It was mostly mental," he said. "Mentally I had to refocus, recover mentally from all the stress before the fight. The criticism after the fight. It was hard."

Loiseau said while he showed his heart against Franklin, he failed to show all his skills.

"I can do a lot better in the ring with Rich Franklin than what I showed."

Franklin, meanwhile, paid his own price for laying on the beating. He needed surgery to insert seven screws and a plate in his hand. He also suffered a hairline fracture in his foot and had ligament damage in his left ankle and right knuckle. Plus he needed five stitches over his left eye.

Franklin didn't fight for seven months, losing his title to Brazilian Anderson Silva next time out. He is slated to return to the ring on March 3 against Jason (The Athlete) MacDonald of Red Deer, Alta., at UFC 68 in Columbus, Ohio.

Against Swick, Loiseau started slowly before showing signs of the old fighter in the final round. It was too little too late and he lost the decision.

Loiseau blames the sluggish opening on being "probably gun shy" - and because he had trained so long in advance of the Franklin fight for a five-round title bout instead of the normal three rounds.

He said his body was asleep for the first two rounds against Swick.

Loiseau, slated to head to San Diego on Tuesday to train at Brandon Vera's camp, says he has changed his training as a result.

The Crow is ready to take flight again.

In addition to a new employer, he has a new manager - having parted ways with Montreal's Stephane Patry (who guides UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre) to sign with a Las Vegas management group that also looks after middleweight Dean Lister.

Last year, Loiseau says, was just a bump in the road.

"I'm determined, I'm young, I'm focused. I'm not the type of guy that parties and drinks. . . . I train hard. Nothing's going to stop me from being back where I want to be."

The well-spoken fighter also has faith, his religious beliefs strengthened by an ordeal at 17 when he fractured two discs in his back in a car accident.

"It's my time to show the world that I'm here to stay and I'm here to cause damage in the fight game. To be there and win championships, not just be an average fighter. I'm one of the top fighters in the world and I will eventually get back to the top of the middleweight division."

Notes: Canadian John Alessio won his welterweight fight Saturday in Las Vegas, defeating veteran Brian Gassaway in World Extreme Cagefighting action. The Vancouver native, who now calls Southern California home, won by rear naked choke at 4:50 of the first round ... UFC light-heavyweight contender Tito Ortiz turns 32 Tuesday with companion Jenna Jameson throwing an "open-to-the-public surprise birthday party" in Las Vegas to mark the occasion Tuesday at a Caesar's Place night spot.