The Maximum Fighting Championship wasted no time in finding a top-notch opponent for the recently signed Thales Leites as another big-name middleweight has joined the fray.

Former Abu Dhabi world champion Dean Lister signed a multi-fight deal last night and immediately agreed to meet Leites at MFC 23: Unstoppable on Friday, December 4 at the River Cree Resort and Casino. The bout will be the main event of the fight card broadcast live throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico on HDNet Fights.

“This is an outstanding matchup and I am particularly pleased that both Dean and Thales agreed to fight each other so quickly – no discussion, no delays. Just signed, sealed and delivered,” said MFC Owner/President Mark Pavelich.

“It is a great fight. Both guys have a lot to prove and both guys want the MFC title belt. There’s a lot at stake in this fight and that’s when things get very interesting.”

With the signings of Lister and Leites along with the return of Jason MacDonald, the recent main-event victory by Travis Lutter, and other names such as Bryan Baker and Solomon Hutcherson, the MFC’s middleweight division has suddenly become very deep in experienced talent.

“I couldn’t be happier about reloading our 185-pound division,” noted Pavelich. “For too long the division was pretty empty but now the cupboard is full – and full of names that the fans want to see fight.”

Lister (11-6) is one of the most-decorated submission fighters in the world of mixed martial arts, and he holds career victories over such notables as Jeremy Horn, Yuki Sasaki, and Alessio Sakara. Seven of Lister’s nine submission wins have come inside the first round.

The San Diego, California, product has numerous other grappling credentials on his resume. In addition to his Absolute Division championship at the 2003 Abu Dhabi, Lister captured victories in tournament superfights in 2003 and 2005, and he holds the event record with four straight wins in the ‘03 event. Lister, a master of foot and knee locks, is a two-time U.S. national sambo champion, a four-time U.S. national champion in Machado Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and a U.S. national champion in Gracie jiu-jitsu.

Bobby Lashley vs. Mike Cook fight video at MFC 21 “Hard Knocks” on Friday May 15th.

One of the most dominating up-and-coming fighters in the world has signed on with the Maximum Fighting Championship.

Former WWE star Bobby “The Dominator” Lashley will step into the MFC ring on Friday, May 15 at MFC 21: Hard Knocks live from the River Cree Resort and Casino and airing live throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico on HDNet Fights.

A chiseled and imposing figure at six-foot-three and 265 pounds, Lashley is the premier heavyweight prospect in all of mixed martial arts.

“Bobby Lashley is a phenomenal athlete and a very impressive fighter who wants to make a big name for himself in mixed martial arts,” noted MFC Owner/President Mark Pavelich. “He is a very exciting prospect and he will get a monumental opportunity to break into the spotlight at MFC 21.”

Lashley (2-0) won his debut fight with a 41-second TKO of Joshua Franklin in December 2008. He is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Jason Guida in March.

At Hard Knocks, Lashley will square off against Mike Cook (7-3) who is trained by legendary mixed martial arts persona Frank Shamrock.

“We are excited to partner with the MFC to feature the network debut of Bobby Lashley on HDNet,” said HDNet Fights CEO Andrew Simon.

“Bobby’s size, name recognition and collegiate wrestling background make him an unbelievable prospect in the heavyweight division.”

Lashley had a successful amateur background in wrestling, twice winning the NAIA college championship and then winning pair of U.S. Armed Forces titles. The Junction City, Kansas, native propelled his amateur abilities into the professional wrestling ranks with the WWE. During a three-year run, Lashley won three championships with the WWE, appeared on numerous pay-per-view events, and held prestigious spots on the WWE programs RAW, Smackdown!, and ECW.

HDNet’s “Inside MMA” will feature Lashley on the May 1 edition in a no-holds-barred discussion of his transition from professional wrestling to his future in MMA.

Former EliteXC fighters Paul “Semtex” Daley (19-7-2) and Nick “The Goat” Thompson (36-10-1) will step in the cage at MFC 20 “Destined For Greatness” on Feb. 20 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Daley is coming off an impressive second round TKO stoppage victory over MMA veteran John Alessio at MFC 19 on Dec. 5. Semtex has won 7 of his last 8 fights, losing only to Jake Shields at EliteXC “Heat” on CBS.

Also derailed by Shields, Thompson’s 11 fight winning streak came to an end when he lost to Jake Shields at EliteXC “Unfinished Business” in July.

Paul “Semtex” Daley used his superior striking and great takedown defence to nullify John Alessio ground game tonight at MFC 19 in Alberta, Canada. Here are the rest of the cards results:

MFC 19 Results

Aron Lofton (4-1) defeats Jason Kuchera (3-3) by Submission (Guillotine Choke) at 0:44 of Round 1
Josh Russell (2-0) defeats Colby Snyder (5-2-0) by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 1:44 of Round 1
Ryan Machan (7-2) defeats Mike Sorenson (4-2) by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 4:54 of Round 1
Kyle Sandford (7-1) defeats Joey Gorczynski (12-4) by Split Decision (3 x 29-28)
Derrick Noble (23-11-1) defeats Ariel Sexton (5-2) by Submission (Guillotine Choke) at 1:30 of Round 2
Paul Daley (19-7-2) defeats John Alessio (24-12) by TKO (Strikes) at 2:18 of Round 2
Emanuel Newton (11-3-1) defeats Champion Roger Hollett (8-2) by Unanimouse Decision

Canadian born fighter John Alessio returns to his home country to face UK badass Paul “Semtex” Daley at MFC 19 “Long Time Coming” on December 5th in Enoch, Alberta, Canada, according to MMAFighting.

Xtreme Couture trained fighter, Alessio will be looking for his third win in a row against the hard hitting former Cage Rage welterweight champion Paul Daley.

Paul Daley was submitted by Jake Shields at EliteXC “Heat” early last month.

John Alessio:

“I’m super excited for this fight … I think its one of the biggest welterweight fights Canada has seen. Daley brings in good striking and he’s athletic and explosive, this is a big fight for my career.”

“I have a lot of family and friends coming out for this … It’s great to return to my home country to fight because I’ve been staying in the US for so long a lot of people forget I am Canadian. I am mostly just looking forward to getting in the ring again. Fighting is what I love to do.”

After the whole controversy of Drew Fickett (34-5) stepping out on EliteXC, it looks like Fickett was trying to pull another fast one at this past weekends Strikeforce “Melendez vs. Thompson” event. Here is a statement released by Maximum Fighting Championship President Mark Pavelich.

I would like to take this opportunity to offer a personal response to
comments and actions taken by Drew Fickett over the past 72 hours.

Drew had agreed to and signed a contract to fight on the Maximum Fighting Championship show on July 25 for the welterweight title against Ryan Ford. Over the last few days, Drew has caused severe problems and therefore we find him in complete breach of his contract.

We were shocked to learn Drew agreed on one day’s notice to fight as a
middleweight in another organization’s event this past Friday. When I contacted this other organization, its owner immediately cancelled Drew’s fight when informed that he was under contract to fight on the MFC show and as part of Mr. Fickett’s contract he was not allowed to take another fight up to five weeks before the MFC show.

When I learned of Drew’s intentions to take this fight, I repeatedly attempted to reach Drew’s manager to find out why. After numerous attempts to reach his manager went unreturned, I did leave a voice mail which has since been made public. I admit to being very upset, angry and frustrated not only by Drew’s action but also by not being able to reach his manager and the tone of that voice mail reflected my feelings.

Shortly afterwards I realized that I should have taken a deep breath and calmed down before leaving that message and I profusely apologized to Drew’s manager. I am not proud of that message but as the owner of a major fight organization I felt that I and my staff which works tirelessly to put on a first-class show were being treated very disrespectfully by Drew. If he had read his contract he would have realized he shouldn’t have taken the fight and he should not have attempted to get away with it.

Then for Drew to post the private voice mail – which was not left on his
phone – was just ridiculous and petty.

This was the last straw in a series of unprofessional acts by Drew. He failed to send a promotional photo that we wanted to use for advertising the fight even after the MFC had sent him gloves and even went as far as being willing to book a photographer to take the pictures. He also failed to send any documents pertaining to his medicals, passport and border information.

Drew even stated in an email after the posting of the voice mail that he was still willing to fight in the MFC. But after that he added that he would want to be paid after the weigh-in one day before the fight. There is no question in my mind that Drew would have stiffed us completely and run off with our money without fighting as some sort of warped payback for the MFC protecting its investment in him and doing everything in its power to not allow him to fight within the five-week period prior to July 25.

We now completely understand why that despite his excellent record so many
organizations will not work with Drew and we have a pretty clear indication
why he has been banned by the UFC.

Drew Fickett will never fight in the MFC. As evidenced by his latest actions Drew clearly does not want to fight Ryan Ford for the MFC title despite signing a contract to do so.

The MFC has never had any problems with any fighters who do not breach
their contract nor have we had any problems with fighters with issues that we do control such as payment for fights, travel itineraries, etc. Fighters we have problems with are ones who are neurotic misfits with poor management who won’t take responsibility for their actions, who won’t live up to fulfilling their contracts and those who do not act as professional athletes.

I will take all steps necessary to settle this issue legally and I will also move immediately into replacing Drew Fickett with a top-level fighter to contend for the MFC welterweight title against Ryan Ford on July 25.

Mark Pavelich, Owner/President

Maximum Fighting Championship

Mark Pavelich’s Voice Mail

“It’s Mark Pavelich calling from the Maximum Fighting Championship,

I’ve just received notice that Drew Fickett or you, I don’t care which one of you fuckers did it, has signed a contract to fight in Strikeforce this fucking weekend. I’m going to get on a fucking plane soon and go where you’re at and choke you the fuck out. I’m telling you right now, I’ve had enough of your fucking shit. First of all, I’ve sent you the fucking pictures and secondly, I placed Drew Fickett in a fight fucking months ago and five weeks prior to my main event of my fucking fight card. You’re going to give me a fucking call tomorrow or I swear I’ll get on a fucking plane and go right where you’re at right now. You’re pissing me off, I’ve been nothing but professional to you motherfuckers and you’re doing this kind of bullshit, alright? Call me back, I’m fucking pissed.”

Fickett Explains The Situation, Classic, Must Listen

TG: MMARated