Promoter Christian Mancuso in front of the Niagara Falls skyline. Photo by Andy Cotterill
By Andy Cotterill
Since the sport of MMA first gained popularity in Canada in the mid-2000’s, the regional promotion scene has had it’s share of ups and downs.
Arguably the two largest ever Canadian promotions, Montreal’s TKO and Edmonton’s MFC have both fallen to the wayside, while currently BC’s BFL, Ontario’s BTC, and Alberta’s Unified are all apparently thriving in their corners of the country.
Now a new promotion is set to have their debut.
Front Row Fight Club, formerly known as Tarps Off Fight Club, had their original debut planned for December 2021 until increased Government COVID protocols shut it down on the day of the weigh-ins. Now, the Niagara Falls, Ontario based promotion is ready to go again with a new debut scheduled for June 25th 2022 at the Niagara Falls Convention Centre.
Promoter Christian Mancuso told MM-eh that he got the idea to start his own MMA organization after having spent time with UFC veteran and friend Jake Shields at a High Rollers grappling event in Las Vegas.
“I was there having a great time and thought to myself that I wished there was more MMA opportunity in Ontario, and I came back and started working on the Fight Club right away.”
He worked diligently to prepare for his first show only to have COVID regulations squash it, but with time he seems to have gotten over the disappointment.
“A part of me is like everything happens for a reason, and I think what better time to come back and do an event in Niagara Falls in the summertime when there’s no restrictions? I think I’m more fired up now than I was then.”
Mancuso says that there is definitely space for Front Row in the current MMA landscape as long as he sets himself apart from other organizations in Ontario like BTC. “They’ve done a good job and listen, they provide fights for the fighters and that at the end of the day is important, for me I really want to provide a fun experience for the fans and keep that pace up and keep the action coming.”
To distinguish FRFC from it’s competitors Mancuso intends to incorporate some things that he wasn’t fully ready to disclose yet, but he did reveal that he and his backers, a technology firm from the UK, will somehow include the world of Web 3 in some capacity.
Another revelation was that the plan for Front Row Fight Club is not just to be a regional Canadian MMA show, but to be an International Combat show, and their second show will take place in the United States.
“I will say Front Row Fight Club while we’re doing professional MMA here in Canada, we do plan on being a combat sports organization, so for those cards that we are jumping outside of Canada you can expect to see some kickboxing and Muay Thai fights mixed in, as well as potential submission grappling.”
With the Niagara Falls card still two months away Mancuso will only reveal one confirmed bout at this point, a rematch from the cancelled December card that will see Niagara Top Team‘s Xavier ‘Spartacus’ Nash take on Drummondville, QC’s Jordan ‘Django’ Balmir, who most recently fought for the Canadian Middleweight boxing title in February.
Also on the card will be Nash’s NT Teammate Teshay Gouthro.
Mancuso’s final words on why FRFC will be a success:
“We’ve got the vision, I think we have the tools, we’re plugged in and I think it gives us an advantage.”
I hope this goes well, as long as they have some good matchups I’d make the trip down.
Do you know how I can get on this card?