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Stephane "Simba" Vigneault Out For 6 Months

According to a personal site of Stephane Vigneault, Stephane will be out of action for 6 months due to a detached retina. Should this report be true, it would mean that his match up for the TKO title at TKO 35 will have to be put on hold. One has to wonder of this does not open the door for Mark Hominick, who recently stated that he would only go back to TKO if it was for a title shot.

On behalf of The Franchise, I would like to wish Stephane a speedy recovery to full health and all the best during this lay off period.

Claude Patrick is Recovering

As Pete Rodley had indicated in a pulic statement yesterday, the reports on the brutality of the attack on him and two fighters have been greatly exaggerated. Former IFL fighter Claude Patrick confirmed to The Fight Network that he is "doing better". A full report was done by Sherdog's Andy Cotterill which fully explains what happened from Claude's point of view.

Latest Shows Ready For Download!

The Franchise - Full Show July 27th with hosts Gary Whittaker and Nick Murdocco

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• It was the best of times, it was the worst of times for the Montreal Impact
• 2nd Half suspects in our Montreal Alouettes CFL Report
• Update on the Pound 4 Pound Challenge - Gary is making his move!
• The Weigh In - Montreal's deepest combat sports coverage
  • Review the Freedom Fight Title Quest event
  • Live interview with Team Saigo's Steven Williams about Showdown At The Dome on August 23rd!
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Off The Bench - with hosts Leigh Lefebvre and Gerry Brossard Jr

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• 2008 NFL Season Preview - NFC South

Updated: Pete Rodley Issues Statement About Post Event Incident

Still looking to confirm reports, but it seems that Pete Rodley, the man behind Freedom Fight Title Quest, was the target of an apparent attack from a group of about 10-15 men. Pete issued a statement on a popular MMA forum about what happened:

Updated:

You have all emailed or called me about an unfortunate incident that occurred at the Best Western Hotel in Gatineau on the morning of July 27th. I have read some of your "reports" on this terrible act and I am disgusted at many of the assumptions that I have read in various articles.

I have run professional MMA events for many years and have never seen any of my athletes cause any problems at all. Our sport is one of honour and respect and none of our athletes involve themselves in violent activities. I personally have NEVER encountered any violence or hostility before, during or after any of my events. To assume that because we are involved in a combat sport, that MMA events and athletes would do something like this is very insulting!

If you have chosen to write responsible reports about Saturday night's event, I applaud your efforts and thank you for not assuming that Mixed Martial Artists are the type of people to be involved.

Here are some simple facts about the violent events that you all have been asking about:

No Freedom Fighters or MMA athletes who were guests at my show were the people who performed these terrible acts.

There were several injuries but nothing to the extent that I have read in some reports.

Everyone who was attacked is fine now.

On Saturday July 26th, I hosted a historic event which was highlighted by 3 title bouts, the MMA debut of CFL great Glen Kulka, the MMA debut of Robin Black as well as 6 other dynamic and entertaining bouts. I will gladly answer any questions about the show at any time.

Thank you,

Pete Rodley
Freedom Fight Productions

I want to thank Andy Cotterill from Sherdog.com for turning me on to this statement.

Fearless Prediction: Côté WILL KO Silva at UFC 90

Patrick Côté has been signed to take on Anderson "The Spider" Silva in Chicago at UFC 90, and as I stated in the headline, I boldly predict a win for Quebec's own Patrick "The Predator" Côté! While Patrick may completely disagree with me stating that Silva is head and shoulders a better MMA fighter than him (sorry Patrick), Silva is way too into trying to outbox his opponents. I believe that Patrick will be able to take advantage of the situation, and capitalize on Anderson's overconfidence in his own abilities. More to the point, I think that Anderson's KO of "The Sandman" will only serve to over-inflate his ego. Patrick HAS A CHIN! Patrick will be able to withstand Silva's striking enough to land one of his own devastating punches. Patrick may be a middleweight, but he has the punching power of a light heavyweight. After Oct 25th, Quebec will be the home of 2 MMA World Champions!

Freedom Fight Title Quest Results

Yours truly was covering the event live at the Robert Guertin Arena in Gatineau/Hull with none other than Marco Poulin at The Ultime Fanatic! I did several interviews with the winners of the matches for the Ultime Fanatic, and links to them will be provided when made public.

We said that this was going to be an event that was not to be missed, and Title Quest more than delivered! Forget about "Fight of the Night" honors, as every fight was tremendous. Pete Rodley really knows how to put together an amazing show, and showed he had a lot of heart as well. He allowed several other promoters, that were putting on events in the area for various charity organizations, to be given center stage to promote their event.

Montreal Impact Lose to Rochester 2-0. Nutrilite Champions Last Place in the USL

After a two game road trip that saw the Montreal Impact tie Toronto FC as well as the Rochester Rhinos, the team was back in Montreal to present the Voyageur cup to the sold out, appreciative fans that attended the second game in a home and away series against the Rhinos.

While the setting was right to celebrate the impact's advancing in the CONCACAF Champions League, the players knew that they also had other business at hand, namely advancing in the USL standings .

"I think that Sunday’s game will be different from Friday’s game because we will play in Montreal,” said defender Simon Gatti. “I think that we have to play even more offensively in order to get points in the standings. On the road, a tie game is not a bad result but at home, we want the win by giving as well a good match to our fans.”

“We are expecting to win at home,” said midfielder David Testo. “We were a little bit disappointed with the result Friday with only one point on the road. It should be another hard game but we are hoping a better outcome at home by scoring on our chances.

They said all the right things and surely meant them, but you can't underestimate the power of confidence and momentum and the Rochester Rhinos had both.

MFC 17 - Hostile Takeover Results

Here are the results, courtesy of Sherdog's MM-eh!:

Pat Healy def. Ryan Ford – Submission Armbar
Donald Sanchez def. Jason Maxwell – Submission Triangle Choke
Ron Faircloth def. Levi Avera – Submission RNC
Ben Henderson def. Ricardo Tirloni – Submission Guillotine Choke
Aron Lofton def. Dwayne Lewis - KO
Ryan Machan def. Ryan Heck – TKO
Jay Whitford def. Jason Kuchera – Submission Armbar
Gavin Neil def. Evan Sanguin Neil- TKO
Mike Sorensen def. Lemont Davis - TKO
Elliot Duff def. Brandon Curts - TKO
Jason Zorthian def. Jesse Clarke - Unanimous Decision

Montreal Alouettes Lose Another Heartbreaker To The BC Lions 36-34

The Montreal Alouettes went into Vancouver Friday night wanting to accomplish something that they have not been able to do since Y2K; Beat the BC Lions on their own home turf. They'll have to wait until next year.

Impact Escape Rochester With a 1-1 Tie

The Montreal Impact, fresh off their recent clinching of the Voyageur Cup with their tie last Tuesday against Toronto FC of the MLS, didn't have much time to celebrate as they saw themselves presently back in last place in the USL. A win is what they needed if they hoped to close the gap between them and the teams in front of them. They would be fortunate enough, however, to leave Rochester with a tie after a hard fought match against a team well ahead of them in the standings and coming off 5 days of rest.