TKO_Major_League_MMA

TKO Major League MMA

TKO Major League MMA

Canadian MMA promotion broadcast on UFC Fightpass.


TKO Major League MMA is a Canadian mixed martial arts promotion established in 2000, it was originally broadcast on RDS and later on Fight Network. Formerly known as the Universal Combat Challenge (UCC), it was the first mixed martial arts promotion in Canada, before eventually rebranding to TKO Major League MMA in 2003. For years it was the largest MMA promotion in Canada, before eventually going on hiatus for 8 years.[1] Returning in 2016, since then it has signed a deal with the UFC to be broadcast on the promotion's streaming service UFC Fight Pass.[2]

Quick Facts Sport, Founded ...

History

Founded in early 2000 by Stephane Patry and Universal Combat Challenge (UCC) would allow wrestling, boxing, kickboxing, grappling, their bouts consisted of two 10 minute rounds. The rules at the beginning also allowed for knee's and kick's(soccer kick) to the head of a downed opponent. Following the success of the first event they would announce that the promotion would be instituting Canadian Championship titles as well as the World Championship titles beginning at UCC 2 due to international interest, this would last until 2005 when the promotion unified the titles. UFC/TKO started off with 6 weight classes, 265 lb, formerly unlimited), Light Heavyweight (205 lb), Middleweight(185 lb), Welterweight(170 lb), Lightweight(155 lb) and Super Lightweight(now known as Featherweight 145 lb). Bantamweight would be added in 2007 and following the promotions return from hiatus, Flyweight(125 lb) and 2 female weight classes were introduced, Woman's Flyweight and Woman's Straw-weight (125 lb and 115 lb).

TKO/UCC was the first promotion of its kind in Canada and was host to an abundance of Canada's top MMA talent for close to two decades, in 2003 the organization would be rebranded as TKO Major League MMA. In the promotions early days they used a boxing-style ring for their contests, before eventually being one of the first to adopt the UFC-spec octagon. The promotion has organized 62 events involving over 620 matches.

Universal Combat Challenge

On June 2, 2000, UCC would hold their first event in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The promotion ran 21 events under the UCC banner before rebranding to TKO Major League MMA in 2003.

Events

More information Title, Date ...

[3]

TKO Major League MMA

On September 6, 2003, TKO had its first show under the new brand name. 41 events have been held under the TKO banner with the previous UCC events being added being added onto TKO.

Events

More information #, Event Title ...

[4]

Events

Scheduled events

More information #, Event ...

Past events

More information #, Event ...

[5]

Return

The company's return to action would be announced with TKO 36: Resurrection on November 4, 2016. This coming after 8 years of inactivity. With founder Stephane Patry returning it quickly regained its status as one of the top Mixed Martial Arts promotions in Canada. Since then it has held 14 event's all in Quebec, the return would see the introduction of new weight classes including female weight classes which had previously been absent from the promotion.[6]

Broadcast deal

In August 2016 it was announced that TKO Major League and the Ultimate Fighting Championship had signed a deal for TKO events to be broadcast on the UFC's digital streaming service, UFC Fight Pass.[7] TKO MMA had its first event on Fightpass on November 4, 2016. The promotion also acts as a feeder organization for the UFC with the company often offering contracts to TKO Major League Champions.[8] The prelims still air on Fight Network.

Current issues

In 2019, TKO Major League had to cancel TKO Major League 46: Pessoa vs. Gane due to 18 fighter's being injured or ill well trying to book the card.[9] The Second incident occurred when President of the organization Stephane Patry was hospitalized, the promotion had to cancel its second event of the year TKO Major League 49: Matsuba vs. Gordan postponing it. The Covid-19 pandemic would force the organization to remain inactive from 2020 to 2021, as the company decided to restructure before returning to action. Athletes under contract with TKO have all obtained permission to fight outside of organization during this time, athletes with valid contracts have not left TKO.[10]

Champions

More information Division, Upper weight limit ...

TKO World Championship History

TKO World Heavyweight Championship

120 kg (265 lb)

More information No., Name ...

TKO World Light Heavyweight Championship

93 kg (205 lb)

More information No., Name ...

TKO World Middleweight Championship

84 kg (185 lb)

More information No., Name ...

TKO World Welterweight Championship

77 kg (170 lb)

More information No., Name ...

TKO World Lightweight Championship

70 kg (155 lb)

More information No., Name ...

TKO World Featherweight Championship

70 kg (145 lb)
Prior to TKO Major League 24: Eruption, the 145 lbs division was known as Super Lightweight.

More information No., Name ...

TKO World Bantamweight Championship

61 kg (135 lb)

More information No., Name ...

TKO World Flyweight Championship

57 kg (125 lb)

More information No., Name ...

TKO World Women's Flyweight Championship

57 kg (125 lb)

More information No., Name ...

TKO Women's Strawweight Championship

52 kg (115 lb)

More information No., Name ...

TKO Canadian Championship History

TKO Canadian Heavyweight Championship

120 kg (265 lb)

More information No., Name ...

TKO Canadian Light Heavyweight Championship

93 kg (205 lb)

More information No., Name ...

TKO Canadian Middleweight Championship

84 kg (185 lb)

More information No., Name ...

TKO Canadian Welterweight Championship

77 kg (170 lb)

More information No., Name ...

TKO Canadian Lightweight Championship

70 kg (155 lb)

More information No., Name ...

TKO Canadian Super Lightweight Championship

70 kg (145 lb)

More information No., Name ...

Notable alumni

CanadaGeorges St-Pierre
CanadaJonathan Goulet
United StatesJeremy Horn
United StatesDuane Ludwig
CanadaSean Pierson
AustraliaElvis Sinosic
CanadaDave Beneteau
United StatesRich Franklin
El SalvadorIvan Menjivar
United StatesUrijah Faber
CanadaDavid Loiseau
United StatesBaret Yoshida
CanadaJustin Bruckmann
BrazilWagnney Fabiano
CanadaSteve Vigneault
United StatesJens Pulver
United StatesSean Sherk
JapanHatsu Hioki
CanadaJohn Alessio
CanadaJoe Doerksen
United StatesShonie Carter
CanadaPatrick Côte
United StatesJason Black
United StatesJeff Curran
CanadaMark Hominick
CanadaSam Stout
CanadaChris Horodecki
United StatesTony Fryklund
CanadaChris Clements
CanadaSteve Bossé
PolandKrzysztof Soszynski
FranceCiryl Gane
CanadaJesse Ronson
CanadaCharles Jourdain
CanadaMarc-André Barriault
United StatesNate Maness
FranceTaylor Lapilus
Malcolm Gordon


References

  1. "TKO is Canada's longest-running promotion". mmajunkie.usatoday. Retrieved 2021-06-11.
  2. "UCC event list". Sherdog.com. Retrieved 2021-06-10.
  3. "TKO event list". Sherdog.com. Retrieved 2021-06-10.
  4. "TKO Major League full event list". Sherdog.com. Retrieved 2021-06-10.
  5. TKO MMA CEO interview about promotions return. Retrieved 2021-06-10 via youtube.
  6. "UFC Signs Deal with TKO MMA". ufc/news. Retrieved 2021-06-10.
  7. Lee, Alexander K. (2019-01-28). "After angry back-and-forth with promoter, MMA fighter Tariq Ismail released by Canada's TKO". MMA Fighting. Retrieved 2021-06-21.
  8. "TKO official page current updates". Retrieved 2021-06-11 via Facebook.

    Share this article:

    This article uses material from the Wikipedia article TKO_Major_League_MMA, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.