Central Alberta’s own medley of mixed martial arts, Havoc Fighting Championships, is set to return their octagon to the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Centre on Sept. 5th for Havoc 6.
Havoc 6 will be hosting a number of amateur and professional fights, a few of which event organizer, Jesse Fox, said are sure to be ‘firework fights’.
Of the many fighters returning to the Havoc octagon, one will be Chris Lafantaisie out of Champion’s Creed MMA in Calgary as he takes on first time Havoc fighter, Jamie Smyth of Vancouver’s Clinch MMA to see who will take home the title of Havoc FC Amateur Heavyweight champion.
Those in attendance at Havoc 5 may remember watching Lafantaisie’s 14-second match up against Nolan Sakima in which Lafantaisie ran the octagon to win via TKO.
Fox said it’s been a struggle to find a worthy opponent for the heavy weight fighter, but couldn’t be more excited with the match up between him and Smyth adding they hoped to find Lafantaisie a, “Decent match before he turns pro after this fight.”
Lafantaisie agreed stating, “I’m always hoping for tougher fights, tougher guys – because that’s the only way I’m going to progress and continue to grow as a fighter, so I am really looking forward to this fight.
“Every day training for this fight has been different. I’ve been training in everything from jiu-jitsu, wrestling, boxing, open mats, just everything and trying to spar as much as I can.”
The Calgary fighter also spoke on how he will be dedicating this fight to a good friend, Will Macdonald, who lost his life in a motorcycle race only months ago. Lafantaisie stated he will have his friend’s photo with Macdonald’s daughter, Hannah, and wife, on the back of his fight shirt, after which he will be selling fight shirts to raise money for Hannah’s dance school.
“It makes the process of training and dedication more inspiring, and because I am fighting for him, his daughter, and his wife it makes it more personal.”
Lafantaisie will be entering the fight with an unblemished record of 4-0 and Smyth, with slightly more fights behind him, hosts a record of 5-1.
Smyth said he hopes to walk away 6-1 and believes his extensive preparation for the fight will help him to achieve it.
“I’m expecting it to be a great fight, Chris is a great athlete, I’m a great athlete and we’re both at the top of our games right now and I think we are going to give the crowd a great show,” said Smyth, who was recently named the Battlefield Fight League heavy weight champion, a west coast league similar to Havoc.
“The last three guys I’ve fought have been big monsters and I’ve walked away with wins, so I’ve just been trying to keep my training up and not mess with a good thing.”
Fox said Lafantaisie and Smyth aren’t the only big match-ups for the evening, with Luis Huete (5-1) set to face off against Wolfgang Janssen (3-0) in the main event.
“Jannsen fought in Havoc 1, scoring a submission of the year win against a really tough guy and we couldn’t be more excited to get him back in the ring and see what he has up his sleeve,” said Fox. “Luis is in the same boat – he was there for Havoc 5 where he fought Noah Ali to win in a rear naked choke hold for what was in my opinion the fight of the night.”
Organizers said they expect this event is soon to sell out.
“We’ve got a really great line up full of a lot of strong local fighters,” said Fox.
“I’m positive this is going to be one of our best nights yet.”
For more information or to purchase tickets visit www.havocfc.com or call 403-304-9068.
jswan@reddeerexpress.com
