Last weekend I had the opportunity to speak at length with Claude Patrick (10-1) who will fight in the co-main event against Matt MacGrath (8-2) at Aggression MMA 2: Vengeance in Edmonton, February 5th. The full interview is available at MMACanada.net, but a short excerpt, in which we discussed Colosseo Championship Fighting V's likely use of Japanese style MMA rules in Edmonton, can be found below.
J.O.: So, what do you think of [Lino’s] Colosseo Championship Fighting’s intention to run its next event [CFC 5 on February 26th] under the so-called international rules of MMA, the ones used primarily in Japan?
Claude Patrick: In terms of the rules, I have heard some people say there is an uproar, but there is not really an uproar. I sat down and thought about it after I read some stuff on line and doing my daily news searches—there were a couple other promoters, websites, and people trying to make a big deal about it. But really, if you look at it, they’re actually the minority. I think it’s good to have unified rules here in North America, but not everybody gets to fight in UFC or at one of these big North American shows. So you’re going to fight in Japan or Brazil or wherever you can get some work, right?
J.O.: Definitely, yeah.
Claude Patrick: And it just so happens that most of these other places, except for North America, follow those rules, right?
J.O.: Right.
Claude Patrick: So, with some slight modifications, like I don’t think anyone allows shoes…but most places do have the knees to the head on the ground. So, I’m not sure about the shoes, I’m not a big fan of that, but everything else I think is fine. It’s not like you can soccer kick a guy to the head on the ground because both guys are down. So that makes the upkick an illegal technique, which is huge for guys who are grapplers, right?
J.O.: Yeah, and the "no elbows on the ground" rule makes a difference, too, because you avoid a lot of cuts that way.
Claude Patrick: Yeah, as an athlete myself, I’m not going to discount the technique because it does take a lot of practice and skill to master that, but an elbow can cause an early cut and bring an otherwise very exciting fight to a premature end. So you’ve got guys who get cut to ribbons by elbows and it just ruins the match.
J.O.: So as a fighter, then, you wouldn’t have any concerns about fighting under these rules? You would be willing to do it?
Claude Patrick: Oh yeah, I am willing to do it. I already have a fight on the 5th of February [at Aggression MMA 2], but if I can get a fight on [Colosseo Championship Fighting 5] I would fight there too. You have to broaden your horizons, right? I guess you’re an MMA media type guy so I’m assuming you’re somewhat in the game too. So let’s play a little bit of “Quiz Media” for you. Where else do they follow the UFC Rules or the North American Rules outside of North America?
J.O.: I suppose that when the UFC travels to Europe, and as they push into Asia which they’re attempting to do now, they will use their rules. Besides that, though, there are very few places, yeah.
Claude Patrick: Absolutely, right? And when you’re the biggest show in town, which they are, you’re going to be able to bring your rules to where you’re going, for sure. But, as it stands now, when people are crying bloody murder, saying people are going to die in the ring [at CCF 5]—where is this stuff coming from, man? I mean there’s PRIDE, Dream, K-1, tons of fights in Brazil and in Europe, they all follow these same rules. Nobody’s dying. So it’s not good when people are taking their own personal motivations, trying to throw Lino/CCF under the bus for personal gain and also limiting the options for the athletes.
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