After having to bite my tongue for many months, I can’t hold back any longer.

Normally, I think personal vendettas or gripes are best left for places like the Underground Forum which seems to be full of them – some legitimate and some incredibly petty. In fact, the target of this column has been the subject of many of these attacks most of which I’ve left alone and chalked up to ill-will, jealousy, etc.

This time, however, I believe that many in the MMA world will find this airing of a grievance particularly interesting. I’ll take you back in time first of all because this is really where it all began for me.

Back in March 2006, I had a long conversation for a Z-Files with Stephane Patry who was ready to spit venom over a falling out in contract negotiations with David Loiseau. Patry absolutely went ballistic on his former fighter, chastising his heart, his allegiance with Tito Ortiz’s attorney and other questionable tactics. Word for word, I took down Patry’s diatribe – only to find out a short time 24 later that he was shocked to find his words in print.

This was an interview – he knew it and he knew where and when it was going to run. He was so upset at seeing exactly what he had said aired across the Internet world (just not in the style that he wanted) that he threatened to pull Patrick Cote off an MFC show where he would fight Jason MacDonald for the middleweight title. In order to preserve the main event, MFC owner Mark Pavelich and I (who was only working as a columnist and play-by-play announcer at that time) agreed to pull the story from the website and mma.tv forum. I should add here that it was the only time Mark and I ever discussed content of a Z-Files and whether something should be written or not.

Fast forward to February 2007. Now I’m a full-time member of the MFC staff and wanting to see our show reach new heights of success. MFC 11 – Gridiron takes place and it’s a fantastic event – the most media coverage ever for an MMA event in Canada with two Edmonton Eskimos on the card, a title defence for Victor Valimaki, live ringside coverage by Edmonton’s top radio station – everything’s in place.

Shortly beforehand, I learn from Mark that Stephane is in need of help. He wants fighters from Western Canada to start appearing on his TKO shows in Quebec but he doesn’t have a lot of love out here and needs a contact. So Mark agrees to help set up some East-West fights in TKO and in exchange Stephane would handle the editing and producing of MFC shows for pay-per-view, TV and DVD. He had asked for so long to play that part and he has a knack for it so Mark agrees.

Just a few days after MFC 11, the tapes are sent to Montreal. The wait begins.

The deadline approaches for the release on pay-per-view. No word from Stephane. Phone calls and emails go unanswered. It’s deadline time – no tapes, no show. Over 200 calls and emails go by. Nothing. Contacts in Quebec make inquiries on our behalf. Nothing.

MFC 11 goes unaired.

With the deadline passed and thoroughly embarrassed, now all we want are the tapes back. We can still make deadlines for other sources, if not for pay-per-view revenue then at least for exposure. Still no return calls or emails. I swear to God I believed the tapes were thrown out.

Finally, just hours before Unplugged 3, the tapes miraculously are returned – still in the original box they were sent in, never opened, not even moved in the slightest. As most people who know me or who have at least seen me working at MFC shows, I’m pretty easy to get along with. This whole ordeal had me more enraged then anything ever before in my life. How petty does someone have to be? We had always credited Stephane with being the originator of MMA in Canada, but the MFC had started its ascent and in many ways, especially mainstream media attention, had surpassed TKO.

This was clearly sabotage. Most outsiders, even some who work at Viewer’s Choice pay-per-view service, told us at the MFC that they saw this coming as soon as they found out the delay was in Stephane’s hands. We had given someone a chance out of respect (insert laughter here) and some amount friendship (at least business relationship).

You burned us, Stephane. I hope you got your jollies out of it. You lost your last ally. Not only did you lose it – you made an enemy. If there ever comes a day when it’s possible, revenge will taste very sweet.

It’s been written that “The meek shall inherit the earth.” I don’t want anything as big as the earth.

Your head on a platter will be fine.

DAY OF DISAPPOINTMENT: I was shocked to learn that Jason Day pulled out of his much-anticipated showdown with Roger Hollett for MFC 12. Jason told me in the ring after MFC 11 that it was “a waste of time” for him to fight the hulking Maritimer only then to reconsider the fight and ultimately verbally agree to the deal in what would surely be one of the best light heavyweight clashes in Canadian MMA history.

Day’s tune changed, though, when the entire Canadian Martial Arts Centre crew out of Lethbridge decided they wouldn’t fight on other organizations shows in Alberta, saving their fighters for their own events. His point was that the MFC won’t let fighters be on other shows in Edmonton so the same rule applies there.

It’s an interesting slant on things to say the least. We could argue the point all day, but I’ll put in the only words I need. Exactly what good does keeping Jason Day sequestered in Lethbridge do for his career?

TEAM MISFIRED: If there’s ever been a better featherweight fight in Canada, I’d love to see it. Chances are, though, the war between Garrett Curran and Josh Kyrejto at Unplugged 3 was spectacular.

Here’s an interesting note out of that fight. Before Josh agreed to take the fight, he was with Team Sniper out of Edmonton’s Arashi-Do club. When Josh signed his name on the contract, he was out of Team Sniper. Why? His “advisors” with Team Sniper suggested he shouldn’t take the fight because Curran was too much for him. And when he stood by his principles and stuck with his decision to take the fight, he was banned from using the team name in his introduction.

Nice. One of the only guys out of that club willing to challenge himself and step up and they don’t like it. And you know what? If a rematch was ever to come about, I’d be hard-pressed to bet against Josh. He deserved to be in that fight, he proved himself every bit worthy of that kind of challenge and very nearly won the fight on several occasions.

My advice to Josh: burn your Team Sniper shirt. You don’t need their “support” any longer. There are other teams in town that would be worthy of your courage and proud to have you as part of the crew.