Friday night’s card will mark the end of an era for Pavelich Sports, Inc.

The River Cree Resort and Casino, which has played host to 10 MFC events, will no longer house the shows. Relax, Olympic homeless protesters. It’s all taken care of. “People keep asking me why I always wear sunglasses,” said MFC president Mark Pavelich. “That’s because the future looks so bright.” Oh, there was a miscue with the Winspear Centre, whose board of directors apparently deemed the MFC not artsy enough for their venue. Pavelich revealed Wednesday that his next MFC event willbe held at the Edmonton Expo Centre. It’s a capacity jump from 2,000 to 5,000, the site of the first three MFC cards and a move Pavelich is completely comfortable with. Add that to the fact Mark Cuban’s HDNet agreed to a contract extension just before MFC 23, giving the property continued television exposure, and it’s no surprise Pavelich is in a giddy mood.

“We’re the biggest show in the country now,” said Pavelich. “We’re top three or four right now in North America and by next year we’ll be No. 2 or three. It’s very hard to compete with what we’re doing. We’re a family business, we’re doing it from morning to night.

“It’s not just the work ethic of our organization, it’s beyond obsession what we’ve done with it.”

MFC 25 has already been booked for May 7 at the Expo Centre. Pavelich sees it as a logical next step after selling out every show at River Cree. “We’re very excited about that,” said Pavelich, about MFC’s return to the Edmonton Expo Centre. “They’ve just spent lots of money on it to make it look nice. I’m overly excited to go back there. “I’m going to sell that out, too. We sell out shows here without even advertising. Now, we’re just going to step up our game and show everybody who the dominant force in mixed martial arts is in this country.

“I put 4,000 people in that venue back in the day when Edmonton was playing Calgary in a playoff game right next door.” Pavelich has also demonstrated some scappiness in his failed bid with the Winspear. “We’re in litigation withthem right now,” Pavelich said. “They signed a contract, they cashed our deposit cheques and tickets were on sale. We’re going to end up going to court with them because we signed contacts with them and they’re not honouring them.”

Pavelich has been successful in selling his brand across Canada and the MFC is pretty close to taking its show on the road. “People are calling us from all over the United States and Canada asking us to bring our show there,” said Pavelich. “Vancouver has approved MMA, but it’s still not sanctioned.” Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty recently said approving MMA in his province was “not a priority.” Pavelich figures it’s just a matter of time before he takes his show toToronto, despite the political hurdles. “I don’t sit around dreaming about Ontario getting sanctioned,” said Pavelich. “We have five or six places right now that have already made deals with us for when it does get sanctioned. When it does, the Maximum Fighting Championship will be there. “It will happen, and I’ll be there.”