Hectic schedule all part of regimen for MFC 35 rematch with Parker
By MFC Staff
Jared McComb has time management and scheduling down to a fine science.
Without it there’d be no chance “The Yeti” would have won four of his last five fights and be coming up as a middleweight force in the Maximum Fighting Championship. But there he is front-and-centre of a highlighted bout at MFC 35: Explosive Encounter when he’ll throw down for a second time with Derek “The Lion” Parker.
McComb and Parker waged an exciting punch-for-punch battle at MFC 33 with the end result for both being an unsatisfying draw. They’ll do it all again, very likely in similar bruising fashion, on Friday, Oct. 26 at the Mayfield Conference Centre in Edmonton, Alberta. Their matchup will air live on AXS TV Fights as part of the card launching at 10 p.m. ET/8 p.m. MT/7 p.m. PT (check local listings for channel designation). The card will then air on tape delay on TSN2.
Their first clash became a contender for the MFC’s 2012 Fight of the Year, if not for style points, certainly for blistering action. The vaunted rematch should be as exciting, just like McComb’s hectic everyday life.
“Training camps are stressful on a number of different levels,” explained McComb, a professional painter. “I don’t have much time for anything at the end of the day. I wake up and run each day, cook breakfast, and make my daily meals I need to eat throughout the day.
“I go to work where I’m running multiple crews, meeting deadlines, and making sure customers are happy. Then I come home to my Wonder Woman of a wife and three kids under five. I spend some time with them before I train for the rest of the night with Ryan McGillivray, Kevin McGillivray and many other great trainers and training partners.”
Days, and clearly the nights, are long for McComb, and for those who saw his mixed martial arts career get underway, it didn’t look like he’d have to contend with such a gruelling schedule. A 13-second knockout in his debut at Heat XC 6 appeared as though it was one of those bucket-list moments – did a pro fight, didn’t go well, but cross it off the list of accomplishments and move on. Yet McComb didn’t cross himself out. In fact, he used that setback to build himself back up.
“Looking back on my training for that fight, I just don’t think I had the gym time to attempt a pro fight,” recalled McComb. “It was a great learning experience for me, despite not remembering any detail the actual fight.
“It was a gauge that I needed to put more work in at the gym to be more successful. Since then I have joined the highly skilled Legends Fight team where I’ve built what I feel is a well-rounded MMA game.”
Following his less-than-memorable debut, McComb carried a four-fight winning streak into the initial showdown with Parker, the former minor-league hockey enforcer – a run that included a third-round stoppage of Chase Degenhardt. Far from a failure, McComb looked at the draw as a positive in so far that it kept his unbeaten roll intact, and just as importantly he took it as a chance to improve on what got him on that streak in the first place.
“I feel I did most things right,” said McComb, who’ll have the home-town advantage fighting in Edmonton. “I feel I should have won the fight but a few things played against me. In the first round, there were a few stand-up moments that came after I had worked very hard to get it to the ground.
“In the third round, Parker either jumped through the ropes or grabbed them to avoid the takedown. I feel like he won two minutes out of 15 minutes, but those two minutes came at very pivotal times. I was really tired and didn’t put my best foot forward in the third.”
With the rematch right around the corner, McComb is eyeing some new tactics to take advantage of his growing skill set. Though he wants less of a brawl and more of a cerebral attack, McComb remains sure that the rematch will be just as entertaining for the fans as the first encounter.
“A big mistake I made last time was to go down to his level and get caught up in a brawl,” McComb noted. “I’m working harder on clean, technical stand-up with lots of angles. I felt the third round of our last fight was much better as far as versatility goes.
“Parker may not be the most skilled fighter but I know first-hand that he’s not going down without a fight. This will be a great fight but a fight MFC fans have come to expect, a high-level technical battle … on my side at least. The plan is to finish him with a KO or a submission.”
Tickets for MFC 35: Explosive Encounter are going fast and available exclusively through the MFC Ticket Hotline by calling (780) 504-2024.
