The New Guy
By Richard Parkin, St. Catharines Standard
A strange setting for an interview with an MMA fighter, I am in the lobby of The Loyalist retirement home in downtown St. Catharines, sitting with Mark Addison, born and raised right here in St. Catharines, Ontario, and the newest call-up to the big show in MMA, Global Combat Championship.
RP: So, what are we doing here? Seems an odd place for our interview.
MA: My mom lives here. She can't take care of herself, and doesn't recognize me half the time, but she believed in me even at my lowest point, so I'll be by her side as often as I can until the end comes.
RP: You mentioned your lowest point, so this seems like a good time to address the elephant in the room. You did some time as a minor for assault, do you want to address that for our readers.
MA: Really? Guess expunged doesn't mean forgotten for you guys, eh? Well, it's not the proudest moment of my life. I was an undersized kid, and those guys bullied me my whole childhood. Some Muay Thai training and a massive growth spurt later they came at me again. I believe to this day those guys earned their beating, but it should have stopped way before it did. I did my time, and I don't like to discuss it.
RP: Okay, let's move on to happier topics, after seeing you compete at local Muay Thai and MMA competitions, GCC recently announced they've signed you to a three fight contract, how excited are you?
MA: I'm really looking forward to this, it's a dream come true, and I hope to be dealing out beatings in the octagon, starting on Boxing Day. I might possibly be the lowest paid fighter in the company, but that'll change once I start knocking people out.
RP: You've been signed to fight Ivan Reddy, a well-rounded fighter, who may be stronger than you in some key areas, how are you planning on dealing with that?
MA: I've said it before on twitter, but no matter how jack-of-all-trades he is, his light'll turn out like anyone else's once I start unleashing the rage in the cage. Obviously I can't give you the specifics of my gameplan for an article that will be published before the fight, but me and my camp have watched the video and there is a gameplan in place that we believe is the best one.
RP: Speaking of your camp, you've joined HILITE FC out of Toronto, any particular reason.
MA: Well, one reason was that it was close to home, that way if something happened with Mom, I'm just an hour and a half down the highway, as opposed to if I went out of the country to train. But the real reason is the calibre of the fighters who train there. Misty Demeans and Clive Hicks are both World Champions, and Mila Sauvage was a World Champion, when you train with fighters of that calibre it can't help but make you better, and there are definately some areas where I have to improve.
RP: Any other words for your opponent?
MA: Yeah, get ready to feel the Rage Ivan. I may be the first fight on the prelims this time, but after Mr. Khan sees what I do to you, I'll be on Main Cards bringing excitement to the masses real soon.