When we had Maximum Fighting Championship President Mark Pavelich on BJPenn.Com Radio this past Sunday he spoke about a variety of topics. He was still on an emotional high from MFC 34 and was already in an excited mode when he told us about MFC 35. That event will air live on AXS TV (Formerly HDNET) on Friday October 26 and will feature the first ever Featherweight bout. BJ Penn training partner and former season eight contestant of The Ultimate Fighter Shane Nelson will face Graham Spencer in the organizational debut of the 145lb. division.

If that wasn’t enough the MFC sent out a press release announcing plans to launch a bantamweight division in 2013. Here is the statement from Scott Zerr, the Director of Media & Fighter Relations:

With the recent re-launch of its heavyweight division and the upcoming debut of its featherweight division, the Maximum Fighting Championship is excited to announce that the organization will add a bantamweight division in 2013.

The new 135-pound division will be unveiled at the MFC event slated for February of next year. With the steadily increasing influx of quality of fighters in the class, the Maximum Fighting Championship chose to add the division and bolster its roster of top-notch talent.

“The time is right to do it,” said MFC Owner/President Mark Pavelich. “We waited a long time to re-ignite the heavyweight division because at the time we dropped the division the talent pool, especially the overall athleticism, was very thin. Now the batch of heavyweights available is much better.

“We are bringing in the featherweights at MFC 35 because we found the right guys to kickstart that division with. And as we received calls and emails about the 145ers, it became clear that there is a very good crop of 135ers out there, so the decision was made to launch the bantamweights.

“I would expect that the MFC will have its first bantamweights signed in the very near future.”

To get the bantamweight division rolling, plans are being developed that will see two bouts on the MFC card in February with the winners of those fights squaring off later in ’13 for the inaugural MFC bantamweight title match. The MFC recently adopted the same two-fight title eliminator scenario for events during which title fights were set in the welterweight and middleweight divisions.

At MFC 32, welterweights tangled in top-contender contests, and Nathan Coy defeated Dhiego Lima, while Ryan McGillivray stopped Diego Bautista. Coy would go on to claim the MFC welterweight crown at MFC 33 with a third-round TKO of McGillivray.

Then at MFC 34, the middleweights battled it out with Joseph Henle and Elvis Mutapcic both earning first-round TKO victories as they toppled Luke Harris and Jacen Flynn, respectively. Henle and Mutapcic will clash for the MFC middleweight title in the co-main event of MFC 35: Explosive Encounter coming up on Friday, Oct. 26 at the Mayfield Conference Centre in Edmonton, Alberta. The event will air live on AXS TV Fights beginning at 10 p.m. ET/8 p.m. MT/7 p.m. PT (check local listings for channel designation).

Tickets for MFC 35 are currently on sale and available exclusively through the MFC Ticket Hotline by calling (780) 504-2024.

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