The future is looking very bright for Matthew Poulin, his peers and his pupils at Total Martial Arts Centre in Timmins.
On the heels of local fighter Todd Elvrum being selected for Team Canada, and Poulin being chosen as one of three coaches, two other locals will be heading overseas in November to represent the nation at the World Kickboxing Federation (WKF) World Championships in Andria, Italy.
"We had the national competition in September, and we had Terry Lemaire and Nathan Boulet both win their class 'A' titles in that event, which is ridiculously hard to do," said Poulin.
"We've been to two national team practices since then, the last team practice is coming up, then we go to Italy."
Fundraising efforts are well underway. Poulin says there will be sponsorship shirts available very soon. A Halloween dance party will take place in late October, with proceeds going towards the three local fighters.
Each fighter has received a huge outpouring of support from locals.
"A lot of people in the community stepped forward and helped those guys out, its pretty remarkable. Each guy has about seven or eight sponsors on the back of their shirt, and it's helping them pay off their trip," said Poulin.
In other big news, Poulin says the wheels are in motion for Timmins to host its first ever sanctioned Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) event. The early target date is May 6, 2017. The location is still to be formally decided.
"I've got it narrowed down to about three. I'm hoping after the worlds, I'll have everything locked in. I want to have every detail confirmed by the end of November. That way I'll have about five months to work on that," he said.
The goal is to have a seating capacity of at least 600 for the event, which he feels will sell out pretty quickly.
"We're going to do Muay Thai and MMA, so we're going to try and get seven matchups of each, and have two title fights, an MMA and a Muay Thai title fight to showcase the sport. I'm going to try and get the best guys I possibly can," he said.
The goal is to give more opportunities for homegrown talent to move up in the rankings, provincially, nationally, and eventually internationally.
"The first time I tried to run an event here was about six years ago, and it was just impossible. The fees, the insurance, and so on. I just put it on the side, and said 'in the future it'll work out, but not right now,'" he said, noting that the opportunity to work with an internationally renowned organization like WKF was something he jumped at.
In his 10 years plus of touring, competing, and coaching, Poulin has seen it all.
"I've seen really, really good shows, and I've seen some really, really bad shows. So I'm going to try to use everything I've seen in all my travels, and try to make the best possible show. Because we live in Northern Ontario, a lot of the southern guys might not want to travel so much, but if I can get everything in order and get some bonuses out there and 'sweeten the pot' we can have a great event," said Poulin.
Sanctioned mixed martial arts fights have only been allowed in Ontario since April of 2011, when UFC 129 was held at Rogers Centre in Toronto. At the time it was the highest attendance ever for a mixed martial arts event in North American history, but soon after, the provincial government tightened the reigns on fight events. That has changed again in the last four years or so, which has led to these kinds of opportunities for Timmins.
Poulin hopes to eventually have events featuring not only up an coming amateurs, but professionals as well.
Total Martial Arts Centre on Spruce Street South. Andrew Autio for TimminsToday It is approaching one year since Total Martial Arts Centre has moved locations from Pine and Second, to its current location on Spruce Street. It has been a big step forward, as Poulin now owns instead of renting.
"Becoming a building owner has changed my views on how businesses run and all that, but for the most part its been very positive. Its ours. We can do what we want. This location is the best location we've had yet, right off Algonquin. Its a little bit smaller, square-footage wise, than our last location, but its all functional space. Our last place had pillars. We're still hovering around 200 people training here."
For those who know local history, the building was formerly a place of worship, and before that, a steakhouse.
"If you go in the basement, the grease trap is still there" said Poulin, who added that during the conversion process, old kitchen utensils were found in some sections of the drywall.
"We didn't have to do much at all. We laid down mats, put on a fresh coat of paint, and fixed some holes."
He said this past year has allowed him to focus on travelling a bit more.
"I don't have to worry, this place pretty much runs itself now with all the coaches and everything, it's amazing" said Poulin.
Formal details for the MMA event in Timmins will likely be announced in late November.
