VICTORIA MMA PROMOTERS VENTURE INTO THE ‘DRAGONS’ DEN’
The Victoria-based Armageddon Fighting Championships gets a national showcase Wednesday. It may also get a new injection of cash.
Co-owners Jason Heit and Darren Owen pitch their mixed martial arts promotion on Wednesday’s edition of “Dragon Den’s”.
The TV show, which averages 1.6 million viewers, gives entrepreneurs a chance to pitch their businesses or products to hard-nosed business types. It’s like “American Idol” with suits and a chequebook.
“The Armageddon Fighting Championship is looking for financial backing,” summed up Heit. “We have a successful show. We need capital like any growing business to take it to the next level and figured that that was a great way to seek capital that we need to grow our business.”
According to the show’s website, their “ask” is $55,000 for 10 per cent of their company.
Owen initially suggested the TV appearance and Heit was soon on board, despite fearing those on the show might have the wrong idea about their sport.
“I’m just so used to being judged in a negative way for what I do, in so many different ways,” he said.
“And I was worried about that with the ‘Dragons’ Den,”‘ he added. “I was like what if these guys just hate our sport, think we’re barbarians or don’t understand what we do.”
He also had some initial misgivings about how the editing process might make them look.
“But that just made us be extra careful and prepared.”
They went through an audition in Victoria and were invited to come to Toronto to make their pitch on the show.
Judging from publicity photos, they brought a few fighters with them to help make their case.
In the months since the taping in the fall, the UFC has posted a record sellout at Toronto’s Rogers Centre with 55,000 tickets sold for an April 30 show.
Heit believes Dragons’ Den can help them escape “the MMA niche” even if it is growing by leaps and bounds every day.
Despite the Dragons’ sometimes gruff exterior, Heit says he felt no nerves going up in front of them.
“You know I don’t really get nervous,” Heit said. “I get nervous when I fight. Other than that everything’s pretty easy. That’s the one bonus of being a fighter.
“Getting in a locked cage in front of thousands of people against a professional athlete that wants to take everything you’ve dealt, that’s nerve-wracking.
“When I was working as a bodyguard, some of the situations that I’d be in were nerve-wracking. But that’s all just given me great preparation for everything else.”
A former boxer and kickboxer, Heit’s resume as a bodyguard includes stints with Drew Barrymore, David Duchovny, Nicholas Cage, Russell Simmons and Robbie Williams, according to his Island MMA gym website.
The idea for the AFC came in 2005, but it took two years before the first event was staged.
“Nobody would rent (their venue) to us,” Heit recalled. “Everybody was like ‘This isn’t good for the community.’ Meanwhile they’d have Marilyn Manson and pro wrestling.”
They drew about 2,500 to their last show in November. AFC 5 “Judgment Day” is slated for April 2 at the Bear Mountain Arena in Colwood, B.C.
“Every show is getting better,” said former Strikeforce welterweight champion Sarah Kaufman, who is slated to meet American Molly (The Maulinator) Helfel at AFC 5. “It’s great to see the MMA market opening up in Victoria.”
Kaufman plans to continue fighting for Strikeforce, but is joining forces with the AFC so she can stay busy and fight in her hometown.
When not co-running AFC, Heit teaches and trains at his gym. He is 4-0 as a pro fighter himself but his own career has had to take a backseat in recent years to his other ventures.
“It’s gotten very difficult for me to maintain this pace of work and level of fitness that I need,” he said. “As much as I’d like to fight, I’m just not in the condition that I need to be.”
There have been other factors conspiring against him. His last opponent dropped out an hour before the fight and he had knee surgery recently.
At 38, he wants to continue cage fighting.
“I’ve got plenty of fight left in me,” he said.
Heit is Armageddon’s executive producer while Owen is the company president.
“He’s the one out there executing everything,” Heit said. “I don’t even know where to begin on his responsibilities.”
Heit plans a viewing party Wednesday in Victoria with friends and family.
“I’ve been asked this question over and over and over. ‘What happened, what happened, what happened?’ So many times, for months. Finally OK, we all get together, we’ll watch it and you guys can see what happened.”
