In a bout that was likely bound to happen, veterans Marcus Hicks and Chris Peak will square off in a long awaited rubber match, at King of the Cage Canada's upcoming May 8th "Island Pride" event in Nanaimo, BC. The fight will look to end a rivalry between the two fighters that dates back to the summer of 2003. Although both men are preparing for the bout as seasoned professionals, it didn't take long for Peak and Hicks to admit that some animosity still lingers between the two vets.

 

"I really don't like his trash talking," said Peak, when asked about his feeling towards Hicks, who is also widely known as "The Loudmouth Assassin." "I'm not a big trash talking guy. I don't like his mouth, so there is a little bit of animosity, and for him poking me in the eye during our last fight, I have animosity. Just from losing to the guy, there is definitely some animosity there for sure."

After making his KOTC debut in February a successful one, by submitting Brandon MacArther with a second round armbar at "Trooper", Andrew Buckland was quick to note that he hoped to face one of the promotion's best fighters in the near future. It didn't take long for the accomplished welterweight to receive word that he would soon do just that, as Buckland agreed to fight KOTC World and Canadian Lightweight Champion Rory MacDonald, at the promotion's upcoming May 8th card, in Nanaimo, B.C.

 

"Obviously at 155 he's tearing through people," said Buckland, who will be MacDonald's first opponent at welterweight. "He's got to come up and fight sometime. They don't have a lot of talented fighters at 155 in King of the Cage, well obviously, not at his level anyways."

Brian Grimshaw made the most of his King of the Cage Canada debut last Friday night, as the Revolution fighter tapped out veteran Elmer Waterhen in the first round at the promotion's "Dog Eat Dawg" event in Calgary, Alberta. In fact, the win was Grimshaw's second in one week, as the 23 year-old fighter earned a spot in last weekend's main event, by submitting Aaron Bruce with a first round, triangle-choke at Extreme Fighting Challenge 7 on April 11^th.

 

"We were kind of figuring each other out for a couple of seconds," Grimshaw said, while recalling his most recent victory over Waterhen. "I was on my feet for a little while, I had a Thai clinch for a bit, I think he stuffed a couple of my takedowns. I took him down, passed his guard, got mount, but when I grapevined him he bridged and rolled me, ended up in my guard. He just left that arm hanging there so I grabbed it. That's what I train in the most, jiu-jitsu, jiu-jitsu, jiu-jitsu. He fought it for a little while and then I finally got the leverage. I think I might have hurt his arm; I hope he's okay."