Music: {allcanada} Brashear ready to fight for own sake

Friday, June 3, 2011

{allcanada} Brashear ready to fight for own sake

For 16 years, Donald Brashear fought for the sake of others. On Saturday, it will be all about him.

The former National Hockey League enforcer, who was best known for dropping the gloves when the situation called for it, will don the four-ounce gloves on Saturday night when he makes his mixed martial arts debut at Ringside 11 at the Colisée Pepsi in Quebec City.

Brashear, who during his lengthy and memorable NHL career would be called upon to fight to spark his team, protect his star players or put an opposing player in line, got into in countless scraps on the ice.

Yet the difference between then and what he is about to embark upon isn't just about the surface on which he'll be fighting.

"Before I was fighting for other people," Brashear said. "But now it's for myself. It's a lot different. It's a lot more personal and individual."

Brashear, who signed a three-fight deal with the Montreal-based promotion and will be competing at heavyweight, weighed in Friday at 238.4 pounds, substantially less than his opponent Mathieu Bergeron, who hit the scale at 262.6.

The 39-year-old Brashear, who played 36 games for the New York Rangers in his last NHL season in 2009-10, felt it was time to take on a new endeavour with the prospect of pro hockey behind him.

"I was getting a little bored not playing for a year," Brashear said. "I thought it would be a good challenge for me."

Brashear, who was born in Indiana but lived in Quebec since he was a child, trained for this fight for about a month and a half, doing mostly stand-up -- boxing with a little bit of wrestling. He didn't have a lot of time to really do more than that. But he doesn't think he'll be uncomfortable if the fight goes to the ground.

"I think I have enough tools for it," Brashear said.

Actually, his biggest challenge was one that many seasoned fighters have to deal with: he had two changes of opponent, so Bergeron is the third fighter he's had to prepare for.

"That was the tough part, which I didn't like so much," Brashear said. "I was training for a certain type of guy, we saw videos and stuff and then I was training for another type of guy. So I was kind of wasting time training one way.

"But I mean at some point it's a little bit the same. I think because I trained both ways for different guys, I think I can take the two ways and throw it into the third guy."

The French-speaking Brashear expects a pretty good crowd in Quebec City, which he considers a good sports town with a passion for MMA. And he hopes to garner some brand new fans, whether or not he takes on the sport long-term.

"I think I'm a little too old to have a career, but I'll make it as long as I can. Obviously the first (fight) is always the tester, you know?"

Brashear was involved in a famous and scary incident in 2000 as a member of the Vancouver Canucks, when Boston Bruins' Marty McSorley slashed him in the temple with his stick. (Brashear had easily beat McSorley in a fight earlier in the game and proceeded to taunt the Bruins bench on his way to the penalty box.)

Brashear's helmet was knocked off by the swing and as he fell his head hit the ice. He had a seizure and was later diagnosed with a Grade 3 concussion. McSorley was charged with assault with a weapon and got probation.

While injuries and concussions in hockey often result from fights even when sticks are not involved -- it has become a hot-button topic in recent years -- Brashear considers MMA to be more precarious.

"Fighting in MMA is much more dangerous because of (blows to) the head," Brashear said. "You can get a kick to the head, a knee to the head, an elbow to the head, which is very dangerous. You can get a concussion almost every time."

Dangers aside, Brashear expects to be nervous, just because of the competition.

"It's always nerve-racking a little bit, I think. It's a little more than when I was fighting on the ice, because like I said, I do it for me, for Donald Brashear. That's my name, that's my reputation."

NOTES: Also fighting on the card is Rimouski, Que.'s Patrick (The Predator) Cote, who is taking on another former UFC fighter, Todd Brown, at a catchweight of 190 pounds. Cote, a middleweight, weighed in at 189 pounds, while Brown was 188.8.