This Friday you'll get a front-row seat to the Real Deal.
Canadian MMA veteran Ryan Ford (22-5) is making his awaited comeback to the cage, facing Dawond Pickney (18-15) at Unified MMA 43 in Edmonton, Alta.
The 39-year-old Ford is a trailblazer who played a key role in shaping the Canadian MMA landscape during the late 2000s and early 2010s. He captured world titles, clashed with elite competition including Pete Spratt, Karo Paryzan, Douglas Lima, and Jake Shields, and built an outstanding MMA résumé along the way.
Ford took a break from MMA in 2017 to pursue a career in boxing. However, he grew weary of the political side of the sport, and with the pandemic keeping him sidelined for two years, he decided it was time to return.
"It's always been something I wanted to do—get back into the cage—it just came down to timing," Ford told MMA Empire in an interview.
"I was starting to get tired of just training in boxing. So I picked up the pace again, got back into kicking, wrestling, and jiu-jitsu. And I thought, you know what, this year I'm fighting. Whether it's MMA or boxing—if it pays well, it makes sense."
Stay connected with Ford on social media: FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM
