The gold rush is about to begin on December 7th with the first of three title fights as we look to crown our first BFL Amateur Bantamweight Champion. For opponents Kirk Tse and Craig Maclean, this is the culmination of all of their hard work and dedication to this sport.

Kirk Tse (6-1), has had much experience in competition. Growing up in Calgary, AB at an early age he played a lot of competitive team sports, which eventually led him to being exposed to MMA by a friend after high school. What began as a hobby for him quickly turned into a passion. His recreational love of the sport began with tournaments in BJJ, and eventually he decided he wanted to test himself by moving on to fighting competitively inside the cage. With a blue belt in BJJ under Robert Drysdale, he credits a lot of his work and improvement to both Coach Paulie, and current BFL Pro Middleweight Champ Leo Xavier.

Kirk splits his time between working in loss prevention security and as a personal trainer. When he’s not doing that, he spends a great deal of time planning towards his future. One of his first steps is winning a BFL title. He wants to win as many fights as possible and go pro. His philosophy is simplified by big fights, big shows, big wins, and his next big win could be against Craig Maclean.

For Maclean (3-3), hard work and dedication are his recipe for success in this next fight. Hailing from Langley, BC, he began his exposure to the sport by going to events when he was 17. That drove him to begin training full time at Revolution MMA in Langley, and he hasn’t looked back since. He mixes his time between working in IT and training and feels that his biggest step towards gaining a title is with dedicating himself to the sport 100%. He trains full time at least twice a day heading into this bout. His immediate goal: winning the belt on December 7th in his first title fight.

Craig credits a lot of his success to the team at Revolution. Being there with his training since day one, he looks at current Amateur Middleweight champion Jared Revel as one of his inspirations for title success. He appreciates all of his coaches and trainers at Revolution for helping him to reach his goals and has a strong belief in himself that he will walk home with a title that night.

Maclean has done his homework on Kirk, and recognizes that “He’s a crafty fighter, excellent submissions and kickboxing. It’s going to be a good fight. He’s strong in the striking and grappling department, but I’m going to be right in his face the whole time pushing the pace.” Tse also believes he matches up well with his opponent and is really looking forward to testing himself against Maclean. “I know Craig trains at Revolution MMA and is a bigger fighter, with well rounded skills. He’s a tough kid and I know we’re gonna put on a show.”

Here’s a quick look at a breakdown of their skills and abilities:

Fight Night 26 is being held at the Boulevard Casino in Coquitlam, BC. Limited tickets for this near sell-out event are on sale now at http://bfltix.com.