Larsen Refuses To Drop Off The Champ Status

Edmonton’s Christian Larsen (5-1) will look to defend his Unified MMA heavyweight title for the first time when Grayson Wells (5-3) makes the trip from Abbotsford, B.C. to challenge for the belt in the main event of Unified MMA 40 on Saturday night in Edmonton. Although he is the undisputed heavyweight champion, Larsen, 32, said successfully defending his belt will truly solidify his champion status.

“They say you’re not really the champ until you defend your title,” said Larsen in an interview with MMA Empire.

“I think it’ll just reaffirm this wasn’t a fluke and I deserve to be where I am, and I’m going to keep on proving that.” For Wells, 41, this will be his first crack at Unified MMA gold. He was the Havoc FC heavyweight champion back in 2016 before losing the title to Dustin Joynson at Havoc FC 12 a year later. When he lost his Havoc FC title, Wells said there was a lot going wrong in his life at the time, and said to be able to win another title on Saturday night would be a strong feeling of redemption.

“I went through a period where I lost a lot of sh*t in my life. Right around that fight with Dustin a lot of things went south for me, and I’ve been slowly coming back. I feel I’m almost at that point again when I had that title,” said Wells in an interview with MMA Empire.

“To me, it would feel like redemption. It would show myself and others that even if you lose all your sh*t and you hit rock bottom, there is a way out and there is a way back to the championship level.”

Larsen is one of several fighters competing Saturday night fighting out of the ever-growing elite team at Shaved Bears MMA. He said the level of training partners and coaches he works with on a daily basis compared to Wells is going to provide him a significant edge come fight night. “Nobody’s able to train with the caliber of guys I’m lucky enough to train with. We’re one of the best gyms in the country and I’m lucky to be in a room with them,” said Larsen.

“Jeff Montemurro and Keijiro Noda are two of the best coaches I could ask for and the training programs they draw up for us is just a huge edge.”