SportsOakville Beaver SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email [email protected] • SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2008 25 fighter McDonell is all business ■ By Herb Garbutt had been targeted because a win OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF against an experienced fighter would help raise the 26-year- A piece of advice for Rory old’s profile. It worked, as they McDonell’s next opponent: don’t have been contacted by many make him angry. promoters since the victory. When Kevin Manderson His next bout will be Nov. 8 at showed up at the weigh-in for the Laval Coliseum against their August mixed martial arts Nelson Riquelme. The Fight fight in Calgary, he laughed at Network will televise the event, McDonell. Considering though whether McDonell’s Manderson had twice delayed fight makes it to air will depend their bout, McDonell wasn’t on how much of the undercard is amused. televised. McDonell made short work of McDonell comes from a the veteran of more than 30 pro wrestling background, having fight. He knocked Manderson been a medalist at the Ontario down with a jab before getting University Athletics champi- him to tap out 56 seconds into onships. He helped Milton’s E.C. the match after applying a rear Drury win the provincial title in naked choke hold. The victory high school, but his latest win squared McDonell’s pro record at demonstrated that he’s pro- 3-3 and boosted his confidence gressing and becoming a more heading into next week’s fight in well-rounded fighter. Laval. “I dropped him with my box- But before getting back in the ing and finished him off with my cage, McDonell got a rare oppor- wrestling,” McDonell said. tunity to get some advice of his That’s a far cry from his debut own. McDonell joined former that amounted to a very short UFC champion match, in which he was Rich Franklin at Popeye’s knocked out in the first round. Supplements in Oakville last Since then, he’s won three times Friday, where they greeted hun- by submission and lost twice by dreds of fight fans who lined up decision, including a split deci- for autographs and pictures. BARRIE ERSKINE / OAKVILLE BEAVER sion against Lindsay Hawkes This time, McDonell was Oakville fighter Rory McDonell is working his way up the mixed martial arts ladder. The 26-year-old, 3-3 as a pro, gained that was described as “the best more than willing to listen to credibility earlier this year with a victory over veteran fighter Kevin Manderson. fight of the night” on a what a veteran fighter had to say. Submission Fighter Canada “He’s the kind of guy I aspire that a fighter can experience surrounded himself with good is doing, having mapped out a message board. to be,” McDonell said. “You can while working his way through people,” said Franklin, who will two-year plan to reach the McDonell will be looking for learn from him just the way he the ranks, Franklin said fight at UFC 93 in January. “The increasingly popular sport’s his first back-to-back victory carries himself, both as a fighter McDonell is on the right path. smartest thing he can do is treat highest level. McDonell’s manag- when he faces Riquelme. And and outside the ring.” “Rory, at this stage, he’s train- fighting like a business.” er, Jeremy Ennis, said you can be sure it will be all Having endured the pitfalls ing at a good facility and he’s That’s exactly what McDonell Manderson was an opponent that business for McDonell. U of T’s O’Hara receives second CIS field hockey MVP award

Oakville’s Cailie O’Hara has been named the time and was also the most valuable player of the a fierce competitor that always wants to win.” Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) women’s field OUA final, in which she led the University of The St. Thomas Aquinas grad is now focusing hockey most valuable player for the second year in Toronto to a 2-1 win over Guelph. on another repeat. O’Hara and the top-seeded a row. O’Hara scored eight goals, tying her for the sev- Blues opened the CIS championship Thursday O’Hara is the first two-time winner of Liz enth-most in the country, as the Blues turned in an with a 1-0 win over the University of British Hoffman Award since it was established in 1992. undefeated season of 12-0-2. Columbia. The award followed several other honours for the “Cailie is a fierce competitor with an innate abil- Joining O’Hara on the CIS first all-star team was 21-year-old earlier in the week. ity to raise the intensity of her teammates,” said U Oakville’s Effie Petrou. The third-year midfielder at O’Hara was named the Ontario University of T head coach John De Souza. “Through her work York University was also named to the OUA first all- Athletics (OUA) player of the year for the second ethic and dedication to the game, Cailie has become star team. Cailie O’Hara