Man, if only he had trained with the right coaches and team. I remember watching his debut fight against some giant judoka, who had him outweighed and outsized by a lot. He didn't win that fight but he fought very well during a time when a lot of mma fighters didn't know how to. I always thought he would have beat Frank Shamrock if they had fought.
He did not go on to become a doctor afaik. My understanding is that he was in premed for a time.
Jean Riveire @ Extreme Fighting 2. That was the one right before Eric Paulson and Matt Hume fought for half a century in one of the first, great mma high-level contests.
I did Carlos Newton's HOF biography for Grinder, but Kirik probably published it to an offshore dark web mma website and made millions.
The greatest impact he ever made on the sport was afterward.
From Toronto he studied California case law, and was the primary driving force for the fruition of the first, major lawsuit against Zuffa llc.
After that lawsuit, Zuffa let go of it's grip on the industry, a virtual gag-order was put on Dana White, industry shills across major forums were excommunicated, high-level fighters began leaving without recourse, Zuffa sold the UFC in the biggest sports deal in history and bribed it's way to move the suit to Vegas, WSOF changed it's name(Hmmm....).
What he did for grappling in mma was fantastic.
What he did afterward changed the landscape of mma.
I'll never forget his pre-UFC 17 interview before Bob Gilstrap(which Frank Shamrock co-commentated on) and Dan Henderson.
It's worth the dig.
He is a special, special human being.
