Demarce lightens up to further fight career

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This article was published 03/11/2015 (3807 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Curtis Demarce has decided his mixed martial arts future lies at featherweight.

The Brandon fighter, who now lives and trains in Edmonton, has decided to drop from the 155-pound lightweight division to 145 pounds for his next fight.

The heavily muscled Demarce, who walks around at 170 pounds between fights, knows it will be a challenge but said a big payoff potentially awaits.

“This division, I think I can climb back up to where I used to be,” Demarce said. “The talent is still there, but it’s not as elite and there aren’t as many guys at that weight class. I figure that I can climb back to where I want to be in that top three in Canada.”

Demarce (15-12) said he’s usually pretty lean at all times and he hopes that with the right training and diet that the 25 pounds he needs to lose will come off reasonably well.

“I feel like I’ve fought too heavy my whole career,” the 27-year-old fighter said. “This is the weight class I should have been in. I’m going to be stronger, bigger and faster and definitely more experienced than most (featherweights) in Canada.”

He hopes to fight next in December and is already weighing offers.

If his most recent bout at lightweight was his last one, he certainly left the division on the right note.

Demarce beat Dia Grant (9-13) a week ago in Calgary in a Hard Knocks Fighting Championship event.

After Demarce took Grant, who hails from Calgary, down a couple of minutes into the first round, he attempted to sink in a rear naked choke. When that didn’t work, he flattened Grant out on the ground and then earned a technical knockout with punches at 4:14.

It ended a three-fight slide for Demarce as he continues to battle back from an arm injury suffered in a car accident in 2012 that derailed his career for a couple of years.

If Demarce lacks anything these days, it might be time.

He has a job as the head striking coach in Sherwood Park at the only Ultimate Fighting Championship Gym in Canada, which opened in July, and he does private sessions with MMA students. He’s in the gym most days at 6 a.m. to get his personal training in.

Demarce is also finishing his registered massage therapy training in March — a commitment that keeps him busy during the day — and he would like to open his own clinic eventually.

But with the UFC poised to bring an event to Edmonton’s new arena when it’s completed next fall, the dream remains alive for Demarce.

He would love to earn his way onto that undercard.

“I don’t expect to be the UFC champion, but for me it’s always been a dream to be able to say not only have I fought some of the toughest guys in the world, but now I’ve fought one time in the UFC,” Demarce said.

He said he’s ready for one final push to reach the sport’s highest level.

“I’ve been in the game for way too long. It’s going on 10 years,” Demarce said. “So for me, I’m healthy, I’m strong again, I’m in a good mindset with good positive energy and people. Now that I have this win and confidence back, I’ve given myself that ability to give it one more go and one more true run. That weight class is really going to be good for me and beneficial.”

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