UFC Vet David Loiseau Headlines March 29 HCF Event

Originally Posted by MMA Junkie on February 25, 2008 at 3:46 pm ET

Former UFC middleweight contender David “The Crow” Loiseau (15-8) will headline next month’s Hardcore Championship Fighting event when he takes on Todd Gouwenberg (7-3), the Canadian-based organization announced over the weekend.

The event, dubbed “HCF: Crow’s Nest,” takes place March 29 at the Robert Guertin Centre in Gatineau, Quebec.

Gouwenberg is a replacement for Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos, whose HCF contract was terminated last week because of his planned involvement with an upcoming World Victory Road event.

“It is with a heavy heart we terminate Cyborg’s contract as he is one of my favorite fighters,” HCF president Dave Houshiar stated on the organization’s website. “However, we cannot allow fighters to dictate the terms of contracts to us as this can impact the integrity of our events.“

Loiseau, a 28-year-old French-Canadian who will be fighting in front of a hometown crowd, last competed at a Feb. 1 HCF event and suffered a close split-decision loss to Jason Day. (Just days after the fight, Day was signed by the UFC to fight Alan Belcher at Montreal’s UFC 83 event in April.) Loiseau was once the UFC’s top middleweight contender, but soon after a loss to then-champ Rich Franklin at UFC 58 and another to Mike Swick at UFC 63, Loiseau’s career has taken a nosedive. He’s now lost four of his past five fights.

He’ll look to get back on track against on Gouwenberg, who also competed at the Feb. 1 HCF event. There, he suffered a tough-fought loss to notable Anyonio Rogerio Nogueira, a top-ranked light heavyweight and the brother of UFC interim heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. The 33-year-old Gouwenberg, who will drop to middleweight for the fight with Loiseau, snapped his four-fight win streak with the loss.

In addition to Loiseau vs. Gouwenberg, the March 29 event will include other notables, including former UFC fighters Hector Ramirez, Rob MacDonald and Gideon Ray.