Local MMA School’s Join Forces and are Making Noise Across North America
On June 6, 2011 Modern Vision MMA School owner Chris Bonfoco was happy to be opening a second location in Welland (601 Southworth St.) while being excited as two of his professional fighters were about to break out onto the Ontario MMA scene fighting at Copps Colliseum June 17 at Hamilton’s “Slammer in the Hammer.” What he didn’t know about the future was exactly how quickly his school was about to grow to three and that his fighters would be on live National television within four months.
On August 5th, 2011 St. Catharines Muay Thai school owner, Roger Lumyoung, approached Bonfoco with the opportunity to operate Modern Vision MMA at Muay Thai Niagara in St. Catharines. “I had, had a couple MMA and Brazilian coaches in to work with me but the professionalism wasn’t there. So I decided to approach Chris to take over the MMA, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and kids programs at my club (Muay Thai Niagara). I knew Modern Vision runs a tight ship and Chris has an excellent reputation as an MMA and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu coach. I wanted an accomplished professional,” said Roger Lumyoung.
However, this story has two halves. Bonfoco was shocked when Lumyoung called him and asked to have a meeting with him. “I first thought there was an issue between our two schools so I was prepared for an awkward conversation. But when Roger asked me if I wanted to take over the program I was equally surprised. He wanted us to have a program up and running in five days over there and Blayne and I figured out a way to make it happen,” said Bonfoco (Blayne is Bonfoco’s wife and business partner).
The second half was that Bonfoco was looking for a first rate Muay Thai Coach to instruct at his school as he wanted to improve his Thai Kickboxing program. “The meeting was strange as I wanted a coach on Roger’s level, who are few and far between, and he just landed on my lap,” Bonfoco continued. Lumyoung is a National K1 Thai Kickboxing Coach through the National Sporting Organization CASK (Council of Amateur Sport Kickboxing). Lumyoung now heads the striking program at Modern Vision.
With all this happening Bonfoco and Lumyoung (along with Team Ascension founder Omar Salvosa) cornered Modern Vision MMA/ Team Ascension fighter Eric Attard in his professional MMA fight at Hamilton’s Global Warriors. A fight that Attard easily won by unanimous decision. “This was a great opportunity to see how well we all (Bonfoco, Lumyoung and Salvosa) work together,’ said Bonfoco, “and as it turns out we make for an excellent formula,” he continued. “Having these three guys in my corner made me feel invincible that night,” said Eric Attard.
Salvosa is the grappling expert as he is a Carlson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt, while Lumyoung is the striking expert as a Master Muay Thai Kru and Bonfoco is the MMA expert as he is well versed in Thai Kickboxing (certified coach) and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as he is a competition tested and accomplished Carlson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Purple Belt and has an impressive MMA coaching resume. The three coaches are all proud to be part of Team Ascension. “When I asked Chris what our team name would be he immediately said ‘we are Team Ascension’ and I love the team approach and the positive nature of the team.”
With Eric Attard, Andrew Cseh and Matt DiMarcantonio representing Ascension in the professional MMA ranks as well as notorious amateurs like Matt DiCenso, Kevin Johnston, and many more making noise it was just a matter of time before a major televised opportunity arose. Andrew Cseh, known as ‘Animal,’ will be representing Team Ascension in Gatineau Quebec on October 28th live on The Score Fighting Series versus Ottawa’s Randy Turner.
It will be a busy weekend for the three coaches as immediately following Cseh’s fight they will be travelling to London Ontario to corner Attard and DiMarcantonio in the Televised tape-delayed Global Warriors event. On December third Matt DiCenso will be putting one of his three amateur titles on-the-line when he fights Eugene Jackson Jr. in Northern California at Rocktagon MMA.
MMA is not the only area where this team competes as they have several K1 Thai Kickboxing fighters and Team Ascension has been Ontario’s top Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu team since 2009 voted by the Provincial Sporting Organization (PSO) the Ontario Jiu-Jitsu Association (OJA).
This past weekend saw Team Ascension dominate the Bravado Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Open winning the overall team title despite having only a handful of competitors. Local competitors Andrew Cseh, Kevin Mans, Anthony Romero, Simon Romero all won gold as Joe Mellen won Silver and Mitchell Muir, Dalton Brady and Zander Armstrong won bronze. Team Ascension consists of: Salvosa BJJ (Scarborough), Modern Vision MMA (Welland), Muay Thai Niagara (St. Catharines), Buffalo Training Center (Buffalo) and Ascension Trenton (Trenton).
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