Gavin Neil is a history buff in the classroom but his peers have no idea what he’s like in the ring.

The quiet and reserved 24-year-old University of Victoria student is in his final year of a history major. He is also an accomplished mixed martial arts competitor, one of many local athletes set to fight at the first ever Armageddon Fighting Championship MMA event, Saturday night (Aug. 22) at Bear Mountain Arena.

Neil fights Curtis Demarce of Edmonton.

“(Neil) is thought of as this country bumpkin and then he beats the hell out of people,” said Adam Zugec of Neil’s success in Canada’s most established MMA organization, the Maximum Fighting Championship out of Edmonton.

Speaking to where the AFC fits on the spectrum of Canadian MMA organizations, Neil says it’s too early to tell.

“This is AFC’s first show, and I hope they do well and can turn it into more shows, but they likely won’t be on the radar of the bigger organizations until they’ve done a few more,” said Neil, a veteran of six figths in the MFC.

“At the same time MFC and other organizations will take note of how the fighters perform.”

As a teenager growing up in Fruitvale in the West Kootenays, Neil found kickboxing through his cousin and trained in it for fitness. He got into fighting as a competitive kickboxer from there, and was both the Pacific Northwest and Canadian national kickboxing association title holder in cruiser weight (190 pounds, 86 kilograms).

The Saanich transplant joined Zuma’s mixed martial arts to continue training when he arrived three years ago as a UVic freshman.

“Back then I used to walk around at 200 pounds but nowadays I’m 170 pounds,” adding he cut weight with a change in diet and an increase in his training regimen.

With Zuma he excelled in the arts of Brazilian jiu jitsu and grappling, competing successfully.

“He came to work with us to improve his ground skills and started winning competitions in Vancouver,” said Zugec, owner of Zuma gym in Vic West and a Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt holder.

Through 13 months between November of 2007 and December of 2008 Neil went 5-1 in the MFC and gained a fan base for his style of fighting, said Zugec.

“They love him out there (in Edmonton).”

Neil’s never-say-die attitude won him fights where other fighters would have lost, confirms Zugec.

A YouTube search of Neil’s 2004 kickboxing fight against ex-NHL enforcer turned B-movie actor Sasha Lakovic shows just that. Neil loses a close fight, taking a wallop and dishing it out against the fitter looking Lakovic.

Neil’s also made the top 10 fights of the year on the biggest MMA fight network HDNet.

“He has a granite chin and has a reputation for being incredibly tough,” added Zugec, who was recently hired to coach with Greg Jackson at one of the most high-profile MMA gyms in the world. Zugec will coach along side some of the most elite names of the super popular Ultimate Fighting Championship, such as Canadian mega star George St. Pierre and American Rashad Evans.

Neil is part of a successful team of Zuma fighters like Kaufman who’re making a name for themselves provincially, nationally and internationally.

That includes local competitor Sarah Kaufman, currently toted as the number one pound-for-pound female MMA athlete in the world, and has seen plenty of elite level fighters in a sport that is often misundertsood.

“I think people are still a little confused as to what MMA is. People learn everything through the (Ultimate Fighting Championship) and don’t realize MMA is such a vast sport,” said Zugec.

For now Neil is focused on finishing up at UVic but hopes a win will land him another go in the MFC, though he’s busy enough to put off the pro-career for a few months.

Tickets to Saturday’s event are availalbe online at www.armageddonfc.com.

sports@vicnews.com

Locals on the Big Bang card

n Nic Hinchcliffe (Victoria/Nanaimo) vs.

Chris Peak (formerly of Victoria)

n Brandon MacArthur vs. Derek Medler (Victoria)

n Tarek Gabali (Victoria) vs. Rob Bastone (Sooke)

n Nick Driedger (Victoria) vs. Tim Jeffreys

n Alex Meyer (Victoria) vs. Tyler Lynk (Victoria)

n Iury Aquino (Victoria) vs. Arran McLellan (Victoria)

n Josh Spong (Duncan) vs. Jason Weare (Victoria

n Dustin Dickeson vs. Connor Riddell (Victoria)

n Ryan Gustafson (Victoria) vs. Troy Bullock

n Kevin Penner (Victoria) vs. Jon Kirk (Victoria)

n Chris Jones vs. Marco Guerette

n Tim Tamaki vs. Shaun Albrecht