From the humble and treacherous beginnings to stardom. That is the direction that Menad “The Boss” Abella is pointed in, and The Firm Sports Management is helping him achieve his goals.
The Firm co-owners Mark Pavelich and Ken Franczek are very excited to announce the signing of Abella to a management contract. A 5-0 mixed martial artist, Abella has his sights set on reaching the pinnacle of his sport.
“As a fighter, I invest everything I have into my career,” said Abella. “All my time, blood, sweat, and tears that go into preparing for every fight and to have so many fights cancelled took its toll.
“When I got the call from The Firm I thought it was some kind of April Fool’s joke that someone tried to pull on me. Until Mark Pavelich started getting into the details, I was in disbelief. I finally felt like all my hard work and everything I ever worked for is finally going to pay off and that I am finally back on track.
“Hearing Mark say that he believes in me and that he sees that I have what it takes to make it all the way was surreal to say the least. For him, and Ken, and the team at The Firm to stand behind me and manage my career was exactly what was missing all this time. This is a new day and ‘The Boss’ is coming full force. Watch out world!”
As someone who has encountered and worked with hundreds of fighters over the past 20 years, it isn’t easy getting Mark Pavelich to take a lot of notice, let alone a vested interest. Abella deserves all the credit.
“I am unbelievably revved up about signing a fantastic young fighter like Menad,” said Pavelich. “His athletic talent is one thing – and he has a lot of it. Definitely enough for him to become an elite-level fighter and a champion.
“But there’s much more to him than that. Menad is someone with a spectacular drive to succeed and he has the type of character that makes you want to do whatever you can to support. That is precisely why The Firm wanted to bring him in. We want to do everything possible to push him to the top.”
“Welcome to the Firm Menad.” “This guy is an absolute Beast!” Definitely one of the most violent fighters in MMA today…and I can’t wait to watch The Boss…crush everyone we put in front of him.” – Ken Franczek
Four of Abella’s five victories have come via knockout. Due to several potential opponents backing out of fights, Abella did not see any action in 2017 but he has since returned from the long layoff and picked up a win.
Struggles, such as being out of action for an extended period, are nothing new to Abella. In fact, it is fair to say he has braved more hardships than a young man should but that has only forged his desire to find success in a sport as demanding as MMA.
His story is best told in his own words.
“I grew up in Algiers, Algeria, up until the age of about eight at which point my father was assassinated … shot with a shotgun in front of myself and the rest of my family. My mother struggled for many years to secure a future for us (myself, my brother and my two sisters), and raise us out of harm’s way which eventually landed us in Montreal, Quebec.
“Early teens was no walk in the park for me as I struggled with the loss of my father and being in a new environment which was completely out of the ordinary for me. But towards the middle of high school, I started going into what I call ‘Survival of the Fittest’ mode, and decided that I was going to take life by the horns and ride it till the wheels fall off.”
Abella initially found his place on the soccer pitch with the Algerian national team but a knee injury and subsequent surgeries over the next year and a half ended that plan. Now in his early 20s, Abella chose to use the anger over his failed bid in soccer and turn it into the aggression required for mixed martial arts. Training at the famed Tri Star Gym in Montreal under the tutelage of Firas Zahabi and alongside notables like Georges St-Pierre, David Loiseau, Nordine Taleb, Olivier Aubin-Mercier, and Rory MacDonald only fired up his desire to become a professional fighter.
“About a year into it, I realized this is what I was meant to be doing all along,” he said. “Being in that cage felt like home and throwing those punches felt like medicine. I then joined the Canadian national wrestling team in Montreal and rolled with the best. Now I felt like a new man … I felt like I could take on the world.
“By 2010, I was still training two to three times a day but didn’t really have any direction or any support. That’s when I met my wife and she saw in me what no one else saw – the potential to make it all the way to the top in the MMA world. She believed in me and was the force that pushed me threw the darkness. I now felt like I was ready and fully armed with everything I needed.”
After moving to Edmonton, Alberta, Abella worked with Luke Harris at the Hayabusa Gym and trainer Noda Kajro at Frank Lee’s Gym.
His next journey will be the continuation of his pursuit to reach stardom in MMA.
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