Round 5 MMA has just announced that both their Series 1 and 2 figurines will be featured in Wal-Mart stores across Canada later this month. Series 3, which is currently slated to be released in May, is also planned to be on Wal-Mart’s shelves.

“Having our figurines available at Wal-Mart locations will significantly boost our exposure throughout the country,” said Damon Lau, Round 5 President.  “Wal-Mart Canada serves more than one million customers each day, bringing great visibility to the Round 5 brand and products.”

Series 1 includes such MMA superstars as Randy Couture, Matt Hughes, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson and Tito Ortiz while Series 2 is comprised of Rich Franklin, Sean Sherk, Anderson Silva and Wanderlei Silva.

Round 5 has just recently announced that Series 3 will include Andrei ‘The Pit Bull’ Arlovski, ‘Big John’ McCarthy, Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo ‘Minotauro’ Nogueira. Announced was Series 4, which is in slated for release in July, features a bonus of six fighters: Gina Carano, Fedor Emelianenko, Dan Henderson, Cung Le, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua and Matt Serra.

In addition, Round 5 also has plans to release two additional Series in late 2009.

Canadian fighter Jason MacDonald has already signed on to be a part of an collection; however the rest of the athletes have not yet been announced.

While, Jason MacDonald hold a UFC record of 5 wins and 5 losses, he has just recently been cut from the organization. MacDonald is currently in talks with Strikeforce, and although we know we haven’t seen the last of Jason, it makes one think what will that do to the sales of his figurine.

Does a fighter need to be in the UFC to have a popular figurine, or will Round 5 shed light onto a smaller organization?

Personally, I think that it’s a little bit of both. Fedor and Gina are the only other two fighters who aren’t in the UFC and I’m sure their figurines wont have any trouble flying off the shelves. Also, I would have to think that this will also bring more new fans into Affliction and Strikeforce.

Round 5 has defiantly grown by leaps and bounds to become the leader in collectible MMA figurines and securing shelf space at Wal-Mart’s across Canada is definitely a giant step in the right direction.

MMA is the fasting growing sport across the world right now; however it still seems to carry a dark cloud wherever it goes. Round 5 is determined to turn that cloud into sunlight by simply getting their figurines in a Wal-Mart store.

The Wal-Mart distribution is going to put MMA right in the in the mix with the “big dogs”: baseball, football, soccer, basketball and hockey, who all have had toys, figurines, playing cards and other self promotion items in stores for years.

Round 5 not only has taken the time to sign some of the best fighters in the world to be a part of their collections, but they haven’t skimped on any small details either.

All fighters come complete with control of their likenesses, including the pose, facial design and shorts, and Round 5 has worked closely with each fighter to maintain these important details.

All figurines are available at your local Wal-Mart across the Canadian border, or just a few clicks away at www.Round5.com