UFC live fights in Toronto?

[rafterman]

Too many marxist pansies in the power structure.

Let's get ready to rumble Dana White, the savvy president of the UFC, has turned a combat sport into a fan favourite. If his Ontario publicity push succeeds this week, the call of the wild will be heard March 23, 2010 By HAYLEY MICK
With his penchant for F-bombs, Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White is perhaps the least politically correct man to bend a politician's ear.

But White is canny enough to know that just because Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty won't be within earshot of his public talk today in Toronto, it doesn't mean the sales pitch for his gritty sport won't reach his mark.

"Dana White's not dumb. He's very savvy," said Ted Butryn, an associate professor at San Jose State University, who has studied the meteoric rise of mixed martial arts since their grim beginnings in the 1990s, when the sport was shunned by corporate America and Arizona Senator John McCain compared it to cockfighting.

Today, it's a billion-dollar industry sanctioned in almost every U.S. state.

White has made it his mission to make Ontario the next province to regulate MMA fights, following Quebec and most recently British Columbia. While today's Q&A session with fans at Toronto's Eaton Centre is officially to promote a fight in Newark, N.J., the media will also be in attendance - giving White ample opportunity to argue why those same fans should be able to watch fights live in their home province.

"Obviously, he's going to make himself available to deal with, and discuss hopefully, regulating it in the province of Ontario," said Noble Chummar, a partner at the law firm Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP, which UFC has hired to lobby its case to the provincial government.

In an analysis of all newspaper reports that mentioned MMA between 1993 and 2006, Butryn found White's magnetic personality and skill as a promoter are at the heart of UFC's popularity explosion.

"He'll say the same things, and he'll counter some the same criticisms," Butryn said. "[He'll say,] no one's ever died in the UFC. He'll say something about boxing. He'll say how they changed all the rules and it's much safer ... which is all true, quite frankly."

White's cause is often helped by journalists who don't double-check the facts woven into his message, Butryn said.

"The [UFC] knows that if they can get the popular media to say, 'You know what? Look at this Dana White guy ... he has a great sense of humour. He has the ability to win over a crowd.' And when your crowd is the media, he says all the right things. So if you're just reading it from [the media reports] you're like, of course this needs to be legalized."

While White's charisma has generated billions in revenue and created a tidal wave across North America, his mouth has also got him into trouble. In a recorded rant last April, he called a female reporter with the online MMA magazine, Sherdog.com, a "f---ing bitch."

More recently, it has been the athletes giving the UFC a black eye. Last month, White was forced to go on the defensive.

That was after fighter Frank Mir told a Pittsburg radio station he wanted to break the neck of his opponent, Brock Lesnar, at a coming fight. "I want him to be the first person that dies due to Octagon-related injuries," he said.

White unloaded his reaction into the radio waves. "Mir is a [expletive] idiot. I have never heard something so unprofessional and idiotic in my life," he told KHTK in Sacramento. (Mir later apologized to Lesnar, his family, and the UFC.)

Nevertheless, south of the border, the UFC is working on the final pieces of its empire. Massachusetts and New York are key holdouts, along with West Virginia, Connecticut and Vermont. Alaska and Wyoming do not have athletic commissions.

White has been to Ontario seven times in the past two years, Chummar said, including his most recent visit earlier this month. Last February, McGuinty said sanctioning MMA was not high on his priority list. "We're continuing to monitor it," Douglas Tindal, spokesman for Ontario's Minister of Consumer Services, Sophia Aggelonitis, said yesterday.

Ultimately, the decision is pretty simple, Butryn says. "It's still combat sport. And you either accept guys punching each other in the face, or you don't."

******

ALMOST EVERYWHERE EXCEPT ONTARI-OH-NO

Why is Ontario holding out when Quebec, B.C. and the vast majority of U.S. states have given the green light to mixed-martial-arts fights? In previous media reports, Ontario Athletic Commissioner Ken Hayashi cited Section 81.3 of the Criminal Code, which bans "prize fights," but not sanctioned boxing matches. However, the Criminal Code only bars the sport if it is not regulated by a government body, according to Douglas Tindal, spokesman for Sophia Aggelonitis, the Minister of Consumer Services who is managing the decision of whether Ontario will sanction the sport. "If the government were to consider regulating the sport, safety would be of primary concern. However, regulating MMA is not a government priority. The government will continue to watch and follow MMA, and will continue to focus on issues that matter to Ontarians," Tindal said. Hayley Mick

 

[dj1470]

It'll happen soon despite the numbnuts in this article.
It'll come down to money. UFC makes millions on their events and PPV.
Government can't say no forever. Unless it's run by my ex-wife.

 

[The Oracle]

My major worry is that someone is going to really get hurt bad and then it will never happen in Ontario.

Lets face it it's only a matter of time before there is a death in one of the major organizations.

When that happens the wheels are going to come to a halt pretty fast.

The anti MMA crowd will have all the ammunition they need.

 

[C Dick]

680 News had a poll as to whether people thought it should be legalized, 60% or so said no. It always amazes me that people think it is ok to stop consenting adults from doing what they want behind closed doors (its not like you can stumble into a UFC event without realizing it). And then still scream when people stop them from doing what they want.

 

[dj1470]

http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/03/28/13387211.html

 

[The Oracle]

Looks like Vancouver is a no go as well:


Source says UFC Vancouver show is off, may be switched to Cincinnati
March 29, 2010 - 20:55 Neil Davidson, THE CANADIAN PRESS

A planned UFC show set for June in Vancouver is on the ropes, apparently due to insurance and other issues.

A source told The Canadian Press that the show has been called off and the mixed martial arts promoter is looking at Cincinnati as a possible replacement city. The UFC has not officially announced the Vancouver card, other than to say that it planned to go there in June. The show had been pegged for June 12 at GM Place.

UFC president Dana White said he could not comment on any issues affecting Vancouver. But a second source said the two sides had yet to resolve insurance and other indemnification matters.

[continued below]

Vancouver councillor Kerry Jang said while the city has not yet confirmed the cancellation of the show, he assumes it is going to Cincinnati.

"It's disappointing but not really surprising given the hurdles we had to cross over with issues of liability and insurance," Jang said.

"This would not be a problem if province would have just done what Quebec does, indemnify the city. They've not done that yet, they pass it back to us, and if people want UFC in Vancouver they better go talk to the province about what Quebec does."

While the UFC has convinced more than 40 U.S. states to create or amend legislation sanctioning the sport, the situation in Canada is far murkier.

The Criminal Code offers an exemption of sorts to boxing but not mixed martial arts and that apparently is the sticking point in Vancouver, where the city wants adequate protection in terms of insurance.

Across the country, there is a hodgepodge of provinces and jurisdictions that permit the sport. Vancouver was one of them until city council withdrew its support while the matter was studied further.

In December, Vancouver city councillors voted 6-3 to approve a two-year trial period for MMA, opening the door for a UFC show that could generate millions for the local economy.

But under the pilot program, promoters must ensure the city can't be held liable for damages.

"In short, insurance companies wouldn't insure the event given that it's technically not legal in Canada and that the province doesn't indemnify the city as they do in Quebec," Jang said.

"I guess it's the insurance companies who had some discomfort, not council .... and really their discomfort comes from the lack of legal framework that exists in other provinces and states that we don't have. So the city would be taking 100 per cent of the risk."

Mark Pavelich, head of Edmonton-based promoter Maximum Fighting Championship, said at the time of the UFC Vancouver announcement that insurance costs could be a problem.

Pavelich called Vancouver authorities after the December vote to try to apply to hold a show.

"They didn't give me the exact sum but the impression, the sense, the way they were speaking, was that it's going to be a significant amount of insurance, way more than any of us pay anywhere else and the premiums would be gigantic," Pavelich said Monday.

"They basically made that very clear to me."

The UFC has already held two successful shows in Montreal and is pressing to have Ontario sanction the sport.

Cincinnati served as host to UFC 77 in October 2007.

 

[The Oracle]

March 31, 2010 - 17:10 Neil Davidson, THE CANADIAN PRESS

The on-again, off-again UFC show in Vancouver is a go.

UFC president Dana White confirmed to The Canadian Press that the mixed martial arts card will take place as scheduled June 12 at GM Place.

With insurance a major sticking point, the UFC played hardball and the MMA juggernaut appears to have won the day.

[continued below]

There was talk Monday of moving the show to Cincinnati. That was followed by the UFC giving city officials 24 hours to sort out the issue or else, according to a source.

Vancouver will be the second Canadian city to stage a UFC show.

The UFC has already held two cards in Montreal - UFC 83 and 97 - and plans a third - UFC 113 - next month.

Vancouver Coun. Kerry Jang had said the city was facing a problem that the province of B.C., unlike Quebec, had not agreed to provide the city with indemnity, meaning the city could not be sued "for any reason arising from one of these events."

While the UFC has to provide insurance of its own, the city had to look into additional insurance in the form of $10 million in third-party liability, according to Jang. GM Place would also need insurance.

Complicating the matter is the Criminal Code does not provide an exemption for MMA, as it does boxing, causing the city concerns that any insurance claims might be denied.

But Marc Ratner, the UFC's vice-president of regulatory affairs said Tuesday he was confident the outstanding issues could be settled. He was proved right a day later after the some tough bargaining tactics.

In December, Vancouver city councillors voted six to three to approve a two-year trial period for MMA, opening the door for a UFC show that could generate millions for the local economy.

But under the pilot program, promoters must ensure the city can't be held liable for damages.

Ontario is the next Canadian target for the UFC. The province, home to a rich vein of MMA fans, has yet to sanction the sport.