MMA in Ontario

[roy_jones_calderon]

It's official!

http://www.news.ontario.ca/mcs/en/2010/ ... -arts.html

[Posey H8er]

I'm thinking GSP quickly fights again to headline a March card.

[SDM]

Amazing news. I have to give credit to Dana White for being so persistent and hiring the right person in Tom Wright to promote the brand in Canada. Both handled criticism professionally and pushed forward. Once the government decided to allow online gambling, there was no way they were going to miss out on the MMA dollar for any longer.

[Gold Chain]

WOO!!

This is going to be the BEST UFC event ever.

The crowd is going to pop!

[REDDzone]

SWEET.

[SDM]

We're going to see GSP v. Silva... at the Rogers Centre. Biggest North American MMA event in history and Dana will throw around enough cash to make both fighters accept it.

[...c.a.p...]

We're going to see GSP v. Silva... at the Rogers Centre. Biggest North American MMA event in history and Dana will throw around enough cash to make both fighters accept it.

As much as I would love to see that fight, I don't think it will happen at the rumored event in March. Silva's rib injury is probably going to keep him out until February-March. However, I do believe that Dana is saving that for another Rogers Centre card. I think they may be forced into looking at a Belfort-Sonnen #1 contender/interim Middleweight title fight. . I think they should push back the fight for the GSP/Koscheck TUF Season coming up to March. They did it for Rampage/Rashard, even if it was totally different circumstances. It just makes way too much business sense for Dana to ignore considering in my opinion. Obviously there's the matter of getting Kos to agree to it, but a bigger payday for Koscheck could ring loud in his ears.

[SDM]

We're going to see GSP v. Silva... at the Rogers Centre. Biggest North American MMA event in history and Dana will throw around enough cash to make both fighters accept it.

As much as I would love to see that fight, I don't think it will happen at the rumored event in March. Silva's rib injury is probably going to keep him out until February-March. However, I do believe that Dana is saving that for another Rogers Centre card. I think they may be forced into looking at a Belfort-Sonnen #1 contender/interim Middleweight title fight. . I think they should push back the fight for the GSP/Koscheck TUF Season coming up to March. They did it for Rampage/Rashard, even if it was totally different circumstances. It just makes way too much business sense for Dana to ignore considering in my opinion. Obviously there's the matter of getting Kos to agree to it, but a bigger payday for Koscheck could ring loud in his ears.

It would certainly be a down the road thing. I imagine we'll get an event at ACC or maybe Ricoh, just to see how fast tickets sell out. After it sells out in three minutes, Dana will be tripping over himself to find a way to get Silva and GSP at the Dome.

[cowboyronnie]

Will this mean elbows are allowed in muay thai events? What fight sports rules exactly were overturned?

I live in Toronto, but really, really don't want a UFC event here. It draws a wretched crowd of scumbags and posers.

[CapeCrusader]

I don't think the first event will be in the dome. It will sell out ACC no problem, but the dome I dunno.

[SDM]

Will this mean elbows are allowed in muay thai events? What fight sports rules exactly were overturned?

I live in Toronto, but really, really don't want a UFC event here. It draws a wretched crowd of scumbags and posers.

Yeah, but instead of having twenty thousand douchebags at various bars pocketed across the city being jerks, we can just have them in one contained facility for a few hours.

[CPT]

They are talking about doing it in the dome, but they are also throwing the number 30,000 out there for attendance. I take that to mean they wouldn't even bother with the 500 level seats, and maybe have some other sections blocked off as well.

I think a GSP fight could do numbers big enough to justify an event in the dome. It wouldn't even have to be an Anderson Silva superfight either. With GSP vs. Koscheck in early December, a fight in March (especially late) wouldn't be out of the question, although it would be a much quicker turnaround than GSP typically has.

I would also expect to see some fighters that are somewhat irrelevant, but decent draws, especially for a first time host city. Guys like Couture, Ortiz, Franklin, Griffin, Hughes, Wandy, Sanchez, etc.

[2009NBAChamps]

Awesome news!! Now I don't have to drive 6 hours to MTL to watch it live!

Also, I think doing it in the dome would be a horrible idea, not necessarily business wise, but from a viewing perspective anyone not in the 100 section or closer will have to use binoculars to just watch on the big screens to see the cage.

ACC is easily the best venue from a fan perspective, but I'd understand if they did it in the dome...

[SDM]

Anyone interested in putting on events?

[K1NG]

GSP vs Shields?

[K1NG]

The country's largest doctors group wants government to ban mixed martial arts, a sport it calls dangerous because of the risk of potentially lifelong injuries to fighters.

After often heated debate, about 250 delegates attending the annual meeting of the Canadian Medical Association in Niagara Falls, Ont., voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to campaign for a ban on "mixed martial arts prizefighting matches in Canada."

Dr. Anne Doig, outgoing CMA president, said one of physicians' primary responsibilities is to promote good health.

"We are concerned when people engage in activities the sole purpose of which is to pummel, kick, punch, scratch — whatever methods they use — until either somebody is seriously hurt or injured or somebody cries uncle and submits," Doig said at a news briefing.

"This is an activity that leads to serious issues, including damage to people's brains, and we must speak out against that.

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/08/ ... z0xrukOFdu

[cowboyronnie]

Not a speck of empirical evidence or a single study presented. Speaking as medical scientists? That's all rhetoric. What exactly is the risk of lasting harm? There's a debate to be had, for sure. But what they've stated is really insubstantial.

How is someone submitting ("crying uncle") to a hold have anything to do with them? Why are they bringing it up? They're biologists and physiologists. Evaluating the significance of a tap out has what to do with that?

[disoblige]

They are specialist they know more than you do.

[SDM]

They are reactionary defenders of all that is moral and proper they know more than you do.

Fixed.

[Kaizen]

http://tsn.ca/mma/story/?id=337306

After a successful debut in Vancouver and a return to Montreal set for December, the UFC is prepared to break new ground with an event in Toronto in 2011.

The UFC's head of Canadian operations, Tom Wright, said that the promotion is targeting a mid-year date for its first show in Toronto after mixed martial arts were legalized in Ontario.

"We hope to have it completed by the end of the year, and we've already had discussions about a venue in Toronto," admitted Wright. "Most likely we're looking at the first UFC event probably sometime mid-year."