MMA Slowly Making Its Way North Of The 49^th

UFC 115 will be held in Vancouver, BC, Canada on Saturday June 12, 2010. It is the first sanctioned mma event to be held in the province of British Columbia and the fourth sanctioned event in all of Canada, where the sport is technically illegal, due mostly to outdated laws.

Dana White, president of the UFC, has said repeatedly that Canada is the second largest market, outside the United States, for mma. This is backed up by phenomenal pay-per-view buys across the country. (The sport is illegal to stage in Canada, but not illegal to watch or distribute – or even train!)

Vancouver set a record for the quickest sellout in UFC history, snapping up all the pre-sale tickets in half an hour. Further proof that the sport is growing by leaps and bounds, even in a country where it’s not fully legal. (Vancouver city council has invoked a two-year probationary period.)

While Vancouver looks forward to its first UFC event, Ontario fans are rallying to get the sport sanctioned in their province. On Saturday May 22 a rally was held at Toronto’s Queen’s Park. Hundreds attended the peaceful rally to show their support, including former UFC welterweight champion Carlos Newton, who spoke about more Canadian fighters being able to compete on a world-class level if they were allowed to do so legally.

Rogers Sportsnet’s “Showdown Joe” Ferraro was also in attendance. He told the crowd about a 2006 study by Johns Hopkins University that showed mma has fewer knockouts than boxing – which is sanctioned in Ontario. He also threw in the nugget that more people are injured in cheerleading than in mma. Food for thought!

UFC president Dana White and co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta traveled to Toronto on Tuesday May 25 to make a much-ballyhooed announcement. The UFC has decided to open an office in Canada, in Toronto specifically. It will be run by former CFL commissioner Tom Wright. When asked if this was a move to pressure Ontario to legalize mma, White said it was actually a long-overdue move to set up shop in the second-largest market for mma. When asked if controversial CFL team owner David Braley would be buying into the UFC, White said “Why don’t you just come up here and punch me in the face.” We do love his sense of humour!

With all of this going on in such a short period of time, is there really any doubt that the mma will soon be legalized in all parts of Canada very soon?