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UFC establishing an office in Toronto is good news for MMA; Update — UFC books Rogers Centre (Sky Dome) date for March 2011

By Zach Arnold | May 21, 2010

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Update (5/22): The inimitable “Showdown” Joe Ferraro reports that UFC has put a hold for a date of March 26, 2011 to run the Sky Dome for an event.

With media reports noting that UFC will announce the opening of a new business office in Toronto next week, I am very optimistic that the long-term prospects of MMA in Canada will be extremely good.

I know that there has been some talk about former WWE executive Carl DeMarco talking with UFC brass — and he has denied reports that he will work for UFC. Nevertheless, Carl has an excellent business track record and I think if something could be worked out between him and Zuffa, he could really help them out in the area.

As far as UFC support in Toronto, having Rogers backing them is so critical. Rogers Sportsnet is already an excellent media outlet for them in Ontario and as I’ve stated before, UFC wants to run The Sky Dome and I really believe that it will happen. Dave Meltzer reported yesterday that UFC wants to book Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck for The Skydome if MMA is allowed in Ontario, but that seems unlikely in time before that Welterweight fight takes place. Ken Hayashi and Ontario politicians are still stating in the media that “the UFC is not a priority” for them.

Money talks and BS walks, so I fully expect progress to be made in rapid fashion.

Just asking…

When I posted the new Women’s Independent World MMA Rankings last night on the site, I noticed that Marloes Coenen is ranked #2 in the 145-pound weight category.

Remember her? Maybe Strikeforce has forgotten about her?

MAYBE I FORGOT ABOUT HER FIGHT WITH CYBORG LAST JANUARY. OOF.

Constipated commissions

We are one month removed from the infamous brawl in Nashville, Tennessee on Strikeforce’s CBS event that was headlined by Jake Shields vs. Dan Henderson. And as of the time I am writing this, there is still no punishment levied against Mayhem Miller or any of the Cesar Gracie fighters who were involved in the main event post-fight brawl. Scott Coker said that the fighters were served letters by the Tennessee Athletic Commission, but it’s over a month later and no word on punishment has been levied.

The only thing more absurd at this point is the fact that Quebec’s commission hasn’t levied any sort of punishment against Paul Daley for his punching antics against Josh Koscheck after the end of their Welterweight fight at UFC 113 in Montreal on May 8th. It’s hard to believe that it was Quebec and then New Jersey that helped bring us the Unified rules after California sat on their asses on implementing such regulation. Then again, this same Quebec commission was all about generating headlines last year when they threatened to pull the plug on UFC’s event there and instead ‘gave in’ in exchange for modified rules for MMA bouts. Since that point, Quebec has served to allow UFC events in Montreal but other promotions who have tried to run in the territory have found themselves dealing with hostile bureaucrats, resulting in a situation where a territory that should have a thriving local MMA scene no longer does.

Unfortunately, Quebec’s most controversial decision from UFC 113 is one that wasn’t discussed that much and it revolves around allowing Mauricio Shogun to fight coming off of an appendectomy. If commissions are all about fighter safety, you could very well make the argument that even though he won that Shogun shouldn’t have been allowed to fight.

I already know what the blow-back response will be — “How can you say that? What would you have done?”

Well, the truth is that UFC reportedly answered the situation for us already — they supposedly had Randy Couture ready as a replacement in case Shogun couldn’t fight in the main event. I’m not laying any blame on UFC for allowing Shogun to fight Machida in the re-match, but it’s a pretty serious deal to allow someone to go into such a dangerous fight under the circumstances Shogun went in to battle.

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 22 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

22 Responses to “UFC establishing an office in Toronto is good news for MMA; Update — UFC books Rogers Centre (Sky Dome) date for March 2011”

  1. Alex Sean says:

    Zach, Marlos Coenen fought Cyborg back in January. It was a very entertaining but decisive victory for Cyborg.

    Ed. — Thank you for reminding me of my stupidity. šŸ™‚

  2. 45 Huddle says:

    Nobody is perfect. Lay off Zach. 1 blunder out of so many articles is pretty darn good track record.

    If the UFC can really establish themselves in Canada, that will be a major bonus. I could easily see them doing a good number of cards there. All it does is give more options.

    So are Ontario and New York the only two major holdouts in North America right now?

  3. The Gaijin says:

    Well it looks like Overeem passed the independent drug testing. I’m sure people will stop talking about his alleged steroid and PED use any day now.

    http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Overeem-5-Others-Pass-Strikeforce-Independent-Drug-Testing-24629

    • 45 Huddle says:

      Most likely he will still be accused of roids, just not straight up. And him passing a test will bring upon more questions of the testing procedures then it will of people believing he is clean.

      Heck, Lance Armstrong passed tons of piss tests, and even yesterday he was still being accused.

    • Kyle says:

      I think people have already mostly stopped talking about Overeem’s alleged steroid use. He succeeded in changing the narrative by beating Brett Rogers in such dominating fashion. Now all the conversation is about how he’d do against Fedor or Brock. As long as he doesn’t test positive and continues to perform well in MMA, his fights will get more press than his freakish size.

  4. Kyle says:

    Whether Zach forgot about Coenen’s fight with Cyborg or not, the fact that the #2 fighter in her weight class doesn’t even get mentioned since that loss speaks to Strikeforce’s difficulty in building stars and constructing a narrative around them that’s compelling to the fans. B.J. Penn, Lyoto Machida and Urijah Faber also all just lost title fights, but Zuffa is still talking about them, the fans are still talking about them, and I bet they’ll all be fighting on TV again before Marloes Coenen is.

  5. Fluyid says:

    Guys, did Bellator come across okay on TV last night?

  6. frankp316 says:

    Strikeforce hasn’t forgotten about Marloes. She’s nursing a hand injury and said a couple of months ago she would return in June. The fall is more likely.

    Sorry, Zach. I live in Ontario and you would have to live here to understand how incredibly stupid Ken Hayashi is and how slowly the OAC reacts to anything. It’s not just MMA. For years it was illegal in Ontario for a female pro wrestler to wrestle in a mixed match, WWE excepted. Montreal based female pro wrestler Lufisto had to sue them to force them to change that. That’s what Zuffa will have to do. Hayashi is a notorious moron and McGuinty is following his lead.

    Ed. — Please forgive me then. šŸ™‚

  7. david m says:

    Id rather watch Sex and the City 2 than women’s mma. Women’s mma will never matter, be realistic.

  8. infamous says:

    ontario will not happen until the criminal code is changed…you should just stop talking about it

    more shoddy reporting from zach arnold…rogers owns both sportsnet and the building formerly referred to as “The Sky Dome” making them a much more valuable partner for zuffa..

    there’s a reason most of your “readers” only come here for the sidebar..

  9. infamous says:

    my bad…i haven’t read any of your articles since the Pride days..

    still, being aware of a new name and reporting using the old one strikes me as shoddy, amateurish and horribly uninformed…three things i find constant in your writing..

    figured i’d state my opinion for once…thanks for the sidebar, chief..

    • The Gaijin says:

      “still, being aware of a new name and reporting using the old one strikes me as shoddy, amateurish and horribly uninformedā€¦three things i find constant in your writing..”

      99% of people in Toronto and the sporting community still refer to it as the Skydome, or at least, the SkyDomerrr,…Rogers Centre.

      He’s not off the mark at all. Let alone the fact that most people in the US wouldn’t have a sweet clue what the Rogers Centre is anyways.

  10. frankp316 says:

    Changing the criminal code is a red herring. Ken Hayashi won’t do anything until he’s in front of a judge with a sheepish look on his face. That’s his history. The UFC needs to sue the OAC.

  11. Justin says:

    Infamous, you are out of your element. Please save us your opinion if you haven’t read what you are commenting on. Also, I live in Toronto and everybody who was born before 1990 still calls it the SkyDome, the Rogers’ Centre is a joke.

  12. david m says:

    infamous:

    While I support trolling Zach over his ridiculous fanboyish obsession with tying in Japanese pro wrestling to mma at any opportunity (even when 98% of the readers either don’t care or are appalled by such evocations), his marking out for Overeem, and for acknowledging women’s mma, saying his writing is “shoddy, amateurish and horribly uninformed” is total BS, as is saying that people only come here for the sidebar. Zach is a good writer, and does a good job with this site; people don’t come here for the sidebar, we come here for the posts by Zach and the discussion with other smart mma fans.

    • Zach Arnold says:

      Marking out for Overeem? I would have had him listed beating some of the Top UFC Heavyweights in that case. šŸ™‚

      • david m says:

        I don’t know, last week you sounded like you had a mancrush on him with some of your fluff posts on why he is such a unique/likable character. šŸ˜›

  13. Tradition Rules says:

    Justin says:

    “Infamous, you are out of your element. Please save us your opinion if you havenā€™t read what you are commenting on. Also, I live in Toronto and everybody who was born before 1990 still calls it the SkyDome, the Rogersā€™ Centre is a joke.’

    I’m originally from Buffalo,but now live in Phoenix. Every time I strike up a conversation with someone from Toronto ( I love that city šŸ™‚ ), I always say SkyDome and then say “Oops, I mean ‘The Rogers Center’!” I always get the response “Everyone still calls it the SkyDome.”

    frankp316 says:

    “Itā€™s not just MMA. For years it was illegal in Ontario for a female pro wrestler to wrestle in a mixed match, WWE excepted. Montreal based female pro wrestler Lufisto had to sue them to force them to change that”

    I think I recall seeing you say this elsewhere before Frank. How recent was this? If I’m not mistaken, hadn’t Sumie Sakai work a few of mixed maches in Ontario when she was based out of Toronto?

  14. frankp316 says:

    Sumie never lived here. She was going to move here in 2003 but moved to Philly after the SARS scare. Lufisto AKA Precious Lucy was working under the radar for indy feds. Her shtick is working hardcore against guys. When she refused to work for a particular promoter, he blew the whistle on her to the OAC. IIRC, she took it to the Ontario Human Rights Commission and eventually the OAC changed the rule when the arbitrator gave them shit. That’s why the UFC will have to sue the OAC to get MMA legalized in Ontraio. Ken Hayashi is a moron and will only legalize MMA if forced by a judge.

  15. […] May 21st – UFC establishing an office in Toronto is good news for MMA and UFC books Rogers Cen… […]

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