Ontario, Canada Legalizes MMA for 2011 Debut
The UFC’s push for sanctioning in Ontario, Canada has finally paid off, as the province announced today that it has legalized MMA and will host its first event next year.
The move comes less than three months after the UFC opened an office in Toronto headed by former CFL commissioner Tom Wright with hopes of bringing an event to the city, which ranks as one of the UFC’s most-popular.
Along with New York, Ontario was one of the biggest holdouts in legalizing the sport, but was apparently swayed by the estimated $6 million economic impact that would come with hosting a major UFC event.
According to a release, the Ontario Athletic Commission will adopt New Jersey’s Unified MMA rules, which are widely used across North America.
In May, it was reported that the UFC booked Toronto’s 60,000-plus seat Rogers Center for a March 26 event, but it’s not yet known if the UFC’s debut date will change now that legalization is official.
Could the UFC push back Georges St-Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck from December to headline its Toronto debut early next year?
For the latest UFC news and UFC rumors stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com.
Pictured: Georges St-Pierre
Loading ...
LET ME BE THE FIRST TO SAY HELL YEAH!!!!!!!!!
About time!!!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!
I’m 4th, but whatever. FU*K YEAH!!!!!!!!
I just hope Dana stays true to what he initially said about having an event at the SkyDome/Rogers Centre: it’s too big for MMA.
Have it at the ACC. I’ve been to events at the Dome and you can’t see sh!t from the 500 section unless it’s a baseball game. Sure it’ll be a huge gate revenue, but personally I’d rather save the coin and watch it from home if I’ll be up in the nosebleeds.
Apparently I was misled by Dana himself, who at UFC 97 in Montreal said no to the former SkyDome as a potential UFC location; it seems he’s booked the Rogers Centre for March.
Hopefully the Rogers Center is booked to host a massive UFC Fan Expo, in junction with a UFC card at the ACC – that would be awesome.
I can see it now: http://www.theaircanadacentre.com/gallery.asp?section_id=6&photo_id=41.
Oh, and please don’t push Kos v GSP back a few months.
Way to go Ontario! New York is next! Serra vs. GSP 3 on Long Island!
I would not go too see ufc at rogers center way way too big for mma !!
stay at home or go to bar,acc is the spot
They can’t possibly push the kos-GSP fight till march. GSP’s last fight was in march. 1 fight/year? I don’t think so. Hell, even kos hasn’t fought since may. That’d be 22 months combined of ring rust… Ain’t no way the UFC is that dumb.
yeah thats not gonna happen, plus the coaches usually collide one week after the season finale, so thats not gonna change for sure
but if GSP comes out of the koschek fight with no serious injuries, then he can fight again in three months against the winner of shield/kampman fight in Toronto
I also think koscheck doesn’t want to agree to what will be a huge advantage for gsp in having the fight in canada.
This is great news dude! I had the pleasure of seeing the jays live back in 07′ at the rogers stadium/sky dome and it was pretty sweet! Toronto is awesome and obviously has a huge mma following! Congrats!
Definitely going to be a huge event whenever the UFC goes over there.
Why not? its been done before. And we ALL know that koscheck is going to be a sacrificial lamb anyways. St Pierre could take FIVE years off and still fight circles around everyone.
I DON’T CARE IF IT’S DANA WHITE VS DALTON MCGUINTY….I AM GOING TOO THIS EVENT TOO SUPPORT THIS VICTORY FOR THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO!!!
just read yesterdays “the province ” news paper which is from BC Canada…
apparently doctors in BC are trying to lobby the Gov’t to BAN MMA in ALL of Canada… due to safety… even though there was a study done showing injury rates and severity is at the same lvls for other combat and contact sports….
thats not gonna happen either, mountain biking is just as dangerous, how many bikers break their collar bones ,neck , shoulders , etc every year and how many die every year
if MMA should be banned , then all these other sports should be banned too
I cant believe this took as long as it did.
YES!!! Finally!!!! We made it!!! Bring it to Ottawa, T.O., London, Hamilton….
We all know it was money that persuaded the ONT government to do this. But who cares. I’m grateful we got what we wanted!
NY is next. UFC in NYC….yes please :)
Wow ! It’s about time !!! Can believe it they done it.
Congratulations to all concerned…
Make no mistake about it, this had nothing to do with money.
This is an election year in Ontario, and MMA is wildly popular in Ontario–much to the disgust of the more conservative and liberal nanny-state parts of the population.
The premier, Dalton McGinty has seen his popularity plummet after introducing rafts of new taxes after spending like a mad monkey. There are so many MMA supporters in Ontario, that they could literally hold the balance of power in upcoming elections.
Although MacGinty has approved MMA for political reasons, it will probably not save his political ass from the meatgrinder–and MMA fans will remember how long he held out–until election year.
I predict the first UFC event in Toronto will easily smash any previous box-office the UFC has had world wide.