UFC 97 To Remain in Montreal Following Rules Compromise
Bell Centre
UFC 97 will take place on April 18th at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada as scheduled after the UFC reached an agreement with the Quebec Athletic Commission to ban foot stomps at the event.
Corus Sports first reported the news earlier today.
UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta and vice president for regulatory affairs Marc Ratner traveled to Montreal earlier this week to meet with the athletic commission in hopes of saving the event, which is already sold out. Having to only concede to ban foot stomps is a major victory for the UFC as the commission was seeking to prohibit elbow and knee strikes and allow for temporary stoppages to ensure downed fighters were able to continue.
UFC 97 is headlined by UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva defending his title against Thales Leites and also features Chuck Liddel vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Brian Stann, Jason MacDonald vs. Nate Quarry, and Ed Herman vs. David Loiseau.
For the latest UFC 97 fight card check out the MMAFrenzy.com UFC rumors section.
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I’m glad the event is still on, the banning of foot stomps is not that big of a deal to me. I know they are painful, but have you ever seen “Soand So wins via TKO due to foot stomps”? Most guys seem to continue to fight with a broken foot, and though it may affect the outcome, it can also cause the fighters to have a longer layoff. I also have noticed lately that they aren’t implemented very often.
I heard off the cuff that there are no noogies allowed, either!
what? no foot stomps! f*%k this, how else are chuck and silva going to win! Blasphemy!
foot stomps is a minor concession to keep the fight in Montreal, sounds like the AC didn’t want to lose the event either. Good thing Serra isn’t on the card since that’s one of his trademarks.
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wow they wanted no knees and no elbows and pauses to ensure downed fighters were able to continue? that is ridiculous. i dont kno if id even wanna see anderson silva fight if he couldnt use his knees. or shogun for that matter. or loiseau witout his elbows. and wat are they gonna do stop the action when someone gets knocked down to see if hes ok? so many things wrong wit that i cant even find the words to describe it. y dont they give the fighters 2 T.O.s a round?
Well, the good news is they aren’t requiring those rules, and the only a-typical rule will be the no foot stomps rule.
Am I the only one who thinks it’s ironic that the rules for Quebec’s fights are the same as for hockey fights?
lol
Wow, i guess i overreacted to what seems to be no big deal after all.
Lorenzo has deep pockets and anyone can be bought…
you can bet it was more than Lorenzo, the event is setting records for Montreal ticket sales so vendors, sponsors, ticket revenue, etc. all helped ease the Commission’s pain…
Being a Montrealer who has already received his tickets to this event, I am extremely pleased with this outcome. More so that they are banning foot stomps. I personally hate foot stomps and think they are a ridiculous low talent strategy to implement in a MMA fight.
Apparently the meeting was held yesterday at 5:30pm. Lorenzo Fertita and Mark Ratner arrived in town by private jet, took care of business, and flew off to Europe for business related to UFC 95.
WAR UFC in Montreal!
I can deal with the “banning of footstomps.” The way they were going, it sounded like they were trying to turn this into a “slap-boxing” match.
Whew!
Bad news for Thales Leites
Except that he might end up on a highlight reel.
foot stomps are gay. no one ever seems “faised” by them it doesn’t make the fight anymore interesting i am sure they hurt like hell, but they are gay!!!!!!!! imo
You said it all right there
it makes the “montreal” peeps look kinda dumb, they wanted a bunch of rules changed now they are like ok ok but no FOOT STOMPS. dumb imo
its not “montreal peeps” that look dumb… the average everyday joe had nothing to do with this, it was the AC not the public that made this descision… your comment makes you look dumb…
i think foot stomps should be banned from the UFC anyways… not just this event…
they are a pathetic attack, they will never ko someone, or tko someone… if you want to take away the strength from there base then use leg kicks or thigh knees… but to stomp a foot which is more bone than muscle is pathetic and could cause severe damage puitting a fighter on the bench for months
If you don’t wanna get foot stomped, don’t spend 15 minutes leaning against someone against a cage. It was the only way to get any action in some fights. Stomp his foot until he moves. Problem solved.
Foot stomping is for gay men
This is awesome news! I figured I’d have to eat the service charge cost if they refunded the tickets. I’m not sure where it was reported sold out, but you can still buy up to six tickets in section 109 through UFC.com. I think if GSP was on the card again it would have sold out as quickly as last year.
can they foot stomp people on the face?
i see wanderlei doing that alot in pride
nope leg strikes to the head of downed opponent were banned when the UFC came back to the US as part of a compromise between the UFC and the state’s athletic commission. Now before the UFC was gone from the US it was allowed along with guys wearing wrestling shoes among other things.
oh you guys were taling about stompig on other people’s feet i thought you guys meant stomping when other person was down.
why the heck would they stop foot stomping thats not so bad , but im sure it would hurt alot but not like ever injure them like you never hear they got a toe broken.
wow no foot stompes who cares…..they really dont have that big of effect most of the time anyways…glad this is still going on man the ufc is gonna have five great cards in a row…..
96- rampage/jardine, gonzaga/carwin..many more
97- silva/leites, liddell/shogun…many many more
98- lesnar/mir 2, hughes/serra…many more
99- franklin/silva, uno/fisher…..many many more
100-gsp/alvez, evans/jackson or machida, bisping/hendo
the ufc is totally dominating the scene lately jeeze…..strikeforce is gonna be huge but even they cant compete we these many great ppv’s…dana is really stepping it up props to the ufc
yep totaly agree i cant wait for gonzaga to come back after his lost to couture and werdum he got a submission win and lastly a knockout so he been doing gooin last rew fights finally get some real compititon hope he knocks him out!
People the foot stomps are simply a way to try and divert your opponents attention. Obviously no one is going to get “Knocked Out” by a foot stomp lol. But if that’s what had to happen to keep the event than hey I’m all for it. I think I”ve only seen maybe 4 or 5 fights that anyone ever used them anyway. But think of it from the person who is receiving the foot stomp, they hurt and it will make you pay attention to what is happening down there (which is the intention I’m sure) which may take your attention away long enough for your opponent to trip you or take advantage of an opening the stomp gave. No different than when a fighter puts his hand over his opponents mouth to disrupt breathing. DISTRACTION
CARWIN > GONZAGA nightmare!
It’s great that the QAC and UFC reached a compromise for this event. But I’m curious how any future events could be affected. If you go by ticket sales of the two events held there, Montreal appears to be a city with a ton of passionate MMA fans who will sell out a large house every time the UFC wants to bring an event there. But is this compromise for UFC 97 only or will it be a lasting compromise? I can’t see the UFC getting to skirt Quebec’s new rules forever. If the Quebec Athletic Commission decide they want to insist on their rules, it seems possible this could be the last time Montral hosts an event for a long time.
With the AC realizing how much money this event would bring to the area, is probably the main reason for them “coming to terms”…. I doubt that ZUFFA “bought them off”, more like hey we are going to thow a show, this your financial growth for one night and if we have to change the rules we will pull the event now your out a lot of money.. Let’s do this no foot stomps look you saved face and the show won’t be pulled..
It was probably as simple as that.. Never the less it is good that the show is on in O’Canada
The only rule that needs to be changed is the elbow strikes to the top of the head (i.e. Kenny Florian vs. Joe Lauzon). I hated that move. I thought it was dirty and should be eliminated. I hope each venue doesn’t feel like it gets to pick its own set of rules from now on.
Hey Kris(admin),do you know if TKO has been disolved due to Patry leaving? And if so,have you heard anything about the fighters?
Also,I’m sure now that the QAC understands the popularity and $$ involved they will no doubt incorporate unified mma rules.
I read somewhere that TKO had dissolved since Patry’s leaving, however when I followed a link the promotions old website I was redirected to XMMA’s website, so it would seem that the TKO name may no longer exist but the promotion may be still in operation, at some level, as XMMA.