UFC books Rogers Centre for Toronto debut
After waiting for several years to get fully licensed and regulated in Ontario, the Ultimate Fighting Championship announced what is expected to be the biggest live event in company history on Monday.
UFC 131 will take place April 30, 2011, at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, the home of Major League Baseball's Toronto Blue Jays.
The show, UFC's debut in a city considered to have one of mixed martial arts' most passionate fan bases, is the first stadium-sized event for the company.
The Rogers Centre, a retractable-roof dome, holds 50,516 for baseball and has held more than 65,000 fans for its two largest-attended events: a pair of WrestleMania cards put on by World Wrestling Entertainment in 1990 and 2002.
Officials did not say what sort of seating configuration the stadium would set up, but in previous conversations with UFC president Dana White, he said he didn't want to ruin the UFC's vaunted arena atmosphere by using the entire capacity of such a large venue.
It's believed that the UFC's first event in Toronto, a city that has consistently done some of the best MMA pay-per-view numbers in the world for the past four years, could sell out any configuration – if the show's lineup is strong enough.
No matches fpr the card were announced. From a timing standpoint, the end of April could work for Georges St. Pierre, who would be the biggest drawing card possible for the main event. St. Pierre is one of Canada's most popular athletes, and is actually more popular in Toronto than in his home city of Montreal, which didn't fully embrace the sport until 2008 after Montreal hosted its first live show.
St. Pierre first has to get through Saturday's fight in Montreal with Josh Koscheck and retaining his welterweight title. He also must do so without incurring any serious injuries in order to make April 30 his next title defense.
Former Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields has been mentioned as the next contender for the welterweight championship. Another possibility, a dream matchup of St. Pierre vs. middleweight champion Anderson Silva, would not be impossible, but the timing makes it difficult. Silva first has a title defense on Feb. 5 in Las Vegas against Vitor Belfort. If a St. Pierre-Silva match is under consideration, it couldn't be announced until after that date.
"Canadians have repeatedly shown how much they love the UFC," said White. "Fans in Ontario have patiently waited, and it will pay off as this one will go down in the history books come April 30. I'm very excited – Toronto is going to break the record and host the biggest mixed martial arts event ever in North America."
UFC's record crowd is 21,340, set on April 19, 2008, for UFC 83 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, a sold-out crowd to see St. Pierre's UFC welterweight title win over Matt Serra. More than 40 percent of the tickets sold were from Ontario, where MMA is far more popular than in Quebec. This became evident the day before at the weigh-ins, when announcer Mike Goldberg made a remark about the Montreal Canadians hockey team, in the playoffs at the time, that elicited a loud chorus of boos from the crowd and showed that it was a commuter show.
A similar sized crowd to 2008 is expected for Saturday night's UFC 124. White told Yahoo! Sports on Tuesday that he expects the company attendance record to fall.
Even if the UFC sold every seat in the former SkyDome, though, they would not be able to break the all-time MMA record. A 2002 show in Tokyo at the outdoor National Stadium during the heyday of Pride and K-1 in Japan, headlined by Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Mirko Cro Cop, drew 71,000 fans.
Though local MMA fans have demanded a major event in Toronto for five years, the Ontario Athletic Commission had refused to sanction mixed martial arts. Commissioner Ken Hayashi even refused to attend the first event in Montreal when invited.
Earlier this year, UFC opened up a Toronto office even though the company still was not sanctioned there, and hired Tom Wright, former commissioner of the Canadian Football League, to head Canadian operations. Wright used his political influence and in August, Ontario reversed its position and this past week announced that all the red tape had been cut through and it would start accepting dates in 2011.
"This announcement has been a long time coming, and we're thrilled," said Wright. "Ontario is obviously a key market, as Toronto is one of the top MMA cites in the world. We're very thankful to Premier Dalton McGuinty, Ministers Sophia Aggelonitis and John Gerretssen, and the provincial government for their support in sanctioning and regulating the sport."
The UFC also announced a Fan Expo to be held in conjunction with the show. It will take place at the Direct Energy Centre in Toronto.
Tickets are expected to be put on sale for the event early in early 2011.
