UFC TKO'd in BC

Looks like the UFC's Vancouver debut, originally scheduled for June 12, has been TKO'd and the show will now take place in Cincinnati.

As always happens when blockbuster events fail to take place, two divergent stories have emerged to explain why the UFC won't go ahead with its Vancouver show.

If you believe the story the city's licensing office, the UFC failed to comply with a simple request to provide a security deposit and proof of insurance, delaying the entire process and jeopardizing the largest combat sports event in British Columbia's history.

Wait, no. That's all wrong. According to the Vancouver Sun's sources, the city council and the athletic commission bogged down the process with unreasonable demands, leaving the UFC with no choice but to cancel the largest combat sports event in British Columbia's history.

Either way UFC 115 now seems headed for Ohio, and no matter which side is right one truth is emerging from this whole mess:

Changing laws and perceptions around mixed martial arts is tougher than it looks.

 

We know that first hand from the UFC's experience in Toronto. President Dana White appeared at the Eaton Centre last week to greet fans and rally support for the UFC's effort to legalize the sport in Ontario, but as premier Dalton McGuinty told reporters seeking his reaction, MMA still isn't a priority of the provincial government. So despite the media hype White's visit generated, Ontario remains one of a handful of major North American jurisdictions (along with New York and now, it seems, B.C.) that refuse to sanction MMA.

When another longtime holdout, Massachusetts, decided last December to sanction MMA events most folks figured that New York would topple next, followed by Ontario in a perfect, peer-pressured world.

And two weeks later the case for legalized MMA across the continent seemed to receive a boost when Vancouver's city council and athletic commission announced they settled legal issues with the UFC and agreed on a June show at GM Place.

MMA advocates hailed the move as milestone, but now it seems changing the law in Vancouver was easier than changing the minds of the people who ultimately decide whether or not UFC is welcome there. If you believe the Sun story, the same folks who opened the city's doors to the UFC second-guessed their own decision and set up bureaucratic obstacles to force the UFC to cancel the show.

At issue for the city is the matter of liability, should a fighter sue the city for allowing them to compete in an event in which they became injured -- a situation that, to date, hasn't occurred anywhere else.

Former Vancouver Athletic Commission member Dr. Raj Sandhu said the city is embroiled in a battle between departments, city staff and council, with problems that go beyond simple regulation.

"The liability issue is garbage. They wanted $12 million in liability put up by the promoters," said Sandhu. "We had WWE wrestling here, nobody asked them for $12 million. When Trevor Berbick boxed here, no $12 million liability for him. So all of a sudden they come up with this figure; It's as if [Mayor] Gregor Robertson wants to come out squeaky clean. He doesn't want the event."

A disappointment for sure, especially when you consider that along with UFC 113 (May 8 in Montreal), an a card in Vancouver would have meant two Canadian events in five weeks from an organization that typically visits Canada once a year.

But I can't say the development is a huge setback, either for the UFC or for local MMA fans.

The UFC generated more than $240 million (U.S.) in pay-per-view revenue in 2008. In the past year they have hosted shows in Montreal, Germany, Australia and England, with an event planned for Abu Dhabi on April 10. Clearly the company's cash flow is strong and international following widespread, even without events in two of Canada's three biggest cities.

And I doubt any ripple effect caused by the BC reversal will affect MMA's legal status in Ontario simply because the athletic commission here seems immune to decisions made elsewhere, whether or not they favour MMA. Otherwise, Ontario would have followed Massachusetts and legalized the sport over the winter, or followed Quebec and sanctioned it years ago.

The folks who regulate combat sports in Ontario will make a final decision on MMA when only they're ready, regardless of what happens elsewhere. So while the collapse of UFC 115 in Vancouver doesn't help the case for legal MMA in Ontario, it doesn't damage it either.

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Comments

[1967PontiacGTO]

Good riddance. UFC is for the type of drooler who gets an erection watching a dog fight. Part of the great dumbing down of all things.

[Perry]

1967PontiacGTO, you must be the most ignorant fool I've ever seen in these forums. MMA is where the world of combat sports is heading, whether you like it or not. You can either respect the dedication and technical proficiency of these fighters or you can be like the grandpa who still uses a typewriter because he doesn't believe in a computer, or swears by a slide rule because "a calculator would be the easy way out," or sends telegrams to his friends because telephones (let alone cell phones) are "not a proper and direct interchange between two parties," or refuses a helmet when playing ice hockey because "they're for fairies," or hates the slam dunk and the three pointer because they're "not pure", etc.

As far as I can tell, you don't hate MMA or the UFC- you simply hate anything and everything in any way different or new.

[DontGateKeei]

I hate dog fighting. I do love high level wrestling and ju-jitsu. Know the difference 1967PontiacGTO. PS - Time to buy a new car as your mid-life crisis is coming to an end.

[1967PontiacGTO]

The UFC's marketing strategy to spin opposition as a generation-gap thing obviously has found fertile ground among the pointy-headed. This kind of behavioural manipulation has been going on for a long time (see The Hidden Persuaders by Vance Packard), and has helped to accelerate the great dumbing down of all things. I'm sure Perry and DGK both have bathroom drawers full of Axe body spray and other corporate-sponsored symbols of "youth", so that when they attend UFC events the hoardes of the sad and lonely can find security in the knowledge they smell like everybody else.

[Arthur Bailey]

Why would MMA fighters want to come to BC or Toronto anyway? What with our 3rd world healthcare system that was uncovered by MMAs own Brock Lesnar and his qualified opinion.

Keep it out. It's bad enough we have WWE re-enactments in backyards involving roof top jumps and cheese graters. We don't need this as well.

[Edward Jenning]

I dont know why people who have no knowledge on a topic bother to post there ignorant opinions. People should at least know what the sport is and about, they shouldn't base there opinions on ignorant stereotypes. For any one that thinks this sport is dangerous here is a fact for you. In boxing alone there are at least 1-2 deaths a year. over the past year alone more people have died playing ice hockey then in MMA. since the UFC has started there has not been a single death or a career ending injury.