By Alex Nino Gheciu

Will the ACC be graced by the Octagon’s presence in the near future? Photo by LeeBrimelow.

Dana White wants a piece of Toronto. During a press conference last Thursday, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president hinted his roster of strapping young scrappers might throw down in Hogtown by the end of the year. After revealing his plans to bring the UFC to New York in January, he remarked, “I’m hoping we have Toronto done before New York.”
Of course, he first needs to find a way to do it without getting arrested. Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) events are currently banned by the Ontario Athletic Commission (OAC). According to OAC Chairman Ken Hayashi, UFC bouts violate Section 83.1 of the Criminal Code of Canada, which says anyone who promotes, encourages, assists, or engages in a prize fight is guilty of an offense unless the “boxing contest” is held with the permission of an athletic board or commission “under the authority of the legislature of a province.” Hayashi holds that since MMA fights are not considered “boxing contests,” they are illegal.
Still, other Canadian jurisdictions—including Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec, and Nova Scotia—have decided to sanction the sport anyway. Montreal hosted UFC 97 this past weekend; the main event was a snoozer, but the Bell Centre sold out in a shimmer, setting a new North American MMA attendance record with 21,451 spectators and netting a gate total of US$4.9 million. The Quebec Boxing Commission, which receives a portion of the profits, banked a nifty $55,330—the maximum share it’s allowed to make.
White predicts that the UFC could sell at least 30,000 tickets in Toronto. This also equates to a plethora of tourists, given the nomadic nature of UFC fans. Might these figures be enough to make the OAC tap out?

It’s possible, according to Fan 590 reporter Ranvijay Dhillon. “One thing that Dana White did that was pretty smart was that he invited representatives from the OAC to the Bell Centre in Montreal so they could get a firsthand look at how much revenue was brought in from this one fight,” he says. “It’s a lot of money that they bring in. Even with this economic downturn, people were still hitting clubs and restaurants; hotels were completely booked up. So it kind of just opened up the OAC’s eyes to the fact that it’s a huge cash cow.”

Dana White grins diabolically as Chuck Liddell and Mauricio Rua square off before their fight at UFC 97. Photo by Velocity Photography.

And if that’s still not enough to make Hayashi say uncle, the Ministry of Small Business and Consumer Services—that is, the Ministry he works for—might soon step in and twist his arm even tighter. As reported by the Canadian Press a couple months ago, the Ministry has stated that MMA is on its radar and that Section 83.1 isn’t really an area of great concern. It will instead investigate the safety of the sport in order to determine whether or not to legalize it.
Still, the UFC’s come a long way from the bare-fisted, human cockfighting cult it was a decade ago. Today, the league requires all fighters to wear gloves and imposes more rules than the Mennonite faith. White even contends that it’s safer than boxing.
“(In MMA) you can work on your opponent’s body; you can (perform) submission moves on the guy’s legs and arms,” says Dhillon. “But in boxing, the main objective is to hit the guy as many times in the head as you can.”
White has hinted that if Ontario gives MMA the green light, he’ll choose Toronto to host the long-awaited clash between UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre and middleweight champion Anderson Silva; some are already calling it the biggest fight in UFC history.
Dhillon asks, “Why should (MMA) be stopped, especially when it has the potential of bringing in so much revenue at a time when the tourism industry is doing so badly? With the Leafs and Raptors missing the play-offs, getting a sports event in the ACC would be nice.”
Besides, what are we, a bunch of wimps?