UFC Officials Make Their Case For Vancouver Card in June 2010
Dave Deibert, Online Editor, The StarPhoenix, with files from Ian Austin, Vancouver Province: Thursday, December 17, 2009 10:22 AM, GLOBAL BC
The long-rumoured Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event in Vancouver is one vote from becoming a reality.
Two top UFC officials will make their pitch to Vancouver council Thursday to hold a card next year in the city. UFC, the world leader in mixed martial arts, has long planned an event for June 2010 at GM Place, but first it needs council approval. UFC’s Lawrence Epstein and Michael Mersch will make a personal appeal Thursday, when council will decide on whether or not to sanction the sport.
Coun. Kerry Jang said reports back from events in Calgary and Montreal lead him to believe there won’t be associated problems.
“If these things are properly regulated, a lot of police are there, and the bad guys stay away,” said Jang. “We still need to have a full discussion about civic liabilities, about insurance.” But Jang feels it’s better to have sanctioned events with medical teams available, rather than push the sport underground.
"It's like safe sex--if you say they can't do it, they're going to sneak out and do it anyway."
Vancouver recently hosted two amateur bouts on a trial basis, and based on those experiments police now feel there is nothing wrong with UFC.
“We support any regulated, properly licensed event,” said spokesman Const. Lindsey Houghton. “(The two amateur events) were a complete nonevent from our point of view.”
Coun. Suzanne Anton has backed the bid from the start, and says other councillors are now coming around. “It’s a fun event, it’s very popular, and it brings a lot of revenue to the city,” said Anton. “It appears that council will approve it, but it may not be unanimous.”
Coun. Heather Deal said she’s prepared to vote for the UFC. “There are two issues — whether you like the sport, and whether the city is covered for liabilities, and I think the second is more important,” said Deal. “I would be in favour of a two-year trial.”
UFC president Dana White expressed total confidence in August that the company would hold an event in B.C. in 2010. The company does not promote events in states or provinces that do not sanction MMA.
“We’re going to Vancouver. We’ll be there soon,” White said at the UFC 102 pre-fight news conference. “Nothing has been announced yet except me out here shooting my mouth off early, as usual, that we’re going to Vancouver.”
Marc Ratner, UFC’s vice-president of regulatory affairs, said last month that Vancouver remained one of the major targets for UFC.
The company’s lobbying efforts paid off elsewhere in November when Gov. Deval Patrick signed into law a bill regulating MMA in Massachusetts. With Massachusetts checked off UFC’s to-do list — it became the 42nd state in the U.S. to sanction mixed martial arts — that left New York and Ontario as the company’s biggest goals. Ratner said UFC continues “feverishly working in New York.”
“I look for us to get approved early next year. I’m very bullish on New York,” said Ratner.
ddeibert@sp.canwest.com
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