
(Press conference?…In Canada?…Wait….Canada has press?)
The UFC has announced that Dana White and Lorenzo Fertita will be holding an impromptu press conference at the Rogers Centre on Tuesday in Toronto to make a "major announcement" that will be broadcast via satellite to news outlets across North America.
Hopefully this isn’t a "Come and play UFC Undisputed 2010 (which, perhaps not coincidentally, is set for release the same day) with Sam Stout and Mark Bocek on the Jumbotron"announcement or there may be a lot of let down Ontario fans and members of the media who are expecting that the press conference is being held to announce that provincial (or possibly even federal) lawmakers have agreed to sanction the sport in Canada.
White has repeatedly referred to Canada as the "Mecca" for MMA fans and has been vocal the past year about his desire to get the sport legalized in Ontario — one of the last few provinces holding out on sanctioning.
The only other announcement I could see it being if it isn’t about sanctioning or the video game, is something to do with a Canadian tie-in for next season of The Ultimate Fighter that will feature Georges St-Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck as coaches. Dana has said that he was looking at possibly filming the series in The Great Fight North, or having a Canada vs. USA themed season somewhere down the road.








As to the rumours that next season of TUF will film in Toronto, I also highly doubt that, because the fights on the show still need to be sanctioned even though they're "exhibition" matches, and the Ontario athletic commission obviously isn't going to do that as long as MMA is still "illegal" (in their view).
There's rumours that they could simul-cast UFC 115 onto the "jumbotron" at Rogers Centre here in Toronto. I'd say that's the most likely scenario. Sounds like a typically Dana White marketing stunt, if a large crowd shows up to watch it on the screen, that's a solid demonstration of the amount of money to be made from holding events here.
Regarding legalization, what's promising is that when GSP had his visit to parliament a few weeks back, he was apparently treated like a rock star. Federal-level politicians and bureaucrats lined up to get autographs and photos with him. So it seems like getting the federal law changed and legalizing it for the whole country will be quicker and easier than dealing with Ontario directly.