MMA Expo media sponsor and host of MMA Connected, “Showdown Joe” Ferraro
has been offered an opportunity to hand deliver a petition to Premier Dalton McGuinty
but only if the number of signatures are significant. The required number is quite high,
in fact more that the UFC’s record attendance at the Bell Centre in Montreal (which was
over 21,000). You can sign the petition even if you reside outside of Ontario.

You might have signed other similar petitions in the past – including the MMA Expo petition
back in 2006! – but this one is different and could in fact have a positive effect on the
Premier’s decision.

If you are an MMA fan… NOW is the time to be heard.

The petition can be found at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/ontariomma/

With the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in full stride, rumblings have been surfacing of trying to lobby the International Olympic Committee to make mixed martial arts a trial sport at a future Olympic Games.

Given the global expansion of the sport, I fully endorse the idea.  Nothing would be better for the sports legitimacy than allowing it to run side-by-side with wrestling, judo, boxing, and the other combat sports now a part of the games.  Allowing the athletes to compete for and represent their countries would be nothing short of spectacular for them.

Initially, I do see some logistical problems.  To qualify for the Olympics would require a number of qualifing tournaments, meaning professional fighters would have to train for and fight amateur fights outside of their respective organizations.  This would not allow the organization that they are signed with to use them as much.

For example, most professional fighters fight three times a year, with an eight week training camp.  After each fight, they generally take a couple of weeks off.  For them to cycle into another training camp for the Olympic Trials, right after a fight, may be tight.  They may be forced to fight only twice a year for the organization that they are contracted to.

The other factor would be insurance.  The fighters, or their contracted organization, would have to purchase insurance in case they were injured during the Olympics or the trials leading up to them.  If the fighters are not fighting due to injury then the company that they work for is not making any money off of them.

Another factor that has both positive and negative implications is that it would also allow us to see fights that we would normally not be able to see.  Perhaps Brock Lesnar vs. Fedor Emilianenko?  Jake Shields vs. Georges St. Pierre?  Shogun vs. Mousasi?  As I fan, I would salivate over the potential.  As a businessman, I would never want to give these fights away for free.

The good news is that Dana White, president of the UFC, is all for it.  They have many top tier fighters and seem to be willing to make the necessary adjustments should the sport be granted an Olympic trial.  Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC and WEC, sees this as another sport-building opportunity.  It would allow for instant world wide recognition of the sport.

It has been a whirlwind couple of days for Mixed Martial Arts in Ontario.  The Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty, stated yesterday that legalizing Mixed Martial Arts in Ontario is not a priority for his government.  I am not quite sure what is gained here by making such a bold statement - especially in the light that the province of Ontario is not in the best of financial shape, and all of those tourist dollars will certainly help contribute to its coffers.

Perhaps McGuinty is ignorant about the sport.  Perhaps he is just being Premier Dad - by this I mean he has banned other things that he thinks are dangerous, such as pitbulls and using cellphones in cars.  The bottom line is very simple.  The sport is safe compared to many other sports out there.

The obvious comparison is to boxing.  How many boxers have died due to trauma suffered in the ring?  Let’s look at some other sports.  Pro Wrestling.  While very few wrestlers have actually died in the ring, how many have gone on to meet their maker prematurely.  The answer is surprising - over one hundred at last count.  Professional football.  Did you know that the likelihood of players being injured at some point during their career as a professional footballer is 100%?  Yet all of these sports remain legal in Ontario.

There have only been two recorded deaths in mixed martial arts since its inception (as vale tudo in Brazil) in the 1950’s.  Both of these fighters who died has previous trauma prior to entering the arena and should not have been cleared to fight in the first place.  While I will grant that the refereeing in a mixed martial art event may be somewhat dubious at times, all referees know and understand that protecting the fighters safety is their number one priority.  If a fighter is unable to intelligently defend himself, they will stop the fight.  If a fighter taps out (which, by the way, is considered an honorable thing to do), the fight is stopped.

Mixed martial arts initially had shaky beginnings when it was introduced to the United States in the early 1990’s.  The contests were unregulated, the fighters (for the most part) were single disciplined, and the referees were new to the sport as well.  There were few, if any rules.  Truly, as Senator John McCain put it, it was “human cockfighting” and was nearly outlawed entirely.  The UFC was relegated to broadcasting shows from abroad and in backwater towns.  They were nearing bankruptcy until they were purchased by Dana White and the Fertita brothers.  They established a parent company, Zuffa LLC., and subsequently put the UFC banner under it.

They realized, that in order to salvage the company and begin to make money, they had to become regulated by the various athletic commissions within the individual states.  Doing so would require the drafting of a unified set of rules.  While a lot of people like to bash the UFC regularly (and sometimes, some of that criticism is well deserved), the fact is that Zuffa spent millions lobbying and becoming certified in New Jersey and Nevada.  There was a point in time that they considered folding the company.

Once the athletic commissions were on board and regulating the fights, the sport started to slowly grow and become more and more accepted.  Zuffa, to their credit, began to market the sport aggressively and finally turned the corner in the Spring of 2005 with the launch of The Ultimate Fighter TV Series.  That show - and the final fight between Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin - thrust mixed martial arts into the eyes of the mainstream public for the first time.  Less than five years later, it is expanding at a geometric rate.

Now - here are the facts as the sport relates to Canada, and Ontario specifically.  The man who gets bashed the most in Ontario is the athletic commissioner, Ken Hayashi.  He is a lightening rod of criticism for those people who want mixed martial arts legalized in this province.  Safety issues aside - which we have already debunked for the most part - the simple fact is that the federal criminal code prohibits prizefighting.  Below is the text from the Criminal Code of Canada:

Engaging in prize fight
83. (1) Every one who
(a) engages as a principal in a prize fight,
(b) advises, encourages or promotes a prize fight, or
(c) is present at a prize fight as an aid, second, surgeon, umpire, backer or reporter,
is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.
Definition of “prize fight”

(2) In this section, “prize fight” means an encounter or fight with fists or hands between two persons who have met for that purpose by previous arrangement made by or for them, but a boxing contest between amateur sportsmen, where the contestants wear boxing gloves of not less than one hundred and forty grams each in mass, or any boxing contest held with the permission or under the authority of an athletic board or commission or similar body established by or under the authority of the legislature of a province for the control of sport within the province, shall be deemed not to be a prize fight.

R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 83; R.S., 1985, c. 27 (1st Supp.), s. 186.

This law dates back to the mid-1800’s, a time when the only combat sport around was boxing!  The strict interpretation of the law would indicate that Mr. Hayashi is right, and that participation in mixed martial arts events in the country of Canada is illegal.  Regardless of any municipal or provincial laws, federal laws superceed them.  However, in so saying that, it is my opinion that Mr. Hayashi has chosen to ignore the spirit of the law.  This is, however, his choice.

As it stands, Ontario is the only province that has outlawed mixed martial arts.  Every other province has chosen to adhere to the spirit of the law, rather than its strict interpretation.  These events are safe, have a proven track record, and are regulated.  Furthermore, they bring in millions of tourist dollars to the province.  The provinces reap the rewards from the monies spent, but they also make money off of the gate (in some cases, as much as 4%), and it means that there will be more jobs for contractors and commission employees.

The UFC held its first event in Canada in April of 2008.  The Bell Centre sold out in less than two hours.  The gate was in excess of five million dollars with over twenty thousand seats sold.  The event was regulated by the Quebec Athletic Commission.  They assigned the referees and the judges, and were responsible for any pre and post fight drug tests.  Ontarians, it is estimated, spent 1.4 million dollars in the province of Quebec that weekend.  The second event, in April of 2009, generated just as much revenue.  These numbers do not include the many smaller events and promotions that take place monthly around the province.

The City of Vancouver recently licensed MMA competition and their first event will be held in June.  Tickets are not on sale as of yet, but it will be interesting to see the demographics and how fast they sell out.  On a personal note, as I have been to every UFC in Canada, I wonder if I can catch a cheap flight out to British Columbia?

As for solutions, I think that the UFC is correct in lobbying the federal government to update the criminal code.  This removes any impediment that the Ontario government may have in legislating MMA in this province.  The UFC is smart; they do not want to stage unregulated shows on Indian reservations.  They want to do it right, by the book.  They want regulation for the sport, because without it mixed martial arts cannot grow safely.  They also are willing to spend the money to get this done because they know how much money and interest will be generated by an event in this province.  Mark my words - when the sport is legal in Ontario - the UFC will have no problems holding an event in the Rogers Center.  75,000 people cheering on their favourite fighters.  It will be crazy.  It will be insane.  It will be fun.  It will be very profitable, for both the province and the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The pre-sale for tickets to UFC 113 in Montreal (on May 8th) did not go very well initially.  People who were in the virtual waiting room for hours on end suddenly were booted out for no reason, and then when they finally got in the pre-sale code they had did not work.

I’m not sure where the blame lies, be it with the UFC or the Bell Centre.  But - I do know a lot of people were very irritated that they had to waste ninety minutes while the problem was fixed.  It is a little bit nerve racking, because you don’t know if the problem is on their end or yours.  Add to the fact that because the events in Montreal sell out so fast, it is very likely that you will not be able to get a ticket.  However, in so saying that, me and my buddies got our tickets, so from our perspective in the end it doesn’t really matter.  We have great seats and did not pay an exorbitant amount of money for them.

Unlike the first two years that I have been, this time I’m taking my camera and taking a lot of photos.  I have met a few fighters in my travels each year to Montreal and hopefully this year is no different.  To a man, every fighter that I have met has been receptive to the fans and classy.

Welcome to this new blog!  Please bear with me as I tune it and tweak it.  Feel free to comment on any posts, and provide ideas and suggestions on how we can improve it.