Joe Ferraro

Who will Chuck Liddell square off against in Vancouver?

After a tumultuous week that saw UFC 115 tentatively moved from Vancouver to Cincinnati, the organization finally confirmed that GM Place will in fact play host to the first Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-view event in British Columbia.

MMA fans on Canada's West Coast are elated that the sport's premier organization will bring what looks to be a fantastic card.

The main event will likely feature the coaches of the current season of the popular reality series, The Ultimate Fighter. As of Wednesday's premiere episode, Chuck (The Iceman) Liddell is set to square off in a trilogy bout vs. arch-nemesis Tito (The Huntington Beach Bad Boy) Ortiz.

But rumours have been swirling for weeks that during filming in Las Vegas, Ortiz may have been injured and had once again got into a heated disagreement with UFC president Dana White. On Mar. 19, White refuted these claims via Twitter, stating "Nothing happened to Tito. Tito and I are cool."

Rumours began to quickly spread that Ortiz was replaced by Rich (Ace) Franklin, but once again, via Twitter, White attempted to set the record straight by stating, "Not true! We are doing Couture vs. Franklin, not Chuck."

Multiple MMA websites stood by their sources saying the Liddell-Franklin bout was verbally agreed upon and that it would be just a matter of time before the UFC would announce it. Even my sources have told me that Liddell-Ortiz III is still a go but upon further review, there are a few variables to this equation that may offer up a different result.

I still believe that Liddell-Ortiz III will happen, but perhaps at a later date, as I'm beginning to believe more and more that The Iceman will face Franklin first, likely in Vancouver.

My reasoning is two-fold.

First, when I sat Dana down at Toronto's Eaton Centre for a one-on-one interview, I asked him if he could provide an update on the bout, but he wouldn't confirm that the two current coaches of TUF 11 would square off, and that the only way to find out is to tune into Rogers Sportsnet to find out.

Personally, I chalk this up to White using his genius promoting skills in making sure viewers tune in every week to watch the drama unfold; but a second piece of this match-making pie had me raising an eyebrow.

Second, when the UFC 115 in Vancouver debacle was unfolding, the organization chose to relocate the show to Cincinnati, which just so happens to be Franklin's hometown. The proverbial light bulb went off which has me believing it's Rich vs. Chuck at UFC 115.

Either way, no matter who the UFC matches up in this light-heavyweight tilt, fans at GM Place will likely be honoured to witness a main event between two Octagon legends. They may not be in their prime, but it would be like watching Wayne Gretzky in a New York Ranger uniform or Michael Jordan in a Washington Wizards uniform. I'm not saying these MMA fighters were the greatest of all time, I'm simply stating that although they may not be in their prime, they will go down as UFC Hall of Famers as pioneers of a sport still in its infancy.

The rest of the rumoured UFC 115 card in Vancouver is a stellar one:

-- Patrick Barry vs. Mirko (Cro Cop) Filipovic

-- Ben Rothwell vs. Gilbert Yvel

-- Evan Dunham vs. Tyson Griffin

-- Martin Kampmann vs. Paulo Thiago

-- Carlos Condit vs. Rory MacDonald (from Kelowna, B.C.)

-- Mac Danzig vs. Matt Wiman

-- Jesse Lennox vs. Mike Pyle

-- Peter Sobotta vs. James Wilks

-- Claude Patrick (from Toronto) vs. TBA

Saturday, Jun. 12 cannot come soon enough. I, for one, am ecstatic to be heading out west to cover another UFC event in Canada, in one of the country’s major corporate marketplaces. It will no doubt prove to be a very profitable event for the city of Vancouver, likely to the tune of several million dollars.

On a side note: unfortunately for MMA fans in Ontario, Premier Dalton McGuinty stated on Mar. 23 that he was "tapping out on MMA."

I am told the next provincial election is on Oct. 6, 2011. I'm counting down the days.