MMA

BY WEB STAFF
sportsnet.ca

TORONTO -- The Ultimate Fighting Championship is set to make what it calls a "major announcement" Tuesday at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. Sources told Sportsnet the Las Vegas-based organization will be opening an office in Canada headed by former WWE Canada president Carl DeMarco.

The UFC on Thursday called the press conference, in which president Dana White and chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta will be in attendance and will include a media Q&A.

It is not expected to be about the sanctioning of MMA in Ontario since that would involve a policy change at the provincial level and the UFC would not be the ones to break such news. But holding such an announcement at the Rogers Centre brings more attention to the sport in the province, where the organization is hoping to hold an event in the future.

MMA is currently illegal in the Ontario, and it is no secret the UFC has been putting a lot of effort into getting it regulated in the province, which represents one of its largest fan bases in terms of pay-per-view buys. Earlier this month, during the week leading up to the UFC’s third event in Montreal, the organization sent a delegation to meet with Ontario officials to discuss the current roadblocks in getting the sport legalized.

While MMA is sanctioned in many other provinces and municipalities in Canada, including Vancouver where UFC 115 will be held next month, officials in Ontario have long been opposed to legalizing it. Ontario Athletic Commissioner Ken Hayashi has always cited Section 83 of the Criminal Code of Canada, which prohibits certain forms of prize fighting. Each province can apply the law as it deems fit. Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty recently said the sport was not among his priorities right now.

White, who has often referred to Canada as the "mecca" for MMA, has also recently expressed interest in holding a Canadian version of its popular reality series The Ultimate Fighter. Season 12 will be coached by Montreal's Georges St-Pierre and American Josh Koscheck but a location for the show's filming has not yet been announced. One casting call was held on April 1 in Charlotte, N.C.

There was already a rally scheduled this Saturday afternoon titled "MMA Day," which will take place in Toronto at Queen's Park, the site of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. The gathering, intended to promote support for MMA regulation in Ontario, is open to the public, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET.