James Brydon

Follow fight-by-fight results for MMA events with Twitter. James will do live updates during all UFC events as well as many other promotions, including Canadian ones.

The city of Vancouver expects to see more events in the city beyond this weekend's UFC 115.

Based on what was said at the press conference, the UFC will be back in Vancouver regularly.

It’s been no secret this weekend’s UFC event -- the first in the great Canadian city of Vancouver -- hasn't been the easiest to put together. Even after the UFC made it official a couple months ago, there was at least one report it could be a one and done for the city, due primarily to insurance demands.

But listening to what the UFC executives had to say at Thursday's pre-fight news conference, Vancouver fans needn’t worry.

Newly-appointed UFC Canada director Tom Wright, who is attending his first event since taking the post, said the organization actually hopes to have three pay-per-view events annually in Canada and expects Vancouver to be one of them on a regular basis. He also said they plan to bring UFC Fight Nights -- those occasional free TV events -- north of the border.

UFC president Dana White also reiterated that the “hurdles” they sometimes have to jump are all part of the process for a sport that’s still growing.

“Certain places are going to want certain things, and even after 10 years this is one of those sports that still has to continue to prove itself,” White said. “I have no problem going in any market anywhere and laying down whatever they want us to lay down to prove this is a real sport with real athletes.”

UFC majority owner Lorenzo Fertitta is also undeterred.

“We’ll be back in the future. We actually looked at building a business up in Vancouver,” Fertitta said in a recent interview with sportsnet.ca. “(The city) put a few more restrictions on what typically we would have (for a UFC event), but it’s no problem.”

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson lent his support and not just for Saturday’s UFC 115 but for the future of MMA in the city. He said he wants to see the relevant section of Canada’s Criminal Code that deals with prize fighting -- which is what held Vancouver back for a long time from sanctioning the sport and is still a stumbling block in Ontario -- changed so that the sport will be considered legal "beyond a shadow of a doubt."

I recently spoke to UFC executive vice-president and general counsel Lawrence Epstein and he said getting the code changed would help, but the key will always be public perception.

“The criminal code as it sits right now, as interpreted by virtually every province, allows in our view the regulation of mixed martial arts,” Epstein said. “But whether or not it’s changed, it’s still up to the province whether or not it wants to regulate it.”

Saturday’s show will go a long way to showing Vancouver there’s no reason not to regulate it for good, beyond the current two-year trial period.

Note: Another indication the UFC expects its foray into Vancouver is long-term -- they've added GM Place as one of the venues you can use in the 2010 edition of THQ's UFC Undisputed video game, which was released last month.

10 shows in 10 days

While I was unable to be in Vancouver for UFC 115 (for a number of reasons, including other obligations), that doesn't mean I won't be kept busy on the "MMA tour." In fact, after two weeks since the last major event, the next couple weeks are packed.

There are plenty of upcoming shows for me (and indeed any Canadian MMA fan) with which to keep busy. Here's a look at what I'm calling 10 shows in 10 days.