It's unfortunate that Vancouver fans aren't focusing on the strong card for UFC 131.
VANCOUVER -- The talk at the UFC 131 press conference on Thursday continued to be dominated by the fact that the Canucks are all the rage while the cage takes a backstage.
A sport that UFC president Dana White has constantly claimed will eventually be the most popular in the world has been forced to bow down to ice hockey (of all sports!)
Of course, White's not stupid. He knows that while the NHL is nowhere near as popular in the United States and barely makes a blip in many countries in the world where the MMA flourishes. In Canada, it's all hockey, all the time.
Still, he said he has no regrets about the event being here the same weekend that the Canucks could put themselves in position to clinch the Stanley Cup.
"Everybody's talking like this thing is a disaster. It's not," White insisted. "We're happy to be here, the show's successful and it's going to be great. I wouldn't change this for anything."
Okay it's certainly not a disaster, but it's a bit of a disappointment, considering the success of the first one, which was also in June during last year's Stanley Cup final (of course, the Canucks were long out of it by then). UFC 115 sold out in record time and had 17,669 in attendance. This time around, it's only going to be configured for about 15,000 capacity and they'll be fortunate if they get that.
Some have pointed to Brock Lesnar's withdrawal as part of the reason why ticket sales have not been as good. But White questioned that, saying it didn't even sell out when Lesnar was on the card.
No, when sports and entertainment dollars are at a premium, having your beloved Canucks playing the night before and you potentially having to choose one of the nights to spend your money out at the bar (let alone, if you have a ticket to Game 5), we know which one is going to win out.
Still, White said they will definitely return to Vancouver and wouldn't shy away from the June date.
The press conference wasn't exactly really well attended by fans either. Then again, I thought there could have been more people at the UFC 129 pre-fight press conference in Toronto, and over 56,000 people showed up at that event.
Ultimately, it's too bad that the Canucks angle is the main story, because there are some great fights and solid MMA storylines at UFC 131.
-- Junior Dos Santos and Shane Carwin battling to determine the next No. 1 heavyweight contender. (White said the winner will face Cain Velasquez, who is currently recovering from injury, "hopefully" in five months.)
-- Kenny Florian making his featherweight debut and also his debut in Canada after training in Montreal with Firas Zahabi for quite some time.
-- His opponent, Diego Nunes, looking to really make his mark in the UFC after a stellar run in the WEC.
-- Four Canadians on the card, including Sam Stout looking to set the UFC record for Fight of the Night bonuses.
-- His opponent Yves Edwards, a man who lost to Stout's teammate Mark Hominick in 2006, looking to continue his resurgence after being out of the UFC since shortly after that loss.
On the other hand, the whole Boston-Vancouver made for some comedic moments Thursday.
White, a Boston native, said he didn't get the typically warm response he gets from fans when he comes to town.
"People weren't too happy here yesterday," White said, well aware of the fact that the local team was shut out Wednesday night.
And Boston's Kenny Florian, who is typically a huge fan favourite in Canada, drew boos when he jokingly said, "Go Bruins!" The fans then replied with a chant of "Go Nunes!"
While Canadians have the reputation for being nice, we're also quite patriotic and we're not pushovers. (Not at all to make light of Lesnar's serious ailment -- diverticulitis is no joke -- but perhaps he can be thankful for one thing -- by not being here on this card, at least he avoids the hate from fans he could have expected due to bashing Canada's health care system last year.)
Ultimately, it's a great time to be in Vancouver, sports-wise. But one thing White said was it's a good thing the Canucks can't clinch Friday night, because if they had, that would have made for a hectic set up and turnaround at Rogers Arena for the next day.
And perhaps even less people would be heading down to watch the UFC because they'd be too busy planning the parade.
