White delivers big fights to Toronto

TORONTO – "When don’t we deliver?"

That’s Dana White’s mantra when it comes to putting on big fights on big cards. In big cities.

With apologies to Vancouver, that is true at least for UFC 140 in December, the organization’s second ever event in Toronto in 2011, which will be headlined by one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet, Jon (Bones) Jones, defending his belt for the second time.

Of course, it was not the opponent we were all expecting. At least not until last Thursday, when they pulled the old switcheroo on us. For the second time, the much-anticipated, grudge match, for-the-belt bout between Jones and former champion Rashad Evans was put on hold. And instead another former champ Lyoto Machida will get the next crack at reclaiming gold.

At Wednesday’s UFC 140 press conference, White denies that Jones-Evans was ever slated specifically for the Toronto show. But we all know that was what the fans were clamouring for, on Twitter and forums and other forms of social media.

Truthfully, we all would have been happy with any title fight, and indeed UFC director of Canadian operations Tom Wright said he was pushing for one. But all the other champions were tied up or unavailable, so Jones defending his belt against Evans (which had been announced as the next bout for him) seemed like the logical choice for the headliner at the Air Canada Centre.

However, when it was clear that a lingering thumb injury would keep Evans unable to fight on Dec. 10, the UFC needed to make a move.

They did. Jones and Machida both stepped up. And White was able to step up to the microphone and back up his claim.

“We always deliver the best fights that are available,” White said. “Guys fall out, which is going to happen in this sport. These guys train hard. But even when guys fall out, we always replace them with guys that are just as good, sometimes better than the original fight we had.”

Was there extra pressure to make this fight happen because of how vocal the fans were and because it was in Toronto, even if that meant postponing Jones-Evans for a second time? White wouldn’t say that, but he didn’t deny it either.

The bar was set with UFC 129, when there were two title fights and Machida himself fighting a legend in Randy Couture. Of course that was a special case -- a first-ever stadium show with 55,000-plus.

But White knew quite well that he couldn’t return to the MMA-crazy Ontario capital without a title fight at the helm.

“Obviously coming back (to without a doubt) the biggest market on earth, we wanted to bring a big fight here,” White admitted.

The large, raucous crowd of fans that showed up at the ACC for Wednesday’s press conference didn’t mind at all who Jones was facing. They were just excited that the UFC was back in town and appreciative of the fact that there will be a belt on the line.

Said belt-holder Jones thrilled the fans too with the echo of another of White’s mantras we hear so often:

“It’s very obvious in the MMA world Canadian fans are the most passionate,” said Jones, who will be fighting in Toronto for the first time. “I know people call Las Vegas the mecca for fighting, but I really look at Canada as the mecca for our support base.”

Machida, whose last fight was at UFC 129 when he knocked out Randy Couture in spectacular fashion, also said he was happy to be back.

“I was honoured to fight Couture in Toronto and excited to come back,” Machida said through an interpreter.

While some may have been disappointed that Jones-Evans will have to wait yet again, and others may have wondered if knocking out an aging legend was really enough to earn Machida another title shot already, one thing can’t be denied: UFC 140 has got a big fight at the top.

And you can expect at least one of the two to deliver on Dec. 10

NOTES: Tickets for UFC 140 go on sale this week. As usual, members of UFC Fight Club will have the first chance to buy on Thursday at 10 a.m. ET, followed by UFC newsletter subscribers on Friday at 10 a.m. They go on sale to the general public on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 10 a.m. ET. According to UFC website, they are priced at $700, $500, $350, $225, $175, $125 and $85.

White said that the UFC will be going back to 7 p.m. PT / 10 p.m. ET start times for pay-per-view main events, starting with UFC 141. The organization had moved it one hour earlier in attempt to ensure events ended before midnight and see if that would generate more viewership. White said it didn’t really work out.

“(Starting at 6 p.m.) is too early for people on the West Coast,” White said. “And it was hard for the bars as well to show the fights.”

UFC 140 will remain with a 9 p.m. local start time for the pay-per-view.

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