Just one day after it was announced the province of Ontario, Canada, would start accepting applications from promoters to hold MMA events in January 2011, the Ultimate Fighting Championship has confirmed their first event in Ontario, UFC 131, will be held at the Rogers Centre in Toronto on April 30.
Ontario is the seventh of ten Canadian provinces to sanction professional mixed martial arts. It is the most heavily-populated province in Canada and Toronto is its capital city. It is a historical moment in the evolution of the sport. Ontario, along with New York, were two of the remaining places in North America where the sport was still not sanctioned.
Now that Ontario has been taken care of, hopefully in 2011 New York will also move into the 21st century and its politicians and legislators will realize the relative safety of professional MMA in its present form, especially when compared to other popular sports such as boxing and football. It is primarily a matter of education.
UFC 131 will coincide with a two-day UFC Fan Expo at the Direct Energy Centre on April 29 and 30, also in Toronto. Canada is known for having some of the most loyal and rabid MMA and UFC fans on the planet, and to celebrate the promotion’s first-ever visit to Ontario, the UFC plans to reward them with a historical weekend of big fights and an opportunity for the fans to meet their favorite UFC fighters at the Fan Expo.
UFC President Dana White commented in a press release on Tuesday:
“Canadians have repeatedly shown how much they love the UFC. Fans in Ontario have patiently waited and it will pay off as this one will go down in the history books come April 30. I’m very excited – Toronto is going to break the record and host the biggest mixed martial arts event ever in North America.”
Stay close to ProMMAnow.com (www.prommanow.com) for upcoming announcements regarding who will be competing on the UFC 131 fight card. More information regarding the UFC Fan Expo can be found by visiting www.ufcfanexpo.com.