TORONTO – Mixed martial arts is currently illegal in Toronto. While that is not going to change over night, things could be heading in that direction.
According to sportnet.ca, UFC president Dana White will be holding a press conference Tuesday at the Rogers Centre in Toronto and one topic of discussion will be the opening of a UFC office in Canada, a country where UFC is extremely popular.
Former WWE Canada President Carl Demarco will reportedly head up the office.
The sport is legal in several parts of Canada, including Vancouver, which will host UFC 115 next month.
The press conference was announced Thursday. White and Lorenzo Fertitta, UFC’s CEO, will both be available for a question and answer session with the media.
For some time now UFC officials have been trying to make MMA legal in Ontario, a province that regularly makes a lot of UFC pay-per-view purchases. In fact, just last week UFC sent a delegation to meet with officials of the province about making progress toward legalizing MMA.
It seems pretty clear there is a large contingent of Toronto fans in favor of bringing the sport to one of Canada’s largest cities.
There’s a rally scheduled Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m., which has been dubbed “MMA Day.” It will be held at Queen’s Park, the site of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
By: Jeff Ireland