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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The first two times the UFC hit Canada, they broke North American attendance records for a mixed martial arts event. Those events both came at the Bell Centre in Montreal, and the record currently stands at 21,451 fans for UFC 97 in April of 2009.
With Ontario opening up their province for mixed martial arts beginning in 2011, the UFC is expecting to blow that record out of the water, as they look to hit the Rogers Centre in Toronto in March.
"I think that the fight in Toronto will break all records. I think it will be the biggest mixed martial arts event in North America, and it will be a long time before that record's broken," said UFC President Dana White in comments transcribed at MMAWeekly.com.
The Rogers Centre can hold between 45,000 and 55,000 attendees depending on the event, and the UFC is sure to significantly out-draw the current occupants - Major League Baseball's Toronto Blue Jays.
Penick's Analysis: They may not need Georges St. Pierre on this card if they can put together a stacked event without him; but to really get that place filled, GSP might be the key. He's already returning to Canada in December, in another card which could break the current attendance record, but White is right that the Rogers Centre event will likely set a record that will be unbeatable for some time. With that said, the UFC will need to be really smart about their pricing of an event like that, as they've overpriced in some markets leading to them not even selling out the 18,000-20,000 seat venues. It's really going to require a great card and reasonable prices to fill that place and provide for what would literally be the biggest event in UFC history.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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