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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
With the news that came out yesterday that Ontario, Canada will allow mixed martial arts in their province beginning in 2011, the focus now moves to just what fight the UFC will bring to the Rogers Centre in Toronto.
Formerly known as the Skydome, the Rogers Centre will have a capacity of near 70,000 depending on the UFC's configuration for this event, setting it up for what could be by far the largest North American attendance for a UFC event and the most massive gate in UFC history.
But the UFC needs the right fight to make it work. Despite the massive popularity the sport has in Toronto and throughout Canada, it's going to take a massive fight to sell the arena out and make this that record setting event.
The organization is already targeting March as their debut at the venue, and there still remains one man that almost has to be a part of the main event for this card: Georges St. Pierre.
Far and away the biggest MMA star in Canada, and one of the top two draws in the UFC, St. Pierre undoubtedly needs to fight on this card to make it work. But what fight do you set up?
Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck was scheduled for December and the most talked about location was Las Vegas. Now with the news that Ontario is open for business, will UFC postpone this fight until the March date at the Sky Dome? Given the recent success UFC had in promoting the (delayed) fight between Rashad Evasn and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, I think they certainly will take a second look now at delaying the fight from happening.
There would be risks in delaying the fight. If you delay the fight until March, it will be St. Pierre’s first fight in a year and Koscheck’s first fight in 10 months. As far as concerns about delaying the progress of the Welterweight division, I actually think that what Jon Fitch did in Oakland is a blessing in disguise because now the promotion can consider booking him against the winner of Kampmann/Shields. This would eliminate inactivity amongst the Welterweight division contenders.
I don't think this is the best course of action, however. I think GSP-Koscheck needs to happen in December, and then the UFC needs to hope that St. Pierre comes out of that fight unscathed and willing to get back to action three months later. If that happens, then this would be the perfect opportunity for the UFC to set up the one major super fight they do have available to them: GSP vs. Anderson Silva.
Silva is expecting to return around that time in 2011, and despite pleas for an immediate rematch with Chael Sonnen (which would still do massive business), this is a fight that a lot of people have been clamoring for, and bugging Dana White about, for a long time.
After Sonnen's performance against Silva, expectations for GSP's ability to defeat "The Spider" skyrocketed. He doesn't have the size that Sonnen had with which to bully Silva about, but GSP is one of the most adept fighters at bringing a fight to the ground in the UFC. On top of that, despite not needing to use it all that often, his striking is pretty damn good.
Zach's point about the Jon Fitch win and putting him against the Shields-Kampmann winner still holds for the welterweight division, and although it could hold up the middleweight division, this is a fight that has been anticipated for so long it can be forgiven.
Silva won't be dropping down to welterweight for this one, and GSP has stated he wants to put on weight if he's going to make his middleweight debut, so I'd suggest putting together a catchweight in between. Put this fight at 178-180 lbs., and make it the first UFC non-title fight to get five rounds.
It doesn't need to be for either man's title, it can simply be two of the best pound for pound fighters in the world squaring off in front of a massive crowd for what would be one of the biggest fights the UFC has ever put together. If this fight is put together with another title fight on the card, the UFC can sell this arena out and have a massive pay-per-view on their hands.
Hell, if they want to make it a guaranteed smash success, they can put the Junior Dos Santos vs. Brock Lesnar-Cain Velasquez winner fight together on this card. If it's Lesnar that comes out of Anaheim in October still the Champion, his fight with Dos Santos could take the technical main event slot, but be on equal footing with the GSP-Silva fight in terms of promotion.
If the UFC wants to go big with their entrance into Toronto, I think this is the way to go. There's sure to be more options that are viable, but this is a fight that people want to see. The Rogers Centre is the perfect venue for this fight, and this is the perfect fight for the venue. It may not end up being feasible, but I hope it's on the UFC's radar.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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