UFC Not Coming to Canada in January Is A Good Thing

Once again the Canadian dream is quashed. At least for now. The UFC will not be coming to Canada in January, as previously stated by Dana White; it will hold it's first event of 2008 in Newcastle, England at UFC 80.

To a lot of Canadian fight fans, this is devastating. The UFC has been continuously promising Canadians an event to be held in Montreal but these plans keep running into road blocks. The first event in Montreal was supposed to be in April 2007 where Georges St. Pierre was supposed to defend his Welterweight title against Matt Serra. This was not to be as Dana White couldn't secure a free Saturday at the Bell Centre in Montreal during hockey season.

St. Pierre would lose in his bout against Serra in Houston, Texas.

But word came that Dana White and the UFC were once again toiling at the idea of bringing the UFC to Montreal; this time in October for UFC 77. This, whether it be rumour or fact, would not become a reality. The reality here is that St. Pierre would almost definitely have to headline an event held in Montreal - pretty much in his backyard. St. Pierre, however, hadn't fought since April and making him wait 6 months to fight again just didn't make sense. That, and the fact that hockey season starts in October and the Bell Centre's Saturday nights were taken.

Instead, St. Pierre would have his next fight in August against Josh Koscheck at UFC 74 in Vegas and UFC 77 would be held in Cincinnati, Rich Franklin's hometown. St. Pierre went on to dominate Koscheck for 3 rounds to win via unanimous decision.

After the fight, St. Pierre grabbed the mic from Joe Rogan just like he did after his fight with BJ Penn and made the public request to Dana White to bring the UFC to Montreal. "My people will go crazy!", said St. Pierre. During the post-fight press conference, Dana White told reporters that, yes, the UFC will be definitely be coming to Canada in 2008. He said that the event would most likely be in January. He then said that a January event in Montreal would mean that St. Pierre would most likely NOT be on the card.

St. Pierre is slated to fight the winner of the Serra-Hughes fight in December for the Welterweight title. That fight being in December would mean that neither Hughes nor Serra would be ready for a fight in January.

When I heard that the UFC might be coming to Canada in January I thought to myself "NOOOOOOOOO!" St. Pierre is huge in the UFC and is the biggest thing to come out of Quebec since Patrick Roy. A UFC event held in Montreal just didn't make sense to me without St. Pierre in the main event, let alone not being on the card altogether!

UFC's canadian debut (in Montreal, nonetheless) without St. Pierre would be like eggs without bacon...it just wouldn't be right.

The UFC, I believe, realized this and abandoned the thought of bringing a live event to Montreal in January. Some people might be disappointed, but really this is for the best. This means that there is still a chance that St. Pierre will fight for the title in Montreal.

Dana White said that he needs to secure a free Saturday at the Bell Centre during hockey season. Well there are two Saturdays in March that are open to whoever wants them. March 8th and March 29th are free! I am aware that this means that St. Pierre will have waited seven months since his fight with Koscheck to fight another opponent, but seven months is do-able; Hughes hasn't fought since March and will have not fought for nine months by the time he fights for the title in December.

A title fight in March will have given the winner of the December fight enough time off to recover from that fight and prepare for the next. I'm sure St. Pierre would gladly wait seven months to fight for the title instead of fighting someone else in a non-title bout in the next few months and then wait another few months to get a shot at the title. And so would I.

If the UFC comes to Montreal in March with St. Pierre vs the Serra-Hughes winner as the main event, I will be there with bells on! DANA WHITE MAKE IT HAPPEN!!! MARCH 8th or MARCH 29th...MAKE IT HAPPEN!!