Report: UFC 97 to Stay in Montreal
by Michael Rome on Feb 18, 2009 12:27 PM EST
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According to this Canadian radio report (in French) and a couple of emails from sources, UFC 97 is back on in Canada. They came perilously close to the brink, and when they started moving the show to Vegas the commission caved.
Note: I do not speak French, but people that do have told me the report confirms the good news.
UPDATE [from Luke Thomas]: More from the FanPosts:
http://www.corussports.com/divers/exclusif_ufc_97-20090218-1423043.html
I'll summarize for those who don't know French:
- Lorenzo Fertita & Marc Ratner met with Richard Renault (RACJ head of combat sports) and Denis Racicot (RACJ president) Tuesday evening before flying to Europe later that night.
- The event will take place as scheduled under the usual UFC rules except for foot stomps being disallowed.
- RACJ will hold a press conference (no details specified) explaining the decision.
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No foot stomps, huh? If that’s the only compromise that Zuffa made, that’s pretty good. But on the flip side to the commission: Really? Foot stomps? Why not just let the show go on as is instead of making this kind of a fuss over rules that were never really enforced in the first place? I suppose I’ll have to wait for the full RACJ press conference. I figure there must be more to this cause frankly it seems kind of weird.
Given the way the RACJ has handled the situation up to this point, I think the token, face-saving gesture is the most plausible explanation.
by thepenismightier on Feb 18, 2009 1:52 PM EST up reply actions
Which is probably a dumb move on their part. They should have fallen on their sword, completely and utterly.
by Michaelthebox on Feb 18, 2009 1:53 PM EST up reply actions
I can hear the Chuck or Shogun apologists now:
“He’d have won if foot stomps had been allowed!”
Although detractors decry (MMA) as a brutal, bloody form of human cockfighting, aficionados know it is a brutal, bloody, totally fucking awesome form of human cockfighting. -The Onion
by The Kittitas Kid on Feb 18, 2009 2:19 PM EST up reply actions
That’s good.
I wonder if the commission will comment on whether or not they are going to change the actual laws, or if this is a one time thing.
I know I’m getting ahead of myself. But has Alves ever come in at less than 170 lbs? ‘Cause he’s gonna have to in a title fight. But, if he comes in at 170.5, will St Pierre still accept a fight with him? Better stay in shape BJ. Just a thought.
He won’t have to come in at less than 170. He can come in at 170, 170.5 or 171 and still be good to compete for the welterweight title as far as I know.
by thepenismightier on Feb 18, 2009 1:12 PM EST up reply actions
Nope. There’s no one pound grace for title fights. It’s 170 or bust.
"I'm AJB and I endorse this nut-puncher."
by AJB on Feb 18, 2009 1:13 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
My keyboard-fu and lack of an engaging job are unbeatable!
"I'm AJB and I endorse this nut-puncher."
Here are his weights for his last few fights
UFC 90- 171
UFC 85- 174
Fight Night 13- 171
UFC 78- 171
Fight Night 11- 171
UFC 66- 170
So the last time he actually made the weight that he will have to make in July was December of 2006. I hope he plans to walk around a few pounds lighter than he normally does leading up to this fight because he can’t come up with some BS excuse like he did for the Hughes fight, a title fight is a title fight and you can’t fuck it up. He says he walks around at 205 so I hope he is gonna keep off a few extra pounds this time just to be safe.
My bad. Still don’t think Alves’ll have a problem making 170 despite his troubles making weight in the past.
by thepenismightier on Feb 18, 2009 1:20 PM EST up reply actions
Foot stomp…foot stomp to the foot never endangered anyone’s life lol.
ps: “le vrai propriétaire de l’ufc” he just said lorenzo was the true owner of ufc. Is that correct _?
ps2: “on a perdu un combatant avec ça au Quebec” Did he just said they loosed someone with a stomp to the foot??
correct
he make a quick mention that Dana only has 10% of the UFC and that Lorenzo is the man. Like all of us, the guy on the phone makes fun of the foot stump rules. Said that this was a concession that the UFC agreed on really fast.
The guy on the radio said the commission probably did that just to look good and show that they had their way.
Let the elbows drop and the knees fly. This is gonna be a blast and I’m glad I got my ticket.
On the first: “Vrai” doesn’t have to mean “true” in that sense. It can also mean right, appropriate, acceptable, and a number of other variations. In that particular sentence, I think he’s referring to someone with authority in the company, rather than just a lawyer or some such.
I got nothin’ on the foot stomp.
"I'm AJB and I endorse this nut-puncher."
Not me man...
dull thudding to my face and head (yeah, they hurt but in a fight they don’t really hurt) and maybe some swelling and a cut is MUCH better than a broken foot. I’ve dealt with broken bones in my foot before, it hurts like hell until it heals and if you don’t go in a cast (or at least off the foot) for a few weeks it takes forever to heal.
Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
by Brent Brookhouse on Feb 18, 2009 1:31 PM EST up reply actions
So, can a fighter loose points or be disqualified for an errant foot stomp? What about if he accidentally steps on the guys toe?
I’m pretty sure there’s a difference between a foot stomp and accidentally stepping on a guy’s foot! ;)
by Michael Hatamoto on Feb 18, 2009 1:07 PM EST up reply actions
Wait?
Didn’t mmalogic say there was a 99% chance of it moving to Las Vegas last night?
99% the montreal show is being moved to Las Vegas.
by mmalogic on Feb 17, 2009 9:01 PM PST reply actions 0 recs
Sure, but it’s not like this sport isn’t without its fair share of monumental upsets.
Perhaps we can add this turn of events to that list.
"BJ on the BE" - Kierkegaard
It was dead last night. They caved late when the UFC actually followed through on their threat to move it to Vegas. It was a game of chicken, the commission lost. Mmalogic i see also had a post on their reversal of position before the news came out.
by Michael Rome on Feb 18, 2009 1:32 PM EST up reply actions
He posted this morning in a different thread that the Commission caved when the UFC started the actual process of moving to Vegas. That seems to fit the odds; the UFC wouldn’t spend money and risk bad press doing that unless they were pretty sure the deal with Montreal was going nowhere. Not defending mmalogic – he’s quite capable of doing that himself – but just pointing out the events aren’t inconsistent with his posts.
"I'm AJB and I endorse this nut-puncher."
I love foot stomps. No quicker way to get a dude to stop hugging you than breaking his toe.
by Derek Suboticki on Feb 18, 2009 1:55 PM EST up reply actions
- The event will take place as scheduled under the usual UFC rules except for foot stomps being disallowed.
I imagine the negotiating of rules went like this:
RACJ: No knees or elbows
UFC: Unified rules as usual
RACJ: Ok, how about just no elbows?
UFC: How about no foot stomps?
RACJ: ….deal!
"BJ on the BE" - Kierkegaard
The Quebec commission
doesn’t know much about the UFC if they really thought Dana and Co. were going to cave and change the rules for just one show. Jesus, how long have those guys been fighting to get the unified rules accepted everywhere?
Although detractors decry (MMA) as a brutal, bloody form of human cockfighting, aficionados know it is a brutal, bloody, totally fucking awesome form of human cockfighting. -The Onion
by The Kittitas Kid on Feb 18, 2009 2:18 PM EST reply actions
Wow!
I didn’t believe they would do it honestly. I was sure it was kinda of a politicaly correct plot against violence in sports. Politics sucks so bad in Quebec, you have no idea! I can’t wait to move to California. When a local boxing champ is fighting, all the media are talking about it and they have problems finding 5000 people to go watch it. UFC come and they sold out the 22 000 tickets like nothing and not a word of it in the media.
Well I’M glad I’ll be able to enjoy my 225$ ticket and see a Chuck fight! :)
Translated in full...
The RAJC have recieved permission to discuss the rules that will be used in the fights. They have finally come to the understanding to use the rules that have been instated by the UFC, including knee and elbow strikes.
However, the UFC has accepted to not allow foot stomps, with the intent to do damage to their opponent,
The main event at UFC 97 will be a title fight between Anderson Silva and Thales Leites.
Also on the card, Quebec native David Loiseau will fight Ed Herman.
From what CKAC has learned, Lorenzo Fertitta and Mark Ratner came to Montreal for the meeting on tuesday at 5pm. At that point, they had already discussed with Richard Renault of the RAJC and Denis Racicot, president of the RAJC.
Fertitta and Ratner had to take off for Europe where a UFC event will take place this weekend and therefore the press conference will be held by the RAJC.
The press conference will assure that the Montreal economy will benifit somewhere in the 12 million dolllar range due to the UFC presence.
There was a very real risk in losing the event in Montreal. The UFC had 2 hotels in Vegas booked, one being the MGM Grand, to cover their ass.
On February 12 the UFC announced that they would cancel UFC 97 in Montreal. The rules, that had never been enforeced, of the RAJC do not allow knee or elbow strikes to the face of an opponent. It was out of the question to modify the rules of the event.
This weekend, in an exclusive interview with CKAC, the president of the UFC, Dana White, confirmed that there was many details to work out but his was confident that UFC 97 would go as planned. Mr. White was never scarred that he would have to cancel the event, and that this type of situation happens alot in the industry. He just had to reason with them and the event will happen with his rules.
White also confirmed for the first time in public that UFC 100 will feature GSP in Vegas.
HOPE THIS HELPS YOU ALL!
by Annie83 on Feb 18, 2009 3:09 PM EST reply actions 2 recs
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