BE reader Matt McEwen (also a great MMA writer for 411Mania.com) points us to a story in Canada's most prestigious newspaper, the Globe & Mail that breaks down just how big the sport is getting in Canada:

In Canada, a recent Ipsos-Reid poll found MMA to be the fastest growing of 30 sports in terms of popularity, with 22 per cent of Canadians claiming "avid" or "casual" interest. The NBA has 26-per-cent interest and Major League Baseball 38 per cent. The rate of growth of interest is higher for the UFC than for either hockey or the Olympics. Among Canadian men, 33 per cent of the 2,000 surveyed said they had some interest in UFC events.

The story also points out that even bigger things could happen in the future:

UFC vice-president Marc Ratner told The Globe and Mail this week that a live event at the Rogers Centre in Toronto would deliver a record gate for the company. However, MMA fighting is not formally regulated in either Ontario or B.C., and is banned as prize fighting under Sec. 83 of the federal Criminal Code. Exemption is made for amateur boxing and pro boxing events licensed under an athletics commission. Undeterred, UFC is lobbying for regulatory change, and planning to stage cards in Toronto and Vancouver next year.

The G&M also editorializes in favor of MMA being regulated in Ontario. That's the kind of major political cover -- a favorable editorial in the leading paper -- that lobbyists kill for. Thank you Globe & Mail.

And while we're talking about potential massive live UFC's, Dana White is now talking about putting on the biggest UFC in history (in terms of live crowd size) in Hawaii:

White did make one concession in his discussion of a potential outdoor-stadium event. Hawaii, which recently passed legislation which will allow the UFC to visit, will eventually host an event at the 50,000-seat Aloha Stadium.

"We will probably have to [hold an event in an outdoor stadium] in Hawaii," White said. "Here's the reason: We fixed the thing in Hawaii. We're going to go to Hawaii now. They had that crazy [expletive] tax thing going on. We fixed that.

"We're going to go to Hawaii, and the only place we can do it in Hawaii would be in the Aloha [Stadium] because all of the other venues are too small."

Here's another reason to root for B.J. Penn to beat Kenny Florian. Ok, for many of you, this will be the only reason to root for B.J. Penn.