OK now that I've posted my rant about the uber corporate greed of the UFC, it's time to talk about the events of the weekend. I attended a little free "fan festival" at Dundas Square on Thursday, then Collette and I went to the big even, UFC 129 on Saturday night.
The fan fest was a free event, held on a cool drizzly day which wasn't a bad thing, as it kept down the ravenous crowds that went to the fight and to the pay-to-enter Fan Fest also held this week.
There were a few tents on the square, one of them holding various pieces of UFC memorabilia.
Among other things in the truck was the only authentic touring UFC belt ... not exactly sure why I should be excited about this, but here it is
A few fighters showed up to sign autographs, including perennial lightweight contender John Fitch ..
... self-styled mma badboy Josh Koshcek ...
Koshcheck and Fitch remained on stages but light heavyweight Ryan Bader walk around the square, letting anyone pose with him for a picture and even allowing a rather dubious young man demonstrate his "kung fu" moves. Security wanted to move in my Bader waved him off; the person in question probably weighed about 145 pound while Bader could rent out his back as a highway billboard.
But this soggy little "festival" was merely a precursor for the real deal: UFC 129 at the Rogers Centre (that's the Skydome for us old farts)
Collette and I (and 55,000 of our closest friends) entered our corporate coliseum to watch our heavily tattooed and endorsement bedecked gladiators do battle. We got there in time to watch the first fight at 6 pm and stayed till the very end, some 12 fights later.
The UFC promised us spectacle and that, overall, is what they delivered. Hundreds of computer controlled lights, dozens of video screens, some 80 feet wide (and from our seats in the 200 level, we needed those) and a sound system powerful enough to be used by police to disperse crowds.
Beyond spectacle, the greedimaniacs at the UFC knew what we wanted ... the fight card was stacked with Canadian fighters, most from Montreal and a few from Toronto, such as lightweight Mark Bocek. Eight Canadians in all including the main draw of the fight, welterweight George St-Pierre who defended his title against American Jake Shields. The Canadians did well, winning most of their bouts. Local boy Mark Hominick lost his quest for the featherweight belt against Jose Aldo, but showed a lot of grit, including fighting through a goose egg on his head the size of a Gemini space capsule, and taking the champ to the mat in the final round and pounding the tar out of him .. too little too late perhaps, but the crowd reacted with a roof raising roar.
The two loudest roars of the night came at the entrance of two particular fighters. No surprise that Canadian champ St-Pierre got a crushing ovation but so did an American: UFC hall of famer Randy Coture, fighting in the last bout of his long career. Now, Randy has said this before, but he is 47 and I don't see another comeback, even for Captain America.
Overall we got what we came for: Lots of actions, knock outs, many fights not needing to go to the judges score card. George won, which is what we wanted, even if it was not the most thrilling fight of the night.
There is an adage that in the right circumstance, a crowd can become its own character, that it can be a factor in a sporting event. Local fighter Claude Patrick has said that the first time he slammed Daniel Roberts to the mat he could feel the crowd respond .. so he kept slamming the man and won the match.
I've been to the Rogers Centre many times but I have never seen as it was Saturday night; absolutely filled to capacity. Literally, every seat in the stadium was occupied. And although there were more than a few young men intoxicated before the first leg kick was thrown, most were there for the same experience and the tens of thousands of us were united for a common purpose: To see these highly skilled and strongly motivated athletes kick some ass
Records were set. The largest crowd ever for a mixed martial arts event. Tickets sold to patrons in just about every country on the planet. And of course, more money stuffed into the UFC's pockets than ever before.
The greed of the UFC still leaves a rather bad taste in my mouth but I have to say, as a fan, I left the dome very satisfied. We saw some great fights, many times I was driven to my feet and I bounded with some of the fans around me.
But I'm not taking any of them home.
Here's a video with highlights from the fan fest and from the fight itself. The fight footage was recorded on Collette's new Panasonic DMC-TS3 waterproof pocket camera.
UFC 129 from Victor Kellar on Vimeo.
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