Violence-crazed Toronto sells out the 55,000-seat Rogers Centre UFC event in 48 hours
Montreal may have gotten the prime-time shout-out in last night’s Grammy Awards Arcade Fire speech, but Toronto can still lord some records over our cousins in Quebec: our crowds for UFC are insanely larger than theirs. While Montreal’s record for a UFC event is a paltry 23,152, Toronto managed to sell out the 55,000-seat Rogers Centre for UFC 129 in about 48 hours.
According to the CBC:
Organizers started at 42,000 tickets but quickly put more on the market after the first rush of sales Thursday.
The April 30 mixed martial arts show at the Rogers Centre doubles the largest gate and attendance records in UFC history. It has also set a single-day event gate record for the domed stadium…
More than 40,000 tickets sold Thursday in the first day of a pre-sale to members of the UFC Fight Club. The rest were snapped up Friday, in another pre-sale, and Saturday, when tickets were made available to the general public.
So, if we’re reading this right, something like the entire population of Milton, Ontario is going to flood onto Front, King and Queen streets fuelled by testosterone and overpriced Labatt Blue (actually, they’ll be right by the Metro Convention Centre, the scene of the last event to draw those kinds of crowds to our fair city). As April 30th gets closer and closer, our initial sense of foreboding has been replaced with resignation, and when the day comes we’re almost looking forward to the inevitable late-night chaos as Toronto’s Entertainment District hosts the aftermath.
• Toronto UFC sets sales record [Toronto Star]
• Ultimate Fighting Championship has record sellout in Toronto [Globe and Mail]
Can we fence off the 1km sq area around Rogers Centre to keep the 55k fans away from the rest of the city? The fence can be an octagon to ease the sense of literal entrapment
There won’t be any problems with violence just like there wasn’t in Montreal. I’m a smart, educated, high-enlightened UFC fan and will be attending the event. Don’t paint us all with the “blood-thirsty, tshirts with skulls on them, dude-bro” brush please. My Toronto is inclusive of all types of people. Even closed-minded a$$holes like you. Lots of Love.
UFC is the most retarded form of entertainment since wrestling
Oh please, stop clutching your pearls and get over yourselves.
Labeling all UFC fans as “violent” is a highly uneducated comment. I am a die hard MMA fan and will be attending and I fully agree with Mike.
MMA is nothing different than any other competitive sport out there. Hockey, football, rugby, etc are not violent? We as Canadians label hockey as “our sport” and embrace the fast paced physical aspect of it.
Maybe contact our government and direct some of your frustrations about violence to the people that fund it with YOUR money
It is actually a little upsetting to know that i live in this wonderful city with people that are so close minded
Wow I am REALLY surprised there are still people in the dark about this sport. What year is this? You know it has one of the highest university graduates of any sport right? These athletes have competed in the Olympics and in greco-roman wrestling for their colleges and universities. It also has the highest % of female viewership of any of the major sports. There has NEVER been a serious injury in the UFC, this can not be said of a sport like football which has an average career span of 3 years because of the concussions and life threatening abuse they take. I have been to 6 events and have NEVER seen a fight in the crowd. I have sat with my lawyer and doctor friends and enjoyed the skills of these amazing athletes. Please before you go and bash something, do your research. Read up on it. I am NOT a violent person, I have never even once thrown a punch in anger. I even hate fighting in hockey, but watching these amazing athletes test the skills of Karate, judo, boxing and any number of mma is amazing to behold.
Fan fights like the video tagged to this article are common in ALL sports. Go to youtube and you will see these fights at baseball games, hockey, football, soccer, boxing and even any spectator event!!!!I have been to all three UFC events in montreal and I met only friendly and fun people in the crowd. UFC fans are regular everyday people that span a huge diversity….
Wow, talk about sloppy journalism. The arena in Montreal only has 23, 152 seats available. There weren’t anymore seats to sell. How can you compare the two arena’s and put Montreal’s Bell Centre in unfavorable light when Toronto’s Rogers Centre has double the capacity. And that was your lead-in paragraph. Clearly I will not continue reading after that. …”our crowds are insanely larger than theirs.” (How old are you, eight?)
if your looking for a writer send me an e-mail.
I almost never comment on news posts, but this is terrible and uninformed writing. I’m a mixed martial arts fan, and I’m also a highly qualified young professional likely earning multiples of the salary of this “journalist” (but then again based on the output here I’d hope that’s the case for most readers!). Mixed martial arts appeals to me because of the physical aspect (not unlike ice hockey, as someone else pointed out), and combination of several legitimate olympic sports including boxing, judo, taekwondo, wrestling… I’ve been to several UFC/MMA events in multiple countries and have NEVER seen a fight or any kind of trouble inside or outside the event. The violence takes place in a professionally sanctioned, controlled environment. Also as somebody said, the amount of highly educated professional fighters in this sport shows that it is not reserved for thuggish brutes. It’s not uncommon to find fighters who are educated to degree or postgraduate level in subjects as diverse as finance, law, criminology etc… My bet would be that John Michael McGrath has never competed or dedicated time to any endeavour, and doesn’t have even 0.001% of the commitment and discipline it takes to become a pro fighter.
“Violence-crazed Toronto”, eh? Dear lord. Look, all of us true MMA fans are sorry about the Affliction-wearing douchebags with spiky hair who claim they “train UFC” and could beat you up. Also, as someone already commented, brawls happen in the crowd at all sports. At least MMA athletes don’t brawl with people in the crowd like basketball players do. (see, I can play the broad generalization game too!)
What hyperbolism. It’s obvious this magazine is actually proud about literally being out of touch with a large portion of ordinary Torontonians. I’m a 43 year-old, professional woman with a post-graduate degree, and I’m thrilled I was able to get tickets. MMA is a great sport and I can’t wait for this event.
insecure much?