On Saturday night, Amir Sodallah was awarded the six-figure contract as the winner of The Ultimate Fighter 7, taking out CB Dollaway with a perfectly executed armbar in the first round. While Sodallah is now considered new blood for the UFC’s middleweight division, don’t look for him to be fighting any big names just yet. In the main event, we saw TUF 3 winner Kendall ‘Da Spyder’ Grove win a unanimous decision over former UFC Middlweight champion Evan Tanner. I was expecting much more from Grove in this fight, especially considering the UFC may have been ready to cut him if he lost the bout. I wonder if he has already reached his peak.
Speaking of big time bouts, there is one brewing outside of the Octagon as the UFC is going toe to toe with Donald Trump and his new business venture, Affliction MMA. The July 19th Affliction pay per view card is stacked with big names like Fedor vs Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski vs Ben Rothwell. So what does the UFC do in response? They announce a free show on the same night, featuring the debut of Anderson Silva at light heavyweight, taking on James ‘The Sandman’ Irwin. Like it or not, the UFC sees this has a crucial business decision to drive viewers away from the Affliction product, dangling one of their prized gems, the man they dub ‘the greatest fighter on the planet’, Anderson Silva.
After the success of UFC 83 in Montreal, the question keeps coming up, When can fans expect to see the UFC come to Toronto, where MMA still remains illegal in the province of Ontario. Well, the answer may lie in a $100 million dollar lawsuit filed against the Ontario Government and Athletic commission by Mick and Martin McNamara, who list conspiracy and reckless decision-making amongst the charges against government officials as the reason why MMA hasn’t become legal in Ontario yet. And the UFC is paying close attention. This past weekend, I was approached by an employee of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, who was made aware of the case, and now hopes when it’s all said and done, a UFC event will one day be held at the Air Canada Centre.
Stay tuned, as this is about to get real juicy.
