UFC 115 was scheduled for June 2010 in Vancouver, after Vancouver City Council gave provisory approval to sanction mixed martial arts events in the City of Vancouver. As it is now, such events take place in North Vancouver, Abbotsford, Richmond, Victoria, and other cities around the province, but not Vancouver.

The City of Vancouver doesn’t really want UFC, and they dont want MMA. Please, could somebody prove me wrong.

Why no UFC in Vancouver? It now appears that the City of Vancouver doesnt really want it. Despite the potential for the event to bring in millions of dollars in a one evening event and raise the profile of martial arts in Vancouver, bureaucrats have stepped into the process and are squeezing the life out of the event faster than a tightening rear naked choke. Bureaucratic busybodies are inventing new and unheard of hurdles for UFC to jump over, and today Google News has 151 reports on how UFC is now tapping out.

The Vancouver Sun has reported that UFC is ‘Down for the count‘.

Former Vancouver Athletic Commission member Dr. Raj Sandhu said the city is embroiled in a battle between departments, city staff and council, with problems that go beyond simple regulation.

“The liability issue is garbage. They wanted $12 million in liability put up by the promoters,” said Sandhu. “We had WWE wrestling here, nobody asked them for $12 million. When Trevor Berbick boxed here, no $12 million liability for him. So all of a sudden they come up with this figure; It’s as if [Mayor] Gregor Robertson wants to come out squeaky clean. He doesn’t want the event.”

Dealing with all the different levels of community, government and services for putting on an event in Vancouver can be a black art in itself, as I have found as a conference organiser myself. But the additonal demands for liability coverage are little more than subterfuge. If the City is demanding $12 Million in liability coverage for UFC when they never demanded it for Trevor Berbick, or WWE, that means they really just don’t want it, don’t know how to deal with it, and they don’t know what it is. The City of Vancouver doesn’t really want UFC, and they dont want MMA. Please, could somebody prove me wrong.

As of Saturday March 27, the event has been cancelled, since Vancouver parties to hosting the event cannot manage to sanction MMA in Vancouver, even though it has been sanctioned by Vancouver City Council. I dont know about this one, folks, but it must be a heartbreaker for the organizers. Lets hope they come through Vancouver again in the near future.

The following is CANCELLED:

To better serve MMA fans, MMA Expo has made a change in location. Event organizer Gerald Chopik announced today that MMA Expo has moved its location to Pacific National Exhibition, The Forum Building, 2901 East Hastings Street, Hastings Park, Vancouver, BC. Its still on at the same time, Saturday April 11  and Sunday April 12. Everything in the event is going forward, as advertised, with the location change. See you there!
More info: http://vancouver.mixedmartialartsexpo.com/

MMA Expo Vancouver

Here is an MMA event made specially for MMA fans, for the first time ever in Vancouver. MMA Expo: The Ultimate Show… for the Ultimate Sport, Saturday & Sunday, April 10-11, 2010, at the PNE in Vancouver, BC. The MMA Expo group has been hosting MMA events across the US since 2005 and now with MMA fights set to be sanctioned in BC, they are coming to Greater Vancouver to bring MMA fans together. The event organizers promise that “If you’re an MMA fan this is YOUR show”. Tickets at the door: General Admission only $20 including PST, GST.

Update: MMA Expo has moved its location to Pacific National Exhibition, The Forum Building, 2901 East Hastings Street, Hastings Park, Vancouver, BC.

What’s going on:

Tournaments

• BC Grappling Championships on both days, featuring Gi & no Gi divisions, men’s and women’s.
• Amateur MMA fight night, April 11.
• MMA Fighter tryouts for Pro fighter Wanna Be’s.

Trade show Exhibition

• Celebrities: UFC fighters will be in attendance, for photos and autographs. Confirmed are Cung Le, Sean Sherk, Thiago Goncalves, Clay Guida, Dan Severn, Marcus Soares, and many more fighters, trainers to fighters, champions, and media hosts.
• Hotties: come and meet some lovely ring girls for the MMA fights.

Seminars

• Fitness Kickboxing Canada is offering Certification courses for Fitness Instructors to incorporate mma and kickboxing drills in their fitness programs.
• MMA Referee and Judge Certification Seminar.
• Paradise Warrior’s Retreat: train exclusively with MMA pros for one or two days. No experience necessary.

Get Updates on Facebook

You are invited to join the MMA Expo Vancouver Group on Facebook to keep posted on the latest news and celebrity sign-ups.

Website: http://vancouver.mixedmartialartsexpo.com

http://hcc-mma.com/

Amateur MMA fights at Edgewater Casino, Friday November 27 2009.

TICKETS ARE ON SALE!! They will go fast. You can purchase them at the Edgewater Casino, and Zulu Records.

Ticket Prices
$40 for General seating (not a bad seat in the house)
$50 Ringside Seating ($10 more gets you closer to the action)
$300 VIP (Bottle Service can seat 6 people)

http://hcc-mma.com/

Honour Combat FaceBook Page

Honour Combat On Twitter

Listen to 99.3 the Fox for ways that you can win two tickets, ring side, with three Bachelor Plan Girls. Watch the fight, and come party with us after.

Check out The Bachelor Plan website contest to win tickets.

Here is the Versus21 flash fight video, as  a followup to my earlier post with photos of the event. Lets hope that by showing people what MMA is we can help overcome the fear and misunderstanding around it. Its the worlds fastest growing sport, and a great way to train as much as any other form of martial arts. Please watch the video and add your rating on YouTube.

Today, from out of nowhere came a fight scene in the middle of down town Vancouver in front of the Art Gallery steps. Its a location popular for people selling art, petitioning, playing chess, rapping and breakdancing, or just to sit and eat a snack. But today, the street crowd was treated to a MMA fight. It was all organised to appear out of nowhere, complete with a boxing ring, MC, referee, lovely ladies, and Sensei Blake Lirette and Kirash Moghaddam, two super tough MMA fighters ready to fight to submission.

Here are some pics as the event went down:

The point of all this, if you are wondering, is to show people what MMA is about. Misconceptions abound about this new sport, and the local Martial Arts community is pushing to bring big ticket MMA events to Vancouver. The City of Vancouver was poised to sanction these kind of events, but sidestepped it by deferring to a provincial level authority. Everyone here is hoping the provincial authority will make the right move to officially sanction Mixed Martial Arts events.

So from the grassroots up, people are working to raise awareness about MMA to counteract the conjecture that keeps it from being sanctioned. We have to really show it to people so they can begin to understand better what it is – the future of martial arts. With Georges St. Pierre named Canada’s athlete of the year, we hope that he will be able to practice his sport in his home country.

MMA fans in New York State assembled a webiste for information about this sport, and the information there is just as applicable here as it is there. Hit the site and get the facts about MMA.

Ill be posting the video for this event as soon as it comes available.

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Update:

We got some media lovins from Fight Magazine and the Vancouver Sun:

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Mixed+martial+arts+fight+breaks+Robson+Street+cause/2025348/story.html

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Mixed+martial+arts+fight+breaks+Robson+Street+cause/2025348/story.html

Now the word is really going to get out there!