UFC Fight Night in Saskatoon scratched

Fight fans in Saskatoon will have to wait a little while longer for the return of Ultimate Fighting Championship to the Bridge City.

The mixed-martial-arts juggernaut, previously set to stage its first event in Saskatoon since August 2015, confirmed Wednesday that next month’s card has been cancelled. It joins a long list of spring and summer events — Folkfest to the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival, the Exhibition to Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, Taste of Saskatchewan to Rock the River and more — to be called off as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Due to current national and provincial restrictions on public gatherings and travel, UFC Fight Night originally scheduled for June 20 at Sasktel Centre will not continue as planned,” UFC said in a brief statement. “UFC looks forward to returning with an event in the near future.”

A comeback to Saskatoon had “been on the docket for a few years,” said David Shaw, UFC vice-president of international and content, in an interview last month.

“We had an opportunity to get to Saskatoon again and we took it.”

UFC’S first stop in Saskatoon, in August 2015, drew 7,202 fans paying a live gate of $949,000. UFC at the time typically targeted a $500,000 gate for its non-pay-perview cards. The June card, Shaw said, was expected to be a chance “to reconnect on a one-on-one basis with our fan base in Saskatchewan ... We’ve only got so many opportunities every few years to perform one of our live shows.”

The June 20 card was set to be the company’s first in Canada this year and 32nd event overall in the country.

Other Canadian cities to host include Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Halifax, Ottawa, Moncton and Quebec City.

UFC in 2015 had long targeted Saskatoon but lack of sanctioning prevented it. In June 2013, however, Section 83 (2) of the Criminal Code of Canada was rewritten for the first time in 80 years, defining prizefighting as not just boxing but also mixed martial arts. Soon after, Saskatchewan’s government created a commission to oversee combat sports — opening the opportunity for UFC to stage its first card in the province