Fighters return to old foothold
Cormier-Johnson title bout will headline Dec. 10 card after three-year T.O. absence
The last time the Ultimate Fighting Championship staged an event in Toronto, Daniel Cormier was a newcomer to the organization and Anthony Johnson was a UFC castoff trying to earn another chance with the world’s biggest fight league.
And when 15,504 spectators at the Air Canada Centre watched Jon Jones defeat Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165 in September 2013, the Toronto market had transformed from destination to question mark.
After selling out the Rogers Centre, the UFC played to empty seats at the ACC, then started a three-year absence from Toronto that ends Dec. 10, when Cormier defends his lightheavyweight title against Johnson at UFC 206. The fight satisfies demand for a rematch between dominant fighters, and organizers hope it will reignite local interest.
“People in Toronto love to watch fights,” Cormier says. “That’s why they got so many big cards for so long.”
Since its last Toronto event the UFC has pressed further into the mainstream. In June the talent agency WME-IMG paid $4 billion for a majority stake, and last month a diverse group of WME-IMG-affiliated celebs — including Cam Newton, Tom Brady and the Williams sisters, Serena and Venus — were revealed as minority owners.
The promotion hosts its first card at Madison Square Garden Nov. 12, after a successful lobbying effort to legalize mixed martial arts in New York.
That card features the UFC’s top attraction, featherweight champ Conor McGregor, while its other crossover star, former champ Ronda Rousey, ends a 15-month layoff by headlining a Dec. 30 card.
Toronto’s event falls between those two showcases, which makes stand- ing out a challenge.
The task became more daunting when UFC president Dana White confirmed Georges St-Pierre wouldn’t compete, ending speculation that the legendary Canadian fighter would unretire and anchor the Toronto card.
St-Pierre, who remains a promotional free agent, headlined the event that filled the Rogers Centre, and the UFC says it needs more targeted marketing to fill the void his absence leaves.
UFC president Tom Wright thinks Canadians on the undercard will attract local fans, and says Toronto’s cultural diversity can help fill attendance gaps.
Just as teams such as the Raptors have used themed nights and strategic advertising to engage Toronto’s various ethnic communities, Wright says the UFC has been working with a boutique ad agency to boost its presence in the city’s cultural niches. Korean featherweight Doo Ho Choi might not fill the ACC, but Wright thinks Koreans living in the GTA could be persuaded to see him compete live.
“GSP mobilized an entire country,” Wright says. “If you can apply that same mentality to engaging and mobilizing a smaller community in an ethnically-diverse country (like) Canada, that’s the notion.”
But pay-per-view sales depend on creating excitement about the main event. According to MMAPayout.com, Cormier and Johnson generated 375,000 pay-per-view buys when they first fought in May 2015. It’s a fraction of the UFC-record 1.65 million buys for McGregor’s August rematch with Nate Diaz, but a solid result for mid-level stars such as Cormier and Johnson.
Matching that number won’t be easy given the event’s timing, but Johnson has tallied three spectacular knockouts since losing to Cormier and thinks the pair can produce a memorable fight. “How many rematches have you had in Toronto that are the calibre of this fight,” Johnson says. “Since I lost to Daniel I’ve destroyed everybody . . . I plan on making Daniel the next victim.”