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Dana White: 'Canada will be the biggest UFC event ever'

Dana White

Props: Canadian Press

Quoteworthy:

"It's going to be crazy. Twenty-two thousand, we're going to sell it out. We're going to sell out the Bell Center.... Canada will be the (attendance) record. Canada will be the biggest UFC event ever. We've been dying to go there. Now that we're going, I think the fans are going to be insane up there. I think it's going to be great, I'm excited."

UFC President Dana White is confident that UFC 83 on April 19 at the Bell Centre -- the first-ever UFC event to be held in Canada -- will rake-in the largest attendance figures in the history of the promotion. Currently, UFC 68 holds that distinction with an attendance record of 19,049 (the biggest crowd ever for a mixed martial arts event in North America, according to the report). UFC 83 features several Canadian fighters, including interim welterweight champion, Georges St. Pierre, on the card. The UFC 83 fight card (sans Shogun Rua and other rumored bouts), however, will have a hard time matching the star power of UFC 68 (Randy Couture, Tim Sylvia, Matt Hughes, Rich Franklin, Jon Fitch, Babalu Sobral, Jason MacDonald, Martin Kampmann, etc.). Perhaps that might not make any difference whatsoever -- most fans might just be happy to see "Rush" in action.

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Well if he wants it to be a great event he better at least put one more great fight on it they had that with shogun but then they took it away they said there was no more room on the card so i hope he has something great planed for us

by matt on Feb 1, 2008 11:40 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

Gonna be sick. I love that goofy picture of Dana too. Hilarious.

Cant wait for GSP Serra 2.

by DJ Pullout on Feb 1, 2008 11:40 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

HUGE FIGHT CARD!!!! This will to other great Canadian shows. Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, and dare I saw…..Winnipeg.

Dana, you may change may personal view of you. Good job baldy.

by kavedaddy on Feb 1, 2008 11:44 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

If you really think about it this card went to shit. No Shogun. And there were some other good fights that were moved to different cards that I can’t remember. But I do know it started out good and it is no longer that great. Move some of the UFN 13 fights to this one!

by SirMixaLot on Feb 1, 2008 11:45 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

If you really think about it this card went to shit. No Shogun. And there were some other good fights that were moved to different cards that I can’t remember. But I do know it started out good and it is no longer that great. Move some of the UFN 13 fights to this one!

 ya its bad when the free fight night is better then ufc 83 thats not right

by matt on Feb 1, 2008 11:51 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

loving this card!he Bell Center is going to sell out 100% then more events in Canada…but never in Newfoudland so damn…

by Steve Hynes on Feb 1, 2008 12:06 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

Kenny Florian vs. Joe Lauzon
Stephan Bonnar vs. Matt Hamill
Thiago Alves vs. Karo Parisyan
Houston Alexander vs. James Irvin
Marcus Aurelio vs. Spencer Fisher
Josh Neer vs. Din Thomas
Clay Guida vs. Samy Schiavo
Anthony Johnson vs. Tommy Speer

These are the rummored fights for UFN 13. They should move two of these fights on the montreal card and it will be good. The loss of Shogun sucks, but a couple of these other fights might just make up for it.

by Larson on Feb 1, 2008 12:10 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

loving this card!he Bell Center is going to sell out 100% then more events in Canada…but never in Newfoudland so damn…

Are you seeing somehting Im not??

This is a peice of shit card. Sure GSP and the title is good. You know, ill even give you Rish F. But everything else is SHIT… Just SHIT. Two fights is not a good card sorry.

by BustYoFace on Feb 1, 2008 12:12 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

There seems to be a lot of people knocking this card already and only two fights have been confirmed. Am I crazy or did Rich Franklin just become absolute crap?? In that interview with the Canadian Press Dana confirmed that he will be fighting Travis Lutter whom did realy well in the beginning against A. Silvia. That will be a hell of a fight and I am so confused right now why people are bashing this card!

by Steven on Feb 1, 2008 12:23 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

If you really think about it this card went to shit. No Shogun. And there were some other good fights that were moved to different cards that I can’t remember. But I do know it started out good and it is no longer that great. Move some of the UFN 13 fights to this one!

Parisyan and Alves was rumored for UFC 83. I dont know the other s you are thinking about.

by MMAmania on Feb 1, 2008 12:27 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

damn you guys, it’s only feb. 1. There’s still like 10 weeks until this PPV so lets give it some time to unfold. But I agree, Dana and the UFC need to do it big for the first trip to Canada. They should get Liddell on there or Wanderlei or something.

by Anthony on Feb 1, 2008 12:37 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

whatever what kind of cards

Are you seeing somehting Im not??

This is a peice of shit card. Sure GSP and the title is good. You know, ill even give you Rish F. But everything else is SHIT… Just SHIT. Two fights is not a good card sorry.

Here in Montreal we just want to see GSP Live in a UFC title fight! Whatever what kind of show cards it is…

Even this card whitout GSP fight is better than a our usual TKO show so…

by EmondRight on Feb 1, 2008 1:08 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

vive le montreal!

by Scott on Feb 1, 2008 1:11 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

The crowd reaction when GSP hits the Octagon will be worth the 45 bucks alone. When GSP rips Serra’s arm off is when the event becomes pricless!

by BeltStud on Feb 1, 2008 1:23 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

Any idea how much tix will cost?

by matt on Feb 1, 2008 1:31 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

Parisyan and Alves was rumored for UFC 83. I dont know the other s you are thinking about.

I believe the Tanner/Okami fight was originally rumored to be on this card…it didn’t last long though.

by Buster Bluth on Feb 1, 2008 1:32 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

WAR GSP! :D

This is going to be insane i am going to drop up to 500$ for the best tickets i can get.

by Likwid on Feb 1, 2008 1:32 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

Dana White:

“…then we’re going back to the tri state area and we’re going to put on another sh-t card. Our main event will hopefully be as boring as UFC 78’s. The rest of the card should be bone dry as well. I’m less than excited!”

hello! why is everyone else getting at least decent cards!?!?

by Fidel Cashflow on Feb 1, 2008 1:37 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

Dana White:

“…then we’re going back to the tri state area and we’re going to put on another sh-t card. Our main event will hopefully be as boring as UFC 78’s. The rest of the card should be bone dry as well. I’m less than excited!”

hello! why is everyone else getting at least decent cards!?!?

Cuz Dana is an under cover Canadian :D

by Likwid on Feb 1, 2008 1:53 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

this event could be held in olympic stadium and it would sell out!!!…thats how big this even could get…but the bell centre is hype!!!

by RobWhiskey on Feb 1, 2008 2:40 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

What a greedy basterd. If you look closely you cant see the money signs in dana’s eye. CHICK CHING!!!!!

by alex on Feb 1, 2008 3:01 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

I’ll be there, excited for our first canadian ufc event

by theCloser on Feb 1, 2008 3:09 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

HOLY CRAP!!!

by Andy C on Feb 1, 2008 3:15 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

I already have the flights and 10 rooms booked. It is going to be awesome and us Canadians are going to show everyone how a UFC event should be.

by Jo on Feb 1, 2008 4:19 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

I already have the flights and 10 rooms booked. It is going to be awesome and us Canadians are going to show everyone how a UFC event should be.

Until the UFC comes to Hawaii. We have a 50,000 seat stadium, and I pretty much guarantee the event will sell over 30,000 seats. It would be a money maker to have Penn/GSP 2 right here in front of Penns home fans.

by pUniSHment on Feb 1, 2008 4:47 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

good card, can’t wait to watch it, but i think the march card is better,

by bryant on Feb 1, 2008 5:22 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

EmondRight is 100% right. Here people just want to see GSP and having another local in Goulet is just what they need for a 1st show here.

This is almost an introduction to MMA ( Altough we have TKO in QC… ) since 95% of people in QC don’t have a clue who Shogun is ( Personnaly i would have LOVED to see him on the card ) The fact that even GSP doesn’t have local sponsors is a good indication of that.

They need a couple of good figths/KO’s regardless of who’s fighting and then people will start following the UFC. Whenever to do a 2nd show here then they’ll need more big names.

Me i’m totally excited and i just can’t wait to have my ticket next week !

by Marco on Feb 1, 2008 5:25 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

Until the UFC comes to Hawaii. We have a 50,000 seat stadium, and I pretty much guarantee the event will sell over 30,000 seats. It would be a money maker to have Penn/GSP 2 right here in front of Penns home fans.

I was at GSP/Penn 1 and I was pretty disappointed by the fans in Vegas. As a Canadian, I thought some (not all) but a majority were pretty class less.

by Jo on Feb 1, 2008 6:41 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

CAN’T WAIT FOR SERRA TOO SHUT UP ALL THE HATA’S. THE WAY EVERYBODY IS TALKING IT SOUNDS JUST LIKE LAST TIME BEFORE ST PIERE GOT HIS ASS KICKED. WELL I GUESS SOME PEOPLE NEVER LEARN. I KNOW ONE THING FOR SURE THERE’S GOING TO BE ALOT OF PISSED OFF CANADIANS AFTER THE FIGHT.

by BRONCOS12405 on Feb 1, 2008 8:33 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

CAN’T WAIT FOR SERRA TOO SHUT UP ALL THE HATA’S. THE WAY EVERYBODY IS TALKING IT SOUNDS JUST LIKE LAST TIME BEFORE ST PIERE GOT HIS ASS KICKED. WELL I GUESS SOME PEOPLE NEVER LEARN. I KNOW ONE THING FOR SURE THERE’S GOING TO BE ALOT OF PISSED OFF CANADIANS AFTER THE FIGHT.

we’ll see… ;)

by EmondRight on Feb 2, 2008 10:56 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

CAN’T WAIT FOR SERRA TOO SHUT UP ALL THE HATA’S. THE WAY EVERYBODY IS TALKING IT SOUNDS JUST LIKE LAST TIME BEFORE ST PIERE GOT HIS ASS KICKED. WELL I GUESS SOME PEOPLE NEVER LEARN. I KNOW ONE THING FOR SURE THERE’S GOING TO BE ALOT OF PISSED OFF CANADIANS AFTER THE FIGHT.

Yes, they’ll be very pissed when the ref stops GSP’s tooling of Serra.

by Pat on Feb 2, 2008 11:36 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

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