The first bricks in the road to the next Ultimate Fighting Championship event in Vancouver were paved Monday as UFC executives met with the city.
UFC Canada president Tom Wright and UFC vice-president Marc Ratner were at City Hall to meet with civic staff, Rogers Arena management and the revamped Vancouver Athletic Commission.
“We wanted to make sure we’re following up on our successful event and that we’re ahead of the curve,” former CFL commissioner Wright told 24 hours. “We’d love to come back. The most important thing is that we get well ahead of it.”
The world’s largest mixed martial arts organization sold out UFC 112 at the then-GM Place in June.
Insurance for the pay-per-view wasn’t worked out until the last minute. Wright expects negotiations to be smoother for the sequel in either the second or third quarter of 2011.
He added he didn’t have time to meet with the B.C. government about the possibility to regulate the sport on a provincial level during his trip, but intended to pay Victoria a visit at some point.
