UFC 97 Might Not Take Place in Montreal
After selling around 13000 tickets today for their second show in Montreal UFC 97 has found its self on the verge of cancellation. Today the Quebec Athletic Commission decided that knee and elbow strikes to the head in MMA are illegal. They also insisted that the UFC should change their rules or not put on a show.
Here is the story according to Meltzer:
There is a lot of trouble regarding UFC 97 in Montreal scheduled for 4/18….However, due to the riot at a show in Quebec promoted by Stephane Patry where fans threw beer cans and bottles…the Alcohol, Races & Game commission is saying that UFC can come as long as they ban elbow or knee strikes. I spoke with Marc Ratner of UFC who confirmed that this issue is going on and that they are trying to work with the commission to get the unified MMA rules back in place. It’s a major sports story today in Montreal and at least on the air, they are reporting it as this may result in the show being canceled. The director of communications for the commission, M. Rejean Theriault said it would be difficult to accept the rules in time for the 4/18 show, and said that the commission did not properly due do their job in allowing knees and elbows at the show last year.
As it says above Marc Ranter of the UFC is currently working extremely hard to try and get the unified rules of MMA back in place. If there is no luck I guess the only thing left to do is quickly find a replacement arena and refund that $3 million in ticket sales.
There is obviously no way the show could go on with these new rules in place. A fighter like Anderson Silva who loves to get the clinch and let loose on his opponent with flurries of knees would instead find himself wondering what to do.
Hopefully for the many fans in Montreal and those traveling from surrounding area the QAC will modify the rules for April 18th. If not I guess the next best thing is for the event not to be canceled but simply moved to another location.
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