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| Mixed Martial Arts has been an organized sport in Japan and Brazil for over 90 years, but it only wound up in the U.S. in about 1993. At that time, major television networks carried the sport for a short while, but cut it when complaints rolled in. From there it survived and thrived on the web, and was eventually brought back onto mainstream television. |
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| "It used to be when we went to a talk show or an interview, people would talk about the brutality of it", said Smith. "But we’ve been tracking it closely, and the statistic of injury is so much lower than American football, baseball or hockey". |
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| Be that as it may, Coun. Judy Sentes still isn’t sold on the sport. |
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| "I am still at odds with it being offered at our new events centre, and I would rather see focus on other forms of entertainment", said the councillor who voted against bringing IFC to Penticton. "I find ultimate fighting quite brutal, and in today’s society it’s not what we need to hold up to our young people as an acceptable form of sport". |
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| Sentes, however, understands that the sport is popular and a needed economic generator for the SOEC, but said other cities have chosen to kibosh plans to host the sport for social concerns. |
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| Curtis Webb, the SOEC’s general manager, said the decision to host the match locally was economically driven and it should attract people from Alberta, the Lower Mainland and all up and down the valley. |
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| "If you go to any bar in town when the UFC is on, those places are packed, and we thought this is the event we should do here", he said, noting there will be extra security on site when the fights are on — though nobody anticipates any issues. |
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| "It will bring a lot of economic impact, people are going to come here, spend money, eat dinner". |
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| Tickets for the event go on sale May 1. |
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