MMA Day in Ontario and the UFC’s Upcoming “Big Announcement”

The First Annual MMA Day in Ontario, Canada, organized by the Toronto-based Mixed-Martial Arts Expo, brought together the Ontario citizens, families, and businesses that stand to benefit from finally having Mixed-Martial Arts (MMA) recognized as another legitimate combat sport in Ontario—such as boxing (over eighty years).

The event was hosted by Ontario businessman, radio announcer, and mixed-martial arts instructor (and former UFC competitor), Jeff Joslin.

Also in attendance were representatives from the tourism and hospitality industries, local and provincial politicians, and many of the brightest stars in the Ontario MMA community, including:

“Showdown Joe” Ferraro (MMA Analyst; Host of MMA Connected on Rogers Sportsnet), Loudon Owen (Chairman of the Fight Network), Carlos Newton (Business Owner; First-ever Canadian UFC Champion), Mark Hominick (Business Owner; professional MMA fighter), Shah Franco (BJJ and MMA Instructor; Pro Fighter Coach), Sean Pierson (Bellator Welterweight Pro Fighter), and many more…

MMA Day organizer and president of Mixed Martial Arts Expo, Gerald Chopik, stated that, “MMA Day on May 22 gives Ontario families, related industry workers, and MMA athletes and fans the opportunity to raise awareness about not only how they—but the province at large—will benefit from MMA being sanctioned in Ontario.”

Given that I only live approximately one hour outside of Toronto (Niagara Region), I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to show my support for the sport that I love—despite the crappy weather.

For starters, I had a chance to finally introduce myself to my Facebook friend, “Showdown Joe” Ferraro.

This is my brief interview with Joe before the start of the event.

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James Ryan: Mr. Showdown, how are you sir?

Showdown Joe: Great, how about yourself?

James Ryan: Doing great! James Ryan…nice to finally meet you in person.

Showdown Joe: Hey James! Great to finally meet you also.

James Ryan: Thanks. Would you mind if I asked you a few questions about today?

Showdown Joe: Not at all. Shoot!

James Ryan: So here we are at MMA Day and it was a battle to get through downtown traffic of course, but once we got here, I have to admit, I expected to see a few more people. Where is everybody? [Laughs]

Showdown Joe: Well, I want to choose my words carefully [Laughs].

Being around this business for a very long time, especially in the province of Ontario, I told parts of the team organizing this event, if we get “X” amount of people, I’ll be happy. They were going with “Y” amount of people, we’re gonna get “this many” people. I told them not to expect the turnout to be as big as we think it’s going to be because I understand the mentality here of the fans in Ontario.

But those that are here are the most vocal and the happiest. These are the true fans of mixed-martial arts. I really love it.

The thing in Ontario that I find is that many of the fans like the big show. They want to be at the big show, right? And a lot of the stuff that I got by Facebook or via email was, “So who’s competing? Who’s fighting?” And it’s like—no, no, this is a rally. We’re going to raise awareness about mixed-martial arts so one day you can actually come out and support an event, whether it’s the grass roots or a big time event like the UFC.

In the meantime, we’re trying to sanction this sport, trying to regulate it, trying to get the government to be aware that this is a great sport.

You’re only going to get handfuls of people that are going to come out to support this. We tried our best to get as many people out there. I’m actually happy with the people that are here. Everyone is smiling. Everyone is having a good time, checking out all the tents, but you know, it is what it is in Ontario, right?

James Ryan: Well I think that the rain is probably a bit of an issue today as well. For lack of a better word…it sucks! [Laughs]

Showdown Joe: [Laughs] Yes absolutely, the rain isn’t helping.

And you know the traffic situation. You’ve got the traffic, plus we were also told that the TTC Subway stop here that lets people off right across the road is actually closed down. They’re re-routing so that it stops just one block north, or one block south, so hopefully there aren’t that many people right now out there wandering around going “where do I go? Where do I go?” [Laughs] But everything is pretty close and again we still have about another 15 or 20 minutes to go. People are coming. You can see people walking down the streets that are showing up so, good times.

James Ryan: Ya, it’s actually a really good turnout when you consider all of that.

I was reading on your Facebook page the other day about the UFC’s upcoming announcement. Was this day organized in anticipation of the UFC’s “big announcement” or how long have you been planning this event?

Showdown Joe: We started organizing MMA Day in full about three to four weeks ago. We did approach the UFC, just to let them know what we were doing. The last thing that you want to do, I mean, it’s one of those things, where you let the “big show” know.

I’m always in front of Dana White, whether I’m at an event or not.

There are so many other people that we speak to. The organizers work with the UFC, so we try to let them know ahead of time—here’s what we’re doing, here’s what we plan on doing, and of course you’re going to ask them if they want to be involved.

So they’re aware of what we’re doing and they have their press release that’s coming out talking about a major announcement on Tuesday. I have a good feeling that I know what that announcement is going to be. I think they’re opening up offices in Canada, but that’s their announcement. That’s their thing. There are also other things that they are doing.

What we’re trying to do is get the sport sanctioned and raise the awareness in Ontario to get this done which in essence helps the UFC and helps grass roots MMA.

James: Wow, MMA Offices in Ontario would be a huge step for this sport. Let’s hope you’re right [Laughs]. Not to steal the thunder away from the UFC but since they have already announced that they will be making a “big announcement,” we’re obviously allowed to speculate on what we think that might be, right?

Joe: Precisely.

James Ryan: Joe, this has been awesome. Thank you so much for speaking with me and best of luck today.

Showdown Joe: Thanks James. My pleasure.

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In the next few days, I plan on releasing statements from all of the guest speakers. Combined, they provided exceptional insight into everything positive about this sport and absolutely reinforced why I love it so much.

Thanks to everyone today for the inspiration.

Cheers

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MMA ONTARIO PETITION: Please sign the petition at: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/ontariomma/

The All-Mighty CN Tower (this photo was taken on a NICE day!!)

Jacob Ryan-Albertyn (my son, age 13 – plays MLB and RB) and Anthony Carbone (age 13 – plays QB)
According to my son, his plan was to make a face in every picture that I took today…hmmmm… let’s put it to the test, shall we?

Beautiful girls seemed to put an end to the “face-making” pretty quick!! LMAO!

“Showdown Joe” Ferraro welcomes the MMA supporters in attendance

Yeeeaahhhh!!! People!!

Jacob, James Ryan, “Showdown Joe,” and Anthony

Jacob, Angie Chessman (MMA Connected), and Anthony

Carlos Newton with a bit of a wardrobe malfunction

(Left-to-Right) Loudon Owen, Shah Franco, Sean Pierson, “Showdown Joe” Ferraro, Jeff Joslin, Carlos Newton, Mark Hominick, and Gerald Chopik

James and Angie

Cool shirts coutesy of JAKT Apparel

Anthony, Mark Hominick, and Jacob

Jacob, Sean Pierson, and Anthony

Anthony, Jeff Joslin, and Jacob

Jacob, Gerald Chopik, and Anthony

Carlos Newton and James Ryan about to throw down!?!?!…

…Naaaaaa…we’re buds!