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May 28, 2010
St-Pierre vs Koscheck to go down in Toronto or Pittsburgh in December
As we all know the upcoming twelfth season of The Ultimate Fighter will have UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre coaching against new number one contender Josh Koscheck as they will face off for the second time in their careers once the show is over in late December. But, the question is: where will their fight be taking place?
Following Tuesday’s press conference in Canada, UFC President Dana White tells MMAWeekly.com that he wants this fight to go down in the city of Toronto, Ontario. However, White may also consider having the fight go down in Koscheck’s hometown in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as well.
“We want to do that fight here,” White said about Toronto. “We could do Pittsburgh too though, but we’d like to do it here.”
White along with other UFC officials have been in talks with the Ontario government counsel to help sanction the sport of MMA for about two years now and although they have been close, the situation is pretty much like with the recent situation in Vancouver, British Columbia as they were hesitant to officially sanction an MMA event due to safety concerns and other issues, but that deal is done as UFC 115 will be held at the GM Place in a few weeks on June 15. Still, White is optimistic that a deal will be done if not soon then eventually.
“I’ve been saying we were close (to getting Toronto sanctioning) for two years,” White said with a laugh. “As close as I thought we were before, who knows? I don’t know what that means. We’re here, we’re hammering it, it’s not one of those things like we have to get this done this year. We eventually have to get it done.”
But in the likelihood that St-Pierre vs Koscheck does not happen in Toronto then Pittsburgh would be the likely destination as UFC VP of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner has been holding discussions with city officials to bring a UFC event later this year at the new Consol Energy Center, which will serve as the new home of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins.
Source: urdirt.com
