Hey Dana White--Leave something for us

For the past couple of weeks I've been trying to figure out who might be coming to Vancouver to fight at UFC 115 on June 12th. And it seems every time I come up with someone, the next day they're getting booked or rumoured to fight on an earlier card. I get that UFC President Dana White has fill all his prior cards first, but I'm starting to get a little worried.

First off I should point out Vancouver's not the only event competing to get that "marquee fight". The UFC will stage pay per view number 114 just a couple of weeks earlier in Vegas. It's an important event for the promotion because they're also staging their big "Fan Expo" that same weekend. It makes me wonder that, if they're looking to find an event for Brock Lesnar's return, it might make more sense for the UFC to have him come back in Vegas. Yeah, Rashad and Rampage are now on that card, but with Lesnar's remarks about Canadian health care, he might not risk a Vancouver fight. Sure, I'd love to see Lesnar in Vancouver, but I'm not holding my breath.

Especially since the rumour-du jour is that the UFC is going to showcase Ultimate Fighter 11 coaches Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell here in Vancouver. I know it's a given that UFC 115 will sell out in an hour, but those who spend the big bucks on tickets will no doubt be disappointed if Liddell-Ortiz is the main event. I'm not saying there isn't some intrigue to the match-up. The two were friends at one point, grew to genuinely dislike each other, then fought where Liddell dominated. They're both looking to make comebacks, but other than each other--who really would you like to see either of them fight? I don't think that fight should be the sole main event of any card.

Right now, barring injury, all of the title holders--with the exception of Lesnar--are scheduled, or rumoured to be fighting elsewhere earlier. All four of those fights are happening much too close to the Vancouver date for any one of the champions to be ready to fight here. The next title fight scheduled is Georges St.Pierre defending his welterweight belt against Dan Hardy on March 27th. As I wrote last week, two and a half months is just not long enough for the winner to recover. Though I must admit, as big name fighters are thrown into other events, I wonder if Dana White is thinking about delaying the main event announcement for Vancouver until after March 27th. That way he could at least see what happens that night, and if St. Pierre finishes Hardy in the first--who knows? Interesting to be sure, but unlikely.

I figured we would see a full stable of Canadian fighters taking to the cage in Vancouver. But, I guess not--at least not the best Canadians the UFC has to offer. They pretty much will now be fighting in Montreal on May 8th. Patrick Cote will likely take on Alan Belcher, Sam Stout looks to square off against Jeremy Stephens, and Jonathon Goulet faces Marcus Davis. That leaves Kelowna's Rory McDonald and a couple others--expect to see McDonald here, unless of course the Montreal date scoops him up first.

And speaking of Montreal--just how many great fights do they need? In addition to the main event with Lyoto Machida and Marucio "Shogun" Rua, they also have Kimbo Slice against Matt Mitrione, Josh Koscheck taking on Paul Daley. Yes, none of those fights have been officially confirmed by the UFC, but they are as good as done barring injury.

So it leaves us with the question. Who will be coming here? A few weeks ago, it was an exciting question. Right now it's more perplexing than anything else. I just hope, in the end, I like the answer.

NEXT WEEK: I plan to write about Saturday night's "Live in the Cage" event at the River Rock, taking place on the 23rd. It's the Lower mainland's first MMA event in a cage.