Toronto, ON — UFC CEO Dana White hopes to get back to “business as usual” in Canada following the promotion’s return to Toronto this past weekend. And for good reason.
During Saturday’s (more accurately Sunday morning’s) UFC 297 post-fight press conference, White revealed that the card at the ScotiaBank Arena was the “highest grossing event in arena history, highest-grossing arena event in Canada.” A gate of over $8 million and over 18,000 fans in attendance helped facilitate those records.
That bodes well for future Canadian dates, something White was asked about later in the press conference.
“Canada has been very good to us for many, many years. I love this place, and yes. The answer is yes,” White said about a return to Canada in 2024. “We’ll be coming up here from Toronto to Vancouver. We’re going to cover the entire country and get back to business as usual, as it was back in the day with Canadian fights.”
Business as usual prior to the COVID-19 pandemic was three events per year in Canada, usually a Pay-Per-View card and a pair of Fight Nights. Since the pandemic has waned, the UFC made its return to Canada in 2023, hosting UFC 289 in Vancouver. The Toronto card has been the second event back; rumors of a Halifax date swirled last fall but never materialized.
Asked about another stop in Vancouver, which also hosted a date in 2019, Dana White said that “I could see us going all over the country, not just Vancouver and Toronto.”
