Music: {allcanada} 'Historic' Ontario MMA show a sellout

TORONTO -- Promoter Robert Waterman has already dubbed it "a moment in history."

But short of a cure for cancer being unearthed Saturday at Casino Rama, it's probably safer to say so far so good for the first sanctioned mixed martial arts show in Ontario.

"MMA: The Reckoning" is already a sellout with some 5,000 expected at the venue two hours north of Toronto. The Ontario Athletics Commission has secured some top-drawer referees in (Big) John McCarthy, Dan Miragliotta and Montreal's Yves Lavigne. It has brought in judges from Quebec and Manitoba to work the card and help train Ontario officials.

And fighters seems happy with proceedings at the pre-fight news conference Thursday at the well-appointed Real Sports Bar & Grill.

"I think the biggest thing about an organization is are they organized?" said American welterweight Josh (The People's Warrior) Burkman, a veteran of 10 UFC bouts.

"Obviously the way that this press conference has been set up, we don't have to wait around for rides. They've done a good job and they've treated the fighters right."

Burkman (21-8) takes on Jordan (Young Gun) Mein (20-7) of Lethbridge, Alta., in the main event while lightweight Chris (The Polish Hammer) Horodecki (16-3) faces David Castillo (9-2) in the co-main event.

The baby-faced Horodecki is a veteran of both the IFL and WEC.

Name fighters are scarce on the rest of the card, although viewers of "The Ultimate Fighter" will recognize English welterweight Dean Amasinger from Season 9.

The card has also brought in some marquee coaches in Canadian Shawn Tompkins (Horodecki) and Jeremy Horn (Castillo), who continues to fight in his own right. UFC lightweight Ross (The Real Deal) Pearson has also made the trip to be in Amasinger's corner.

The show has no affiliation to a specific MMA organization.

Waterman, a native of England who runs Knockout Entertainment Canada, used to promote boxing cards at Rama but has now turned his attention to MMA.

The numbers have proved it to be savvy move already. The last few boxing shows at the casino drew about 3,000.

There have been MMA shows in Ontario before, but they were on Indian reserves and were not sanctioned by the provincial government.

That changed last August when Ontario announced plans to regulate the sport using the provincial Athletics Control Act, which is administered by the Ontario Ministry of Consumer Services, as of Jan. 1. The act already sanctioned pro boxing and kickboxing.

Both promoter and one of his fighters said that the regulation has made for hoops to jump through.

"There all always challenges in Ontario," said Waterman. "But let's say they have all been met. The (Ontario Athletics) Commission has been supportive.

"I suppose the ongoing issue here is it's a very heavily regulated area ... but it's been a good experience."

Misha Cirkunov, a Latvian-born Toronto light-heavyweight on the card, said there have been detailed medical checks.

"It's very organized, it's very nicely done, it's very fair. But at the same time, it's not that easy to just be a fighter in Ontario. There are certain things you have to go through... . I've fought in many provinces before and it was much easier to go through all the medicals, all the tests, and all of that."

The Casino Rama show will be followed next week by a Maximum Fighting Championship card in Windsor. Then the UFC comes to town, with 55,000 seats sold for UFC 129 at Toronto's Rogers Centre.

"It's a real honour to be able to come to Ontario finally and do MMA which is a sport that's had a real base here as far as the fighters, trainers," said McCarthy, a veteran referee who is as well known as some of the fighters in the sport.

"It's time for MMA here and it's great that the Ontario Athletics Commission is now going to be running the events, sanctioning everything and showing everybody what MMA is really all about. ... It really doesn't matter what promotion it is or anything like that. It's about putting the right fighters together that put on great fights and I think in those two (main and co-main event) fights alone, you're going to see what MMA is all about."

Saturday's show will not be shown live on television.

The full fight card is as follows (with bout order apart from the main and co-main event subject to change):

Main event: Jordan Mein vs. Josh Burkman

Co-main event: Chris Horodecki vs. David Castillo

Misha Cirkunov vs. Ion Cherdivara

Matt MacGrath vs. Dean Amasinger

Jorge Britto vs. Jason Young

Jason Saggo vs. Taylor Solomon

Spencer Rohovie vs. Rob Hill

Joel Powell vs. Brandt Dewsberry