Dana White and Gregor Robertson meet for the first time before last Thursday's press conference.

UFC 115 has come and gone, and Vancouver has not lost its moral high ground, nor was the event overtaken by gang warfare.  Most importantly for the issue of the day regarding the card, there were no major injuries to warrant concern about insurance or indemnity for the City.

No, UFC 115 was a spectacle of epic proportions that brought a broad cross-section of fans from across Metro Vancouver to GM Place.  I saw kids that were under 10 and jumping off the walls, and I saw senior citizens who God bless their souls, had trouble walking up the stairs.  I saw guys and girls, I saw ethnicity across the rainbow that Vancouver has to offer, and saw casual and diehard fans in the crowd.

It was well run, it was entertaining as hell, and it made a mint for local economy (one figure I heard from someone who tracks this kind of stuff told me it was at least in excess of $13 million).

UFC is definitely coming back to the city – that has been confirmed by Dana White, and further echoed by the Mayor’s office.

And in the end, it was the political muscle of Gregor Robertson that turned a bureaucratic nightmare into a huge win for the city. Read the rest of this entry »