A recent comment by WWE superstar Jon Cena caught my attention. He’s a pro wrestler, not in the sense that Brock Lesnar is a converted pro wrestler in mixed martial arts. He’s an athlete/actor who puts on a staged show.

Cena was asked about the UFC recently and responded by saying:

“It’s just not something that particularly interests me. UFC is where boxing was years ago and I was never really into boxing, either. [WWE is] regulated entertainment that’s safe for anyone to enjoy. [The UFC] can be pretty over the top and it’s not something I’d want my children to watch.”

Hmm. I have a number of simultaneous reactions to that, so I’ll try to sort through them one by one.

1. Is he implying that any children watch MMA?

Cena sounded like he was on his high horse stating that he wouldn’t let his children watch MMA. But who does, really? As much as MMA is a legit sport in my mind, full of honor and careful safety regulation, it’s still not something I’d show to a five-year old. There’s still plenty of blood and a guy punching another guy in the face isn’t something parents traditionally expose children to. It’s no different than parents not letting their kids watch boxing or R-rated movies. So what big revelation is Cena giving us with that comment?

2. Technically, MMA can teach kids a lot more about safety than pro wrestling can.

For argument’s sake, let’s pretend we’re exposing children to equal amounts of MMA and pro wrestling. Which one is “safer” entertainment? Pro wrestling teaches kids that guys can beat on each other with chairs, choke each other, stomp each other, break two-by-fours over each other’s hands, run each other over with cars, hit women, and so on…with no consequences.

A guy gets a baseball bat to the head in pro wrestling and he’s back on his feet two minutes later. So, John Cena, do you want to teach your little guys that fighting has very few physical consequences?

MMA may be more jarring to watch. But it at least could teach a kid that one hard punch can knock a guy cold or that a few seconds in a real “sleeper hold” will cut off the air to someone’s brain. It can scare them straight. It also shows how careful referees are to stop fights as soon as fighters are in real danger.

3. The greater question is whether or not kids should watch WWE.

I’m not saying my own opinion on the subject is that extreme. But if Cena wants to get on his soap box and dismiss MMA as not for kids, I have news for him: everyone already knows that. Young children don’t watch MMA. But plenty of them watch the cartoony violence depicted on WWE shows.

Maybe it’s time Cena looked in the mirror and asked himself what kind of example pro wrestling sets for young people.

About Grant Brothers Boxing & MMA Gym: Based in North York, Grant Brothers Boxing &  MMA Gym offers world-class Boxing, BJJ, Judo, MMA, Muay Thai, Sambo, Wrestling and UFC training at real-world prices.  Classes are taught by certified coaches with classes for men, women, children, adults, beginners and advanced.  Private lessons and boxercise classes are also available. Areas serviced include North York, Etobicoke, Toronto, Scarborough, Thornhill, Richmond Hill, Markham, Vaughan, Brampton and Mississauga.

“You can always tell if Penn will win just by looking at him before the fight,” I told my friends. “If he’s out of shape and has that vacant look in his eyes, he’ll lose.”

And he did. We hoped “Good BJ” would show up but instead watched “Bad BJ” get his tail kicked by the UFC lightweight champ Edgar. And we saw that increasingly familiar image of Penn holding the cage, head between his legs, gasping for air between rounds.

Does that sound like the greatest lightweight of all time to you?

I’m just as guilty of the chatter as any MMA pundit. But I’m starting to wonder if BJ Penn isn’t the best lightweight of all time – but instead the most overrated lightweight of all time.

Look at his record: 15-7-1. It doesn’t even compare those of the other legends in their weight classes such as Matt Hughes (45-7), Georges St-Pierre (20-2), Anderson Silva (27-4) or Fedor Emelianenko (32-2). And a look at his recent work in his prime has me even less convinced that BJ is a legend.

He’s 5-5 in his last 10 fights. Sure, he’s facing plenty of top competition, but it seems all his wins over that span are against the inferior guys (Diego Sanchez, Kenny Florian, Sean Sherk, Joe Stevenson, Jens Pulver) and the legends (Matt Hughes, Georges St-Pierre twice) have taken him down. And then there’s the two consecutive losses to Edgar.

To be a legend in mixed martial arts, you have to be a guy who brings his “A” game virtually every time he fights. Can we thus call Penn a legend? Would we ever worry about GSP “showing up out of shape” or “not winning if it’s one of those nights when he just doesn’t care”?

Perhaps the better label when Penn’s career is all said and done will be the most talented lightweight of all time. When he’s on, he’s amazing. But he’s not consistent enough or dedicated enough to go down as the best.

About Grant Brothers Boxing & BJJ Gym: Based in North York, Grant Brothers Boxing & BJJ Gym offers world-class Boxing, BJJ, Judo, Muay Thai, Sambo, Wrestling, MMA and UFC training at real-world prices.  Classes are taught by certified coaches with classes for men, women, children, adults, beginners and advanced.  Private lessons and boxercise classes are also available. Areas serviced include North York, Etobicoke, Toronto, Scarborough, Thornhill, Richmond Hill, Markham, Vaughan, Brampton and Mississauga.

So MMA defeated boxing, right? The ultimate debate was settled?

I’m not so sure anymore.

I knew Toney didn’t have much of a chance at all against Randy. I knew his ground skills would be vastly inferior. But I admittedly underestimated just how remedial he’d be on the canvas. Toney didn’t even move. He didn’t buck, didn’t struggle, didn’t know how to defend against a simple submission. He really just laid there like a dead animal.

What we witnessed wasn’t a boxer turned mixed martial artist. We witnessed a boxer thrown into the Octagon with no MMA experience. I wonder if Toney trained in the ground game at all. The loss will shut him up for now, sure, but what did it really teach us about the MMA/boxing debate?

Is MMA “better’ because one of the greatest grapplers ever outwrestled a guy with no experience? If we took, say, a BJJ guy like Demian Maia and threw him in a boxing ring, would we announce boxing as superior if he lost?

The more interesting debate – and perhaps the one we should’ve entertained all along – is how a boxer would fare if he legitimately transformed himself into a mixed martial artist. If, say, Floyd Mayweather Jr. left boxing and trained in MMA for two years before even accepting a fight. Then we’d really see if a boxer could succeed.

Then again, I suppose you could argue a boxer who trained in MMA for that long would simply cease to be a boxer. It’s a tough philosophical debate to solve. Did MMA defeat boxing on Saturday? Maybe, but I sure wish Toney had prepared better for the bout. Then the answer would’ve been a lot more definitive.

About Grant Brothers Boxing & Mixed Martial Arts Gym: Based in North York, Grant Brothers Boxing & Mixed Martial Arts Gym offers world-class Boxing, BJJ, Judo, Muay Thai, Sambo, Wrestling, MMA and UFC training at real-world prices.  Classes are taught by certified coaches with classes for men, women, children, adults, beginners and advanced.  Private lessons and boxercise classes are also available. Areas serviced include North York, Etobicoke, Toronto, Scarborough, Thornhill, Richmond Hill, Markham, Vaughan, Brampton and Mississauga.

Our MMA in Ontario discussion continues. We’ve covered the obvious returns of legalizing the sport in Ontario: the announcement itself and what we can expect from major promotions like the UFC.

But what about the deeper, long-term effects of the decision? How will MMA’s fanhood and amateur fighting scene change now that it’s arrived on our doorstep?

At the highest level – the top promotions like the UFC and Strikeforce – legalizing MMA should increase the sport’s fan base. The die-hard fans will watch events no matter where they are and how much it costs. But bringing live events to Ontario should bring some newbies out of the woodwork. Certain types of sports fans are turned off by pay-per-view prices but relish the experience of seeing live competition. As a result, events in cities and towns across the province – in Toronto, Kitchener, London, Ottawa and son on – could turn some sceptics into brand new fans.

Since Canada is arguably MMA’s most enthusiastic market – Dana White says as much – the increased local exposure in a populous province like Ontario could significantly raise the sport’s overall profile. We could see a major spike in pay-per-view buys and media coverage of MMA could increase, too. Fighters will also get more exposure, increasing their celebrity and endorsement potential.

Lastly and perhaps most importantly, bringing MMA to Ontario could have a fascinatingly positive effect on the province’s amateur-professional scene. The presence of live, sanctioned events will inspire more athletes to try mixed martial arts. It will also give existing amateur fighters more opportunities. Remember, not every sanctioned event has to be a top-level promotion like the UFC. We could see lots of small cards put together through the province.

That would give prospects many more opportunities to hone their skills. It would give Canadian mixed marital arts’ general skill level a chance to grow. It could also help keep fighters safer, as they could get more exposure to intermediate-level fight cards that would test their abilities without throwing them into the fire on higher-level cards for which they’re not ready.

It’s this last point that Dalton McGuinty overlooked for too long. Bringing the sport to Ontario wasn’t just about creating jobs and making money with large promotions, as much as doing so is great news. It was also about taking an outlet that young people would’ve sought out anyway and bringing it to their own backyard. Immersing our province in MMA will give everyone a better understanding of the honor and intricacies of the sport and help up-and-comers everywhere hone their crafts and stay safe.

When a province of over 13 million people gets its hands on MMA, we can’t underestimate how big the positive ripple effect will be.

About Grant Brothers Boxing & Mixed Martial Arts Gym: Based in North York, Grant Brothers Boxing & Mixed Martial Arts Gym offers world-class Boxing, BJJ, Judo, Muay Thai, Sambo, Wrestling, MMA and UFC training at real-world prices.  Classes are taught by certified coaches with classes for men, women, children, adults, beginners and advanced.  Private lessons and boxercise classes are also available. Areas serviced include North York, Etobicoke, Toronto, Scarborough, Thornhill, Richmond Hill, Markham, Vaughan, Brampton and Mississauga.

So the announcement has been made and the news is sinking in. Mixed martial arts is legal in Ontario. The next question on most of our minds is: when will MMA arrive? And which top fighters and promotions will we see?

Tom Wright, newly anointed Director of Operations for UFC Canada, spoke to the media this week and I trust what he had to say. Fans’ first reaction (and mine too) was to assume the December welterweight title match between Georges St-Pierre and Josh Koscheck would be moved to Rogers Centre in Toronto.

As Wright explained, however, there’s a lot of work to do to get Toronto and Ontario prepped for MMA. December would be too soon. It’s much more likely that we’ll see a major fight card around March of 2011.

So who would be on the card? Assuming GSP doesn’t suffer a major injury against Koscheck in December, he’ll be first in line. He publicly stated that he dearly hopes the UFC would put him on the first Toronto card. Whether or not he still has the welterweight belt, he would probably be the headliner. His opponent? Perhaps Jon Fitch or, if I had anything to say about it, the winner of Jake Shields versus Martin Kampmann.

My prediction is that Rogers Centre will sell out for its first UFC card no matter what. That means 50,000-plus fans in attendance – and I think the UFC can hit that number no problem. Since the UFC will likely prepare to shatter its own attendance record for this card, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the promotion “stack” it.

Since most of the belts have recently been on the line or will be in the next couple of months, almost any title could be up for grabs in Toronto. Mauricio Rua may be recovered from knee surgery by March; Anderson Silva’s wounds could be healed too. Even the winner of Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez’s October bout should be ready for a title defense come spring.

Dana White will also likely load the card with Canadian fighters. Ontario’s Sam Stout is a must; Patrick Cote and Rory MacDonald could appear too.

Whatever happens, there’s little doubt in my mind that the UFC will be the first major fight promotion to host an Ontario event – and that it will be one to remember.

About Grant Brothers Boxing & Mixed Martial Arts Gym: Based in North York, Grant Brothers Boxing & Mixed Martial Arts Gym offers world-class Boxing, BJJ, Judo, Muay Thai, Sambo, Wrestling, MMA and UFC training at real-world prices.  Classes are taught by certified coaches with classes for men, women, children, adults, beginners and advanced.  Private lessons and boxercise classes are also available. Areas serviced include North York, Etobicoke, Toronto, Scarborough, Thornhill, Richmond Hill, Markham, Vaughan, Brampton and Mississauga.

Addition of classes are highlighted in RED

Please note that we will be closed September 6th 2010.

Finally, we heard the words we fight fans have awaited for years:

MMA legalized in Ontario.

We fought, clawed, cheered, and protested to get this great sport sanctioned in our province. We had fighters and fans working together to get the message out. We even had Dana White telling the world that no country supported the UFC like Canada.

And, finally, we’ve been rewarded.

The historic announcement came through on Saturday. The Ontario government said it would allow mixed martial arts in Ontario starting in 2011. The move was motivated by (a) the desire to regulate bouts and keep fighters safe and (b) economic incentive, as communities can create jobs and rake in cash by hosting events.

And who spoke on behalf of the Ontario government? It was Consumer Services Minister Sophia Aggelonitis, of course. You didn’t think Dalton McGuinty would be the man to break the news, did you?

The truth is that the one big loser in Ontario’s MMA  breakthrough is McGuinty. He almost mockingly dismissed the idea of sanctioning MMA in Ontario when the debate came to his doorstep, explaining that his government had no time for such “distractions.”

Ironically, Mr. McGuinty was so “distracted” with things like Family Day and HST that he missed a huge opportunity. He could’ve embraced the honor, cultural trendiness and economic possibilities of MMA…and won over an entirely new block of future voters as a result.

Instead, McGuinty further alienated himself. He angered some of the very people who will decide his fate in the next election and, now that the MMA decision went against his own opinion, appears powerless. Not only did McGuinty choose the wrong side, he showed that his side had little backbone in the discussion.

Now, it’s time to leave McGuinty and the lobbying in the rear-view mirror. The focus shifts to the fun stuff.  On Wednesday, we’ll explore what big names and fight promotions will take Toronto by storm first. On Friday, we’ll examine the deeper implications the new ruling has on amateur MMA fighting in Ontario.

Thanks to all who fought for what they knew was right! I knew this day would come – but never expected it to happen this soon!

About Grant Brothers Boxing & Mixed Martial Arts Gym: Based in North York, Grant Brothers Boxing & Mixed Martial Arts Gym offers world-class Boxing, BJJ, Judo, Muay Thai, Sambo, Wrestling, MMA and UFC training at real-world prices.  Classes are taught by certified coaches with classes for men, women, children, adults, beginners and advanced.  Private lessons and boxercise classes are also available. Areas serviced include North York, Etobicoke, Toronto, Scarborough, Thornhill, Richmond Hill, Markham, Vaughan, Brampton and Mississauga.