We have all been anxiously waiting to hear who Chuck Liddell is fighting at UFC 115. It was Tito Ortiz, then Rich Franklin, then Randy Couture. UFC President Dana White, made it official with his recent statement to Joe Ferraro on Sportsnet’s MMA Connected.

He made it clear that the Ultimate Fighter season 11 coaches would fight in Vancouver as planned, White adamantly stated the fight would go on as scheduled.

“Absolutely,” White said “The definite main event is Tito vs. Chuck Liddell. That’s definitely the main event.”

The event will be live June 12 at GM Place.

White mentioned that Ortiz vs. Liddell has been planned for awhile now, despite many internet rumors that Franklin would be taking Tito’s place…

The long-delayed rematch between welterweights Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves will take place June 12 in Vancouver at UFC 115. UFC president Dana White confirmed the mixed martial arts matchup via Twitter.

The two were originally slated to meet at UFC 107 in Memphis in December. But Alves was forced to drop out after suffering a torn posterior cruciate ligament in training.

The fight was rescheduled for UFC 111 in Newark on March 27 but was postponed again when a pre-fight CT scan showed an irregularity in Alves’ brain. The Brazilian subsequently underwent surgery to remedy the problem.

Fitch went on to win a decision over Ben Saunders in Newark.

Fitch defeated Alves the first time they met in June 2006, catching him with an upkick before finishing him off.

The UFC has yet to confirm other fights on the card at Vancouver’s GM Place.

Notes — The UFC has scheduled a replay of UFC 110 on Spike TV on April 17 to counter Strikeforce’s live card in Nashville the same night. The Strikeforce card features the debut of former UFC and Pride veteran Dan Henderson, who takes on Strikeforce middleweight title-holder Jake Shields. The Spike replay will show six fights from the UFC 110 card, which took place Feb. 20 in Sydney, Australia, but not the one featuring Canadian light-heavyweight Krzysztof Soszynski.

It’s finally official. The UFC is coming to Vancouver, with UFC 115 set for GM Place on June 12.

The city of Vancouver, which the UFC had been waiting on to sort out logistical details such as insurance, is now on board, according to a UFC news release issued late Thursday.

“Vancouver fans will be thrilled that the UFC is coming here,” Mayor Gregor Robertson said in the statement. “We’ve worked hard to bring it to Vancouver and I want to thank UFC and Canucks Sports and Entertainment for making the event possible.

“Vancouver has some of the most passionate UFC fans in the world, and I have no doubt that General Motors Place will be packed on June 12th.”

Tuesday March 23rd. Dana White (President of the UFC) was in Toronto, Ontario fighting to have the province legally sanction mixed martial arts. Despite numerous negative comments in the past, Premier Dalton McGuinty his most formidable adversary, was nowhere to be seen.

McGuinty said the issue was not on his agenda.

“If I was to knock on 1,000 Ontario family doors and ask them for their top-three concerns, I’d be surprised if anybody said, ‘Well you know… we’ve got to start this new kind of mixed martial arts in Ontario. That’s going to mean a lot to me, my family and our future together,’” he said.

White set up a question and answer session with fans downtown Toronto at the Eatons Centre with hundreds of fans Tuesday.

“What you have to understand is this education process is going to take longer in some places than it does in others,” he told the crowd, referring to the fight to bring the sport to Ontario. “It’s happening. I’m going to keep coming up here until it gets done. “This is the biggest (MMA) market in the world and there’s no reason it shouldn’t be here.”

The UFC is almost as popular as basketball in Canada according to recent polls, perhaps some of the popularity comes from having a Canadian champion in Georges “Rush” St. Pierre who has been dominating his weight class since he started competing.

A political battle

White has found a partner in Opposition Leader Tim Hudak, who said he would sanction the sport.

“I just think this reflects a premier who is hanging around an elite crowd and is dramatically out-of-touch with what is the fastest growing spectator sport in North America,” Hudak said.

White although upset with the decision says he respects McGuinty’s position.

“This guy’s running the government. Should MMA be on the top of his list? No, there’s a lot of other things that are more important. But what he didn’t say is ‘it’s not on my list.’ And at one time that was his position. He didn’t want to hear about mixed martial arts,” White said.

“It’s on his list now. It’s not on the top of his list and it shouldn’t be. We’re probably in the worst economic situation in the history of the world, not just in the U.S. but everywhere. There’s a lot more problems that this guy needs to deal with other than get MMA regulated.”

Money could eventually be the factor that allows MMA into the province. Recent UFC events in Montreal have generated aprox. $50 million in economic development for the city. A UFC event held at the Toronto’s Rogers Centre could come close to doubling these figures.

Dangle enough money in front of a politician and it’s only a matter of time before we see the UFC in Toronto.