Lefko on UFC 129: In his element

He is like the king of the ring — or in this case the cage — extolling his greatest victory.

Standing in front of a microphone in his omnipresent T-shirt — the most laidback piece of clothing for a president of a multi-billion-dollar international company — Dana White had finally arrived.

Quite literally and figuratively.

The card that will be the biggest in UFC history — and something that many people felt that even White, with all his dogged determination and stones, couldn’t make happen earlier because of the all the political and athletic commission red tape — was only days away in Toronto.

As he was speaking at the Direct Energy Centre — a short drive from where UFC 129 will take place Saturday night at Rogers Centre — White was in his element.

“I’m very happy and very pumped and excited for Saturday night to bring the card that we brought and all the gentlemen that are sitting up here right now at the podium,” he said.

Individually he announced the six most prominent fighters who will be part of the stacked card: Randy (The Natural) Couture, Lyoto Machida, Jose Aldo, Mark Hominick, Georges St-Pierre and Jake Shields. Collectively, they represent the past, present and future of the sport which has taken over the world and captured the attention of people of all ages, races and genders.

But to see White, who is physically built like he could give the brawny Couture a good brawl, take the centre spot, it was as if he was the main name on the card.

And really he is — it’s because of White’s ability to take a struggling promotion and transform it into a sports and entertainment giant that the UFC — and mixed martial arts — have grown to its current form. This is what World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment) was with president Vince McMahon in the ’80s and ’90s before it started to sag in popularity.

And there really is no stopping White. He is constantly looking to conquer new territories — much like McMahon did — around the world. Right now, White is finding the state of New York to be an imposing figure that is standing its ground against the UFC, but he’s fought this battle before and won.

Ontario stood up to his challenges and won. The premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty, once said smugly that he could ask people the three most important topics on their minds and bringing the UFC to Toronto wouldn’t be on the list. But ultimately he tapped out.

And no wonder: This week could turn into some $30-40 million for the Toronto economy (said the UFC’s director of Canadian operations Tom Wright on Wednesday). That’s big business for a city that has gone from left-wing politics to the right and a province thinking of ways to lessen its massive debt load.

Toronto and Ontario will reap huge dividends in tourism and awareness through UFC 129. The money that was going from Toronto, Ontario to Montreal, Quebec, which had already sanctioned UFC, is staying put.

“The energy in there is going to be amazing,” White said of Saturday’s card. “If you’ve never been to a UFC event, if you’ve never seen it live, it is the most exciting live sporting event you will ever see. It’s hard to explain the energy.”

Well, it’s kind of like White’s energy. If you attached an electrical outlet to him and stuck it into the wall, you could probably light up the Rogers Centre.

“It’s going to be insane in that arena on Saturday night, and I’m telling ya I’m pretty damn excited,” he added.

The event has already sold at least 55,000 tickets — more than double the 22,000-plus for Montreal’s cards — and may even reach close to 60,000. Whatever the final number, it will easily be a record.

White admitted he felt some pressure leading up to the final approval from the province and the Ontario Athletics Commission, which is wrapped in regulatory tape, and putting everything in place for the biggest card in UFC history, but that’s long over. He’s pumped.

“We did it,” he said. “The question always was always can we do a stadium, can we keep that feel? Not only did we do it, we made it even better. People that come to the show that have been to the UFC before (will see) it’s going to be a completely different experience.

“We will rehearse and we will practise and we will get this thing down and every one of the 55,000 that bought a ticket will not be disappointed in the production and what goes on in the area. But once that cage shuts, it’s up to the guys here at the table.”

He was followed on that comment by Wright. The one-time doomed commissioner of the Canadian Football League was recruited by the UFC for his background in running a sports business. What Wright wanted and couldn’t do with the CFL because of constant undermining of his authority is something that White clearly overlooked. Now Wright, dressed in the UFC corporate apparel of jeans, is talking with the same bravado as White.

“I think Dana’s right: good things happen when you do your homework,” he said. “We’ve been working on this for months and left nothing to chance. We made sure we did everything necessary as Dana said to make sure this was a fabulous experience for our fans because in the end our sport is owned by our fans. We have to deliver every time. This is going to be an incredible experience. Dana talks about the energy in the building, the energy in the Rogers Centre is going to be off the charts.”

It was as if by osmosis that Wright has collected White’s energy.

White said all the right things — he even touted welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre as the most famous athlete to ever come out of Canada, perhaps unaware of some people named Gretzky and Crosby. He promoted Canada for its clean cities, cool restaurants, nice places to say and a great media.

“I love everything about Canada. The only thing about Canada is the weather sucks up here. Other than that everything’s fantastic.”

There you have it, the collective words of the White Knight of the Octagon.