Georges St-Pierre back at Bell Centre as UFC returns to Montreal for first time in 10 years
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The UFC certainly knows how to put on a show.
That was on display again Thursday afternoon at the Bell Centre for a pre-fight news conference ahead of Saturday night's UFC 315 card. The news conference, which was open to the public, attracted a few thousand UFC fans who either cheered or booed loudly while the 10 fighters on the stage — along with UFC president Dana White — were answering questions.
It was quite a spectacle.
The are two events on the main card Saturday, which is available on pay-per-view starting at 10 p.m. Russia's Valentina Shevchenko will defend her UFC women's flyweight title against France's Manon Fiorot, followed by American Belal Muhammad defending his UFC welterweight title against Australia's Jack Della Maddalena.
This is the first UFC event in Montreal since UFC 186 in 2015. While there was an impressive turnout for Thursday's news conference, there were still plenty of tickets available for UFC 315 on Friday morning. The cheapest tickets in the upper deck cost $300.25, while floor seats are $963. White said after the news conference that UFC 315 will be a sellout.
The event would have been sold out already if local UFC superstar Georges St-Pierre hadn't retired in 2019 after winning three championship belts while posting a 26-2 record. St-Pierre beat Matt Serra for the UFC welterweight championship at UFC 83 in 2008 at the Bell Centre — the first UFC event held in Canada — and the Saint-Isidore native won all four times he fought in front of his adoring fans at the Bell Centre.
St-Pierre will be back at the Bell Centre on Saturday, but this time as a cornerman for Laval native Aiemann Zahabi, who will fight UFC Hall of Famer José Aldo of Brazil in one of the three undercard bouts. Zahabi's older brother, Firas, used to train St-Pierre at his Tristar Gym in Montreal.
#UFC fans waiting outside Bell Centre to get in for news conference ahead of UFC 315 card Saturday night. News conference is open to the public. pic.twitter.com/lUsA0Y7sr1
— Stu Cowan (@StuCowan1) May 8, 2025
Zahabi wore a snazzy three-piece, blue pinstriped suit at the news conference with a Canadian flag stitched inside the jacket. He has a 12-2 record in the bantamweight division and has won his last five fights. Aldo is 32-9 and is coming off a loss to Mario Bautista at UFC 307 last October.
'I'm proud to be fighting José Aldo, he's a legend of the sport,' Zahabi said. 'I'm even more proud to do it here at home in Montreal. I know that he said he was disappointed in his last performance, but it's a good thing my brother (Firas) and I prepared for the best Jose Aldo possible. So I'm excited.'
Muhammad, a Chicago native, wore a Chris Chelios Blackhawks sweater from the 1992 Stanley Cup final at the news conference with the Hockey Hall of Famer's name and No. 7 on the back. Muhammad is 24-3 in the welterweight division and is unbeaten in his last 11 fights, dating back more than six years. His opponent, Della Maddalena, is 17-2 with 17 straight wins going back more than nine years.
'I love this energy over here, man,' Muhammad said. 'I'm excited. I've been waiting for my first title defence. It is finally here. You're about to see the greatest MMA performance you've ever seen in your life.'
Muhammad predicted he would knock Della Maddalena out in the third round.
Among the fans in attendance Saturday will be Canadiens forward Jake Evans, who will watch UFC live for the first time.
'I've always enjoyed the sport and I think I got more into it when my good friend Jeff (Malott, who plays for the Los Angeles Kings) told me his brother (Mike) is in the UFC and fighting in it, and then we just started paying more attention to it,' Evans said on the Canadiens' website.
Mike Malott, who is from Burlington, Ont., will fight American Charles Radtke in one of the preliminary bouts Saturday (8 p.m., RS360, TVA Sports 2).
'We got to train with him for a couple of summers in a row and do some boxing classes,' Evans said. 'So I wouldn't say I'm following it along very much, but I'm always following him, Michael, around, making sure he's doing well.
'I like the sport in general,' Evans added. 'I think they're crazy athletes and you have to get into such a crazy mental state to get into the octagon and fight it out.'
One person who won't be at the Bell Centre Saturday is Joe Rogan, the popular American podcaster who is normally the voice of UFC pay-per-view events as a colour commentator. Rogan, who like White is a huge supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, said on his podcast in March that he'd rather go to Russia than Canada.
'I will not be there. I don't go to Canada anymore,' Rogan said.
Rogan will be replaced by two-time UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz on the pay-per-view broadcast.
White was asked when the UFC might come back to Montreal again.
'We haven't even left yet,' he said. 'The fight hasn't even happened yet. We'll be back here on Saturday.'
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Vancouver Sun
5 hours ago
- Vancouver Sun
Why is the NHL tilted in Florida's favour? Lightning, Panthers hold six-year run on Eastern Conference dominance
Coral Gables, Fla. — It's Sunday night, and the arena parking lot is filled with people lugging hockey bags towards the main doors. But we're not in a small town in Canada. We're in Coral Gables, Fla., where hockey leagues are very much alive and well at the Panthers IceDen. There are three games going on three sheets of ice. But one stands out — the Panthers Warriors are on the wrong end of a 10-3 drubbing, but the team is notable. Its players are all veterans or people who support American vets, and the program is supported by the NHL club. 'It's the hardest sport I've ever played in my life,' said Ryan Teems, a 32-year-old U.S. army veteran. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Three years ago, Teems didn't even know how to properly tie up skates. But, now, he's playing regularly. 'I got out of the army in 2020 and somebody took me to a hockey game,' said Teems, who spent six years in the infantry. 'I'd never been to one. I watched it and fell in love. Then I bought Panthers' season tickets. And then I was going to the bathroom at one of the games, and right above the urinal, it said, $500 to learn to play, full equipment and all that. So that's when I got into it.' That learn to play clinic was sponsored by the Panthers. In 1998, the Panthers moved to what's now known as the Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla., about a 40-minute ride on the expressway from Miami, if the traffic goes your way. It is the definition of a suburban arena, close to the freeway and surrounded by thousands of parking stalls. The team relocated its training facility to nearby Coral Gables, taking what was a two-sheet community hockey facility, adding a third rink with a dressing room, and re-christening it as the Panthers IceDen. But that wasn't enough. In 2023, construction was completed on a new $65-million dedicated Panthers practice facility in Fort Lauderdale. The team and municipal officials put together a plan for an arena with two ice sheets. The adjoining War Memorial Auditorium was renovated. It's got a food court, stage, and the Panthers even held their 2024 Stanley Cup ring ceremony there. It has a team shop, and Stanley Cup parties are hosted there. Most of the players live close to the IcePlex, and many ride bikes or Vespas to practice. The team also has golf carts on standby for players if they want to zip home and back. And like the IceDen, the IcePlex is open for community hockey and skating. Panthers' general manager Bill Zito has heard the complaints. He's heard sniping from different corners of the league, that Florida teams have unfair advantages over their NHL counterparts. The 2025 Cup final between the Panthers and Oilers marks the sixth consecutive season that a Sunshine State-based team has won the Eastern Conference. The Tampa Bay Lightning took three in a row, and now it's the Panthers' turn to threepeat in the East . These two are divisional rivals to the Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs, so this is what these Canadian franchises are fighting, year after year. The rub? The fact that Florida has no state income tax. But that's not all. There's no inheritance tax, nor does Florida collect taxes on personal investments in stocks, bonds, mutual funds and the like. Compare that to Quebec, where the provincial tax rate is 25.75 per cent on those making $129,590 a year or more. Or Alberta, where it is 15 per cent on taxable income over $362,961 a year. Tax is a complicated thing for professional athletes. They pay based on where they play. So, for home games, the Lightning and Panthers players pay no state tax. But, if the Panthers are in Montreal for a day to play the Canadiens, they pay Quebec tax based on one day of their salaries. Still, for the majority of the season, Florida-based players are in the state and take advantage of a tax regime that is favourable. In fact, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly admitted ahead of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final that noise has been made to make the tax disparities an issue for the next collective bargaining agreement. The current CBA expires at the end of next season . But Daly said there is very little the league can do to mitigate tax differences. 'Certainly it's an issue that some of our franchises have raised as a concern,' said Daly. 'What I'd say at this point is that we don't share the level of concern that they have, and what I'd say on top of that is that these imbalances have existed forever. There's nothing new here.' Zito said the tax issue is 'marginal at best.' That's not to say that Zito doesn't think the Panthers have a competitive advantage, but it has to do with the spending to make the team's facilities the class of the NHL, and not to be afraid to spend on players in order to be a contender year in, year out. He said when management asked owner Vincent Viola to greenlight a new practice facility, it was done. 'And it's beautiful, and it allows us the flexibility to try to do the things that we think are necessary to try to win and to try to have an excellent organization,' said Zito. 'I think the players feed off it. They know that if the chicken isn't right, we're going to get a new chicken. And it all sort of transcends all that we do. It sounds silly, but it's true and it's real.' It has to be noted that Viola is not a stranger to the courts. In 2017, the Panthers reached a confidential settlement with Raphael Estevez, who once wore the Stanley C. Panther mascot costume. He sued for wrongful dismissal and claimed more than 1,000 hours of unpaid overtime. He claimed the job damaged his mental health. Viola and his son, Michael, are also named in class-action lawsuit launched by an iron workers' pension fund. It is alleged that the Violas were part of a scheme to buy back US$400 million out of the company they control, Virtu Financial, and steering it away from other investors. In 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission launched legal proceedings against Virtu Financial and its subsidiary, Virtu Americas. The allegations were that Virtu Americas did not adequately protect information about its customers and their trades. 'Virtu Americas' failure to safeguard this information created significant risk that its proprietary traders could misuse it or share it outside Virtu Americas,' states the SEC's complaint. The allegations of security issues with Virtu have also led to a class-action lawsuit. Virtu pleaded to dismiss that case earlier this month. In 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump nominated Viola to be his Secretary of the Army, but the Panthers' owner later pulled himself out of the running for the job. There is an area where Florida's tax advantage is having an indirect effect on the hockey culture in the state. Since the COVID-19 pandemic got more people working from home, Florida's population has boomed. It is to the United States what Alberta is to Canada, the hotspot for in-country migration. Since 2020, almost one-quarter of America's intra-state migrants are choosing Florida. U.S. census stats show Florida's population is now at about 23.4 million, that's two million more people than lived in the state in 2020. A lot of those domestic migrants are coming from hockey-loving, northern states. Teems said the combination of the Panthers' build-it-and-they-will-come mentality is bringing more people to games, and more rec hockey players to the IceDen and IcePlex. 'Hockey started getting big, and the Panthers started making the playoffs, making those runs, and it got bigger and bigger,' he said. His Panthers Warriors teammate, Keegan Brown, agrees. He learned to play hockey when he was six years old at the IceDen. He's 29, and he started playing again four years ago. 'It's really picking up,' said Brown. 'Back in the day, I feel like no one is talking about hockey. It's really blowing up down here. I like it a lot.' And the Panthers' success is what is galvanizing it all. 'I feel like a lot of people like a winning team. Obviously, the Panthers weren't always like that. It was a tough beginning for them. Going from the roots back in the day, being nobodies where you could pay $30 and sit on the glass. Now, there's no way you can do that. 'They're fighting, they're dogs, they're shooting goals, everyone likes that.' Matthew Tkachuk was the key piece in a blockbuster trade with the Calgary Flames . It was a deal reminiscent of the NBA's sign-and-trade transactions. Tkachuk signed an eight-year, US$76-million deal with Calgary, and then was sent to Florida. Tkachuk said the pull of the Panthers is that players around the league know the team has a commitment to excellence. 'We've got such great ownership in the Violas,' he said. 'We've got great GM in Bill and the coaching staff, led by Paul (Maurice), is awesome, and it's all about winning. Winning and having fun. So I think that's what creates the culture, but I was just one of the lucky ones. I got to step into it a few years ago.' Carter Verhaeghe said it was the Tkachuk trade that signalled to every player in the league that the Panthers were pulling out all stops to win. Add to that the lack of relative media scrutiny, so players feel relaxed. 'I think when you come here, everyone puts you in an opportunity to be yourself, and I think that really benefits some guys who come here,' said Verhaeghe. 'It starts with the coaching staff, they give you the opportunity to be yourself and play in the position to succeed, and that's what we built here over the last little bit. Bringing in guys like Chucky here made a big impact, and everyone buys in and just is not expected to be something they're not.' And then there's the players who want to play for Maurice, who has finally been able to unleash his high-forecheck up-tempo game, of which he's always dreamed. Defenceman Nate Schmidt played for Maurice in Winnipeg, and signed a one-year deal to join the Panthers. 'He gives you a blueprint of all he wants you to play. And he moulds that around your strength as a player and doesn't ask you to do more than what you should be doing, right? And so I think he's done a great job of helping us discover ourselves and understanding what we need to do. 'But he expects a certain level out of each guy. If you give that to him, there's no problems, right? And that's something that I find it was freeing for me.' The closing argument is maybe the most powerful when it comes to tax vs. team culture. If the tax advantage was so meaningful, how come Florida teams aren't dominating the NBA, NFL and Major League Baseball like they do the NHL? ssandor@ Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don't miss the news you need to know — add and to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters . You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post, and 13 other Canadian news sites. The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun
Ottawa Citizen
5 hours ago
- Ottawa Citizen
Why is the NHL tilted in Florida's favour? Lightning, Panthers hold six-year run on Eastern Conference dominance
Coral Gables, Fla. — It's Sunday night, and the arena parking lot is filled with people lugging hockey bags towards the main doors. Article content But we're not in a small town in Canada. We're in Coral Gables, Fla., where hockey leagues are very much alive and well at the Panthers IceDen. Article content Article content There are three games going on three sheets of ice. But one stands out — the Panthers Warriors are on the wrong end of a 10-3 drubbing, but the team is notable. Its players are all veterans or people who support American vets, and the program is supported by the NHL club. Article content Article content 'It's the hardest sport I've ever played in my life,' said Ryan Teems, a 32-year-old U.S. Army vet. Article content Article content Three years ago, Teems didn't even know how to properly tie up skates. But, now, he's playing regularly. Article content 'I got out of the Army in 2020 and somebody took me to a hockey game,' said Teems, who spent six years in the infantry. 'I'd never been to one. I watched it and fell in love. Then I bought Panthers' season tickets. And then I was going to the bathroom at one of the games, and right above the urinal, it said, $500 to learn to play, full equipment and all that. So that's when I got into it.' Article content In 1998, the Panthers moved to what's now known as the Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla., about a 40-minute ride on the expressway from Miami, if the traffic goes your way. It is the definition of a suburban arena, close to the freeway and surrounded by thousands of parking stalls. The team relocated its training facility to nearby Coral Gables, taking what was a two-sheet community hockey facility, adding a third rink with a dressing room, and re-christening it as the Panthers IceDen. Article content Article content But that wasn't enough. In 2023, construction was completed on a new $65-million dedicated Panthers practice facility in Fort Lauderdale. The team and municipal officials put together a plan for an arena with two ice sheets. The adjoining War Memorial Auditorium was renovated. It's got a food court, stage, and the Panthers even held their 2024 Stanley Cup ring ceremony there. It has a team shop, and Stanley Cup parties are hosted there. Most of the players live close to the IcePlex, and many ride bikes or Vespas to practice. The team also has golf carts on standby for players if they want to zip home and back. Article content Article content Panthers' general manager Bill Zito has heard the complaints. He's heard sniping from different corners of the league, that Florida teams have unfair advantages over their NHL counterparts. The 2025 Cup final between the Panthers and Oilers marks the sixth consecutive season that a Sunshine State-based team has won the Eastern Conference. The Tampa Bay Lightning took three in a row, and now its the Panthers' turn to threepeat in the East. These two are divisional rivals to the Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs, so this is what these Canadian franchises are fighting, year after year.
Calgary Herald
5 hours ago
- Calgary Herald
Why is the NHL tilted in Florida's favour? Lightning, Panthers hold six-year run on Eastern Conference dominance
Coral Gables, Fla. — It's Sunday night, and the arena parking lot is filled with people lugging hockey bags towards the main doors. Article content But we're not in a small town in Canada. We're in Coral Gables, Fla., where hockey leagues are very much alive and well at the Panthers IceDen. Article content Article content There are three games going on three sheets of ice. But one stands out — the Panthers Warriors are on the wrong end of a 10-3 drubbing, but the team is notable. Its players are all veterans or people who support American vets, and the program is supported by the NHL club. Article content Article content 'It's the hardest sport I've ever played in my life,' said Ryan Teems, a 32-year-old U.S. Army vet. Article content Article content Three years ago, Teems didn't even know how to properly tie up skates. But, now, he's playing regularly. Article content 'I got out of the Army in 2020 and somebody took me to a hockey game,' said Teems, who spent six years in the infantry. 'I'd never been to one. I watched it and fell in love. Then I bought Panthers' season tickets. And then I was going to the bathroom at one of the games, and right above the urinal, it said, $500 to learn to play, full equipment and all that. So that's when I got into it.' Article content In 1998, the Panthers moved to what's now known as the Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla., about a 40-minute ride on the expressway from Miami, if the traffic goes your way. It is the definition of a suburban arena, close to the freeway and surrounded by thousands of parking stalls. The team relocated its training facility to nearby Coral Gables, taking what was a two-sheet community hockey facility, adding a third rink with a dressing room, and re-christening it as the Panthers IceDen. Article content Article content But that wasn't enough. In 2023, construction was completed on a new $65-million dedicated Panthers practice facility in Fort Lauderdale. The team and municipal officials put together a plan for an arena with two ice sheets. The adjoining War Memorial Auditorium was renovated. It's got a food court, stage, and the Panthers even held their 2024 Stanley Cup ring ceremony there. It has a team shop, and Stanley Cup parties are hosted there. Most of the players live close to the IcePlex, and many ride bikes or Vespas to practice. The team also has golf carts on standby for players if they want to zip home and back. Article content Article content Panthers' general manager Bill Zito has heard the complaints. He's heard sniping from different corners of the league, that Florida teams have unfair advantages over their NHL counterparts. The 2025 Cup final between the Panthers and Oilers marks the sixth consecutive season that a Sunshine State-based team has won the Eastern Conference. The Tampa Bay Lightning took three in a row, and now its the Panthers' turn to threepeat in the East. These two are divisional rivals to the Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs, so this is what these Canadian franchises are fighting, year after year.
