UFC “has shelved” the UFC 145 event scheduled for March 24 at Bell Centre “for the time being, citing complications in scheduling,” according to Neil Davidson of the CP. UFC Dir of Canadian Operations Tom Wright said that he expects Montreal “will still stage a show later this year.” UFC had “already announced eight fights for the card, but there were no main event or co-main events.” A serious knee injury to welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre “removed one obvious main event possibility.” Montreal hosted “the first ever UFC show in Canada -- UFC 83 in April 2008.” At the time it was the organization's “fastest sellout and biggest attendance.” Wright said that the decision to postpone “had nothing to do with the local commission or venue.” He added, "Montreal has always been a great UFC city for us" (CP, 1/17). Scheduling complications “are being cited as the reason for cancelling UFC 145 but the reality is, the company couldn't come up with a main event -- or co-main event -- that had enough star quality to make it work.” It would have been the fifth time UFC held an event at Bell Centre. Wright on UFC's website said, “We're looking at other dates for Montreal and want to be back there as soon as we possibly can” (QMI AGENCY, 1/17). UFC President Dana White said, “We're still doing Montreal. We're just not going to do it when we were originally planning to" (MMAJUNKIE.com, 1/17).
