Ultimate Fighting Championship makes their fifth journey to "The Six," since their debut at the 55,000+ seat Rogers Centre in April 2011. This will be the first time the UFC has returned to Toronto since nearly two years ago, where Max Holloway earned interim championship status stopping Anthony Pettis.
Holloway recently stopped by the studio of our Canadian friends at TSN to put over Toronto as 'the tenth' Hawaiian island, and shout out to the people of the city as the best fans in MMA.
We look back to each of the five previous UFC events hosted in "T-Dot" and give our picks for memorable fights.
UFC 206: Cub Swanson and Dooho Choi Go to War
UFC 206 was notably the launch pad for Holloway to reach superstardom. However, there was another fight stole that not only the show, but capped off the year in combat sports.
In a year which kicked off with Lawler vs. Condit, and hosted two McGregor-Diaz bouts, it would be difficult to supplant these megastars for the year-end acclaim.
Fortunately, the stars would align that cold December night in Toronto, when Cub Swanson and "The Korean Superboy" Dooho Choi met in the middle of the Octagon.
For fifteen minutes, Swanson and Choi exchanged 209 total strikes. Choi looked to have Swanson wilting over the first half of the fight, but Swanson would battle back. Swanson would appear to have Choi hurt nearing the end of the fight.
The judges would award Swanson the unanimous decision, and the fight would earn the World MMA Awards 'Fight of the Year' for 2016.
UFC 140: Jon Jones Shows Vulnerability, Still Chokes Out Lyoto Machida
In the UFC's sophomore event in 'The Big Smoke,' Jon Jones was to face former teammate and rival Rashad Evans, but Evans would withdraw due to hand injury. Machida was scheduled to fight again in Toronto after knocking out Randy Couture in the first event with a crane kick, however his original opponent of Phil Davis was still recovering from an injury, setting up Machida to challenge Jones for the title.
Machida would be one of the first notable fighters to be able to land on Jones. As Machida was a tricky fighter to solve as well, Jones would be tentative throwing strikes at 'The Dragon.' In the middle of the round, Jones would miss a combination and would suffer the first major strikes of his UFC career from a countering Machida. Media outlets would score the first round for Machida.
In the second round, Jones would manage to close the distance, taking down Machida and opening a cut on the Brazilian's forehead. With the round closing out, both fighters would throw punches at the same time; Jones' punch landing and dropping Machida. Machida would try to clinch up Jones, who would sink in the standing guillotine choke, rendering Machida unconscious and giving 'The Dragon' the first submission loss of his career.
UFC 152: Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson Wins Inaugural Flyweight Title; Holds It for Nearly Six Years
In March 2012, UFC introduced the flyweight division to their promotions and held a four-man tournament featuring Demetrious Johnson, Joseph Benavidez, Ian McCall and Yasuhiro Urushitani, with the winner claiming the inaugural title.
Johnson would draw with McCall in their first fight at UFC on FX 2, and would win the rematch at UFC on FX 3.
Benavidez would stop Urushitani to earn his title shot.
Mighty Mouse and Benavidez would be scheduled to meet for the title at UFC 152.
In a close fight, Johnson would win a split decision with scorecards of 48-47, 47-48, 48-47 to claim the title and kick off Johnson's dominance of the division.
UFC 165: Alexander Gustafsson Threatens the Reign of Jon Jones
Since his debut in Ultimate Fighting Championship, Jon Jones has dominated the top competition including Shogun Rua, Lyoto Machida, Quinton Jackson, Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort and Chael Sonnen.
Following his first loss in MMA to Phil Davis, Gustafsson racked up a six-fight winning streak to earn his title shot at Jones.
Jones vs. Gustafasson was scheduled for UFC 165 in Toronto, to a pro-Swedish crowd, likely the next generation of Tre Kroner fans from the eras of Borje Salming and Mats Sundin playing for the Maple Leafs.
Joe Rogan would speak on Jones not being in proper condition for the fight, and it showed.
Gustafsson would pick up two of the first three rounds, opening cuts on Jones, plus scoring a takedown, the first suffered in Jones' career.
'Bones' would end up battling back to take the remaining two rounds, winning a close unanimous decision over 'The Mauler.'
Jones and Gustafsson would both check into the hospital after the fight, highlighting one of the greatest light heavyweight title bouts in UFC history.
UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields Shatters MMA Attendance and Gate Records
UFC 129 was monumental in being the first event held in Toronto, with mixed martial arts being legalized in the province of Ontario that past August.
Headlining the event would be pound-for-pound great Georges St-Pierre taking on Jake Shields in front of 55,724 fans at the Rogers Centre, for a gate of over $12 million.
Other than an eye injury suffered in the third round, St-Pierre would cruise to victory for his sixth consecutive title defense.
St-Pierre would tear his ACL following this fight and be sidelined for ten-months.