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TORONTO, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) made its return to Toronto on Saturday evening with 'UFC 206' after a three year hiatus from Canada's most populous city.
The 12-fight pay-per-view event held at a sold out Air Canada Centre was the mixed martial art organization's first in Toronto since 'UFC 165' on Sep. 21, 2013 and their 22nd event in Canada.
The city has now hosted five events, surpassing Vancouver's four. Both trail Montreal, which has hosted a seven UFC events. Calgary, Winnipeg, Halifax, Ottawa, Quebec City and Saskatoon have all hosted one event to date.
The 145-pound featherweight division stole the show in Saturday's event, as the 18,057 fans saw a new interim champion crowned and a fight of the year candidate.
In the main event, No. 2 ranked Max Holloway knocked out No. 6 Anthony Pettis in the third round with a barrage of punches to capture the interim championship. The 25-year-old native of Hawaii is now on a 10-fight winning streak dating back to Aug. 2013.
Earlier in the evening, No. 5 ranked featherweight Cub Swanson of United States and No. 11 ranked Dooho Choi of South Korea drew a standing ovation from fans after three rounds of back and forth action where both fighters stunned each other on multiple instances during the fight.
UFC president Dana White called this fight the "Fight of the Year" on Twitter shortly afterwards. Ultimately, judges awarded 33-year-old Swanson a win by unanimous decision.
In welterweight action, No. 5 ranked Donald Cerrone had third round knockout over Matt Brown to extend his streak to four straight wins in the 170-pound weight class.
Lastly, Norwegian welterweight Emil Meek was victorious in his UFC debut against Canadian Jordan Mein. The 28-year-old won by unanimous decision.
In the end, Saturday's event generated 1.8 million dollars (all figures in U.S. dollars) in ticket revenue, compared to the 1.9 million dollars brought in for 'UFC 165'. The highest grossing event ever in Toronto ever is 'UFC 129', where 55,724 fans brought in a record-12.1 million for the organisation in Apr. 2011.
