Friday, February 13, 2009

Stephane Patry Screws Pooch; UFC Stuck with Vet Bill

Longtime shady character Stephane Patry seems to have screwed the pooch with his disastrous Strike Box event in Montreal, and the subsequent athletic commission backlash is jeopardizing Zuffa's UFC 97 Quebec show scheduled for April 18th. The heart of the matter centers around Patry's attempt to hold an unsanctioned striking-only affair, but things went awry when British behemoth James Thompson brutalized some hockey star, causing fans to go bananas. Now the commission up there (called Les Poissons du Chats et Souris ou Fromage - or something like that) is forbidding the use of knees and elbows, which, given that UFC 97 is supposed to be headlined by Anderson Silva and has 12 other strikers on the card, sort of throws a monkey wrench into the works. What's going to happen? One of three things, most likely: UFC Vice President of Being Old and Respected Marc Ratner is going to talk the commission down from the ledge, UFC 97 is going to be held somewhere else, or UFC 97 is going to be cancelled. Either way, the UFC is stuck paying a veterinarian bill that Patry is responsible for. One thing is for sure, though, and that is that this is seriously going to effect Patry's complimentary VIP tickets to UFC 97.