UFC 140 will mark the organization’s second trip to the city. The previous event was UFC 129, which was held last April at Rogers Centre. With a crowd of over 55,000 fans, the event took in an estimated $12.075 million (11.5 million Canadian) at the gate. The event was over double the previous record holding UFC 124 number of $4.6 million in earnings from 23,152 fans packing Montreal’s Bell Centre.

Two things will be different this time around:

The Air Canada Centre will serve as host to the event rather than the Rogers Centre. Toronto’s professional basketball team the Raptors and the Maple Leafs hockey team call the venue home.

More importantly, popular UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre will not be fighting due to his scheduled appearance at UFC 137 in October.

At this point no fights have been announced or rumored for the December show, but it will be interesting to see who is chosen to headline what could be another record-breaking event.

Do you expect another sellout crowd with St-Pierre missing from the ticket?

This blockbuster signing comes on the heels of the Brazilian subsidiary of Burger King announcing their agreement with the fighter to become involved in their promotional campaigns earlier in the month.

Sport Club Corinthians Paulista – a Nike sponsored Brazillian soccer club – also intends to involve Anderson Silva in their outreach campaign. Look for him to enter his fight at UFC 134 wearing the club’s jersey.

Silva’s representatives are 9ine – a firm founded by the soccer great (and former Corinthins player himself) Ronaldo. Joining up with the firm 9ine in January has so far been a boon to the pocketbook for Silva.

Although Kimbo Slice has appeared in commercials, Anderson will offically be the first MMA fighter sponsored by the athletics giant.

Louis Alexander, director of sports marketing for Nike in Brazil stated that “Listening to the voice of the athlete is the essence of the culture of Nike. Being able to have an athlete the caliber of Anderson Silva among our partners is a great honor for us.”

Do you think this will signal a trend of major brands attaching themselves to fighters?

Who do you think will be next in line for a deal?

This past weekend’s “Strikeforce and M-1 Global: Fedor vs. Henderson” event drew a 1.7 household rating with an average of 571,000 viewers Saturday night – the fourth-best showing for Strikeforce on the network.

Strikeforce first began appearing on the premium network in April 2009 and seems to be picking up steam – four of the five best ratings figures for the partnership have aired in 2011.

The match started fast, and with Fedor looking to take advantage he was struck with a hard right uppercut that took down the heavyweight. Referee Herb Dean intervened 4:12 into round one to call this one in Henderson’s favor.

“I think [the stoppage] was early. I don’t want to say anything bad about the referee or anything, but it seems to me it was early,” Emelianko said in his post-fight interview. “I was clearly hit, but I wasn’t hit flush and directly. I think I could have continued, but the referee decided to stop it.”

With his last loss coming in the 5th round to Jake Shields, Henderson has now gone on a rampage by landing three consecutive knockouts. The fight was the last on Henderson’s current contract, and the win over the Pride legend will only increase his ability to command a nice contract in the coming months.

“We’ll see what happens,” Henderson said. “I’d like to defend that belt in Strikeforce, but, right now, it’s all up to Strikeforce and Zuffa. I’m just going to enjoy this victory for a while.”

The TKO loss to Henderson was Fedor’s third straight defeat, and many are speculating that the fighter is thinking hard on his next move – possibly packing it in and calling it a career.

“As a fan of Fedor’s,” Henderson said, “I hope he keeps fighting.”

What do you think – will Fedor rebound from his string of three straight losses, or should he retire and preserve his legacy?