TORONTO — Serhiy Sidey was in the crowd at Scotiabank Arena the last time a UFC event took place in Toronto.
It was the first UFC Fight Night he’d ever attended, and the Burlington, Ont. native was sitting way up in the nosebleeds. It didn’t matter, though, Sidey was captivated on that early December night in 2018.
He took some pictures and decided to make his favourite shot the cover photo of a playlist he created. He called it “Future UFC Toronto” and assembled a bunch of songs that he’d use to pump himself up.
“I’m really big into manifestation,” Sidey says. “I was using that playlist for a bunch of my pro fights coming up.”
Taking a note from Conor McGregor, Sidey had picked up The Secret, the 2006 best-selling self-help book by Rhonda Byrne, and studied it’s case for the “law of attraction”, the belief that people can affect direct changes in their lives through thought alone. Creating his playlist was one such technique that he feels helped him.
“I started looking into that kind of stuff, started researching it, got really big into mindfulness and being present,” he says. “But the biggest thing is you mix in the manifestation with the hard work and the hard training and, all of a sudden, magical things start happening and I’ve just noticed good things keep happening.”
During his post-fight interview earlier this year at Dana White’s Contender Series, Sidey continued to apply the law of attraction. He mentioned he’d heard a rumour Toronto was going to host another UFC event and stated that he’d love to get on the card.
Whether or not it can be chalked up to manifestation, the 27-year-old Sidey is now among the Canadians who’ll fight at Scotiabank Arena during UFC 297 on Jan. 20. Joining him on the card are Charles Jourdain, Marc-Andre Barriault and Mike Malott, and the event carries a special meaning for each member of that quartet.
“I’ve been with UFC for a long time and now is the first time in Canada for me, so I’m very excited about it,” says Jourdain, a native of the Montreal suburb of Beloeil. “A lot of family, a lot of friends are going to come down from Quebec. And, to my surprise, I’m more popular in Toronto and Vancouver and [cities west of Quebec]. So, I think people are going to be chanting my name.”
Jourdain notes that the prominence of fellow Francophone Georges St-Pierre has set a near-impossible standard for fighters in his home province, and he hopes the event in Toronto will help him earn some additional spotlight.
“I get it — GSP is the greatest fighter we ever had in the UFC and in the world, so he set the bar high,” says Jourdain. “It’s my responsibility to walk us back.”
Barriault, from Gatineau, Que., agrees that the GSP effect is real.
“I feel the same, one hundred per cent,” Barriault says. “But it is what it is. We all have our own history and we just have to keep moving forward and focus on ourself and make our own path and make sure that we have no regret and just make people happy.”
Malott, also a Burlington native, has fought at UFC events in Canada and the U.S., and seen both extremes in crowd reaction. When he competed in Florida, the 32-year-old walked to the ring with a Canadian flag draped over his shoulders and was met with boos from what seemed like the entire stadium. However, at UFC 289 in Vancouver last June, he experienced the opposite.
“The energy in the arena was absolutely electric,” Malott says. “Walking out to my fight when I first exited the tunnel, a bunch of fans were trying to rush to come greet and high-five me. And one of the railings broke and a bunch of people fell on us. Just barely missed me and hit one of my coaches.
“That was just very symbolic or indicative of how energetic that crowd was.”
Malott expects more of the same in Toronto and, like Sidey, has been manifesting this opportunity, which will be his first UFC event in what’s essentially his hometown.
Scotiabank Arena was a fixture in Malott’s childhood, back when it was still known as the Air Canada Centre. He attended concerts at the downtown Toronto stadium as well as countless Maple Leafs games. He also used to imagine himself fighting in the arena — a dream that continued well into adulthood.
“Every time I’ve driven past that arena for the past five years, I’ve visualized myself fighting in there,” he says. “You look at the ‘Scotiabank’ writing on the side of the building as you’re driving on the Gardiner Expressway — you’re on the highway, you’re almost eye level with the lettering. I’m like, ‘I’m fighting in that building. I will fight that building. I will be on a pay-per- view in that building.’
“And so, it kind of feels a little bit manifested,” he continues. “I just feel really privileged that it’s actually happening now.”
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