Dominant Decoding Stance – Major Theme 1

In the blogs, many commenters actively expressed acceptance of ideas of Canadian identity expressed in the narratives surrounding UFC events, normalizing and reproducing the UFCC’s presentation of Canadian identity for commercial purposes. Discussions of the acceptability of expressions of Canadian identity, were conducted by fans in three the- matic ways.

5.1.1. Celebrating Canadian identity

The first was the direct celebration of Canadian nationalism in regard to the UFC’s media production. Commenters expressed their enjoyment and celebrated the presence of nationalism narrative elements within the UFC narrative space. In response to the

announcement of Fight Night Halifax, one commenter stated on MMAFighting: “Whoop whoop! How exciting! Let’s see that Canadian pride. Let’s start selling out stadiums with the next Candian [sic] star.”45

Likewise, following that same show, another commenter wrote, “I was there for the event and that place was SO loud the entire fight. I have never seen so many people rally behind an under-card fighter like that. Gotta love a good ol maritime boy!”46 This com- menter expresses a positive appreciation of the celebration of Canadian identity, as well as of a regional identity. Furthermore, the author of the article, responding to a commenter’s posting, wrote about the audience of UFC 129, “I’m Canadian, and enjoy it when Canadi- ans go nuts for their guys.”47

These responses from the commenters show Canadian blog writers and commenters positively responding to the representations of Canadian identity expressed in the event narrative. For these commenters, the UFC event provided an opportunity to confirm an understanding of Canadian identity, amounting to the active normalizations of the notion of national identity produced in the UFC narrative.

5.1.2. Reflecting on the UFC Narrative

Commenters also engaged the themes in the UFC narrative of Canadian nationalism. Fans argued that the form of Canadian identity expressed within the fanbase was unique and special, reinforcing messages emerging from the UFCC’s narrative. In relation to Fight Night Halifax, one blog author argued that “Canada's strong sense of national pride

is what really boosted this card. Canadians are proud to be Canadians and when it comes to sports, they let you know.”48

Canadian fans consider themselves unique due to their national pride displayed through the UFCC’s Canadian sporting narratives. This notion is especially present when bloggers compare Canada against the United States:

…the UFC cannot employ the same formula it did for UFC 129. It's simply a different ballgame in the U.S. St. Pierre is loved in America, but not to the tune of 55,724 people like he is in Canada… You couldn't just put a bunch of random Americans on the card along with an

American champion, say Jon Jones, and have it sell like UFC 129 did. It just would not happen.49

The blogger continued this argument, “On my way home from UFC 129, I picked up a copy of the Sunday Sun and it featured 16 pages of coverage of UFC 129. My mind was completely blown. Could you imagine the New York Post or Chicago Tribune dedicating that type of coverage to UFC? Not in a million years.”50 This sentiment was also

expressed by another commenter who stated, “MMA is probably better “understood” here in Canada than in the United States. The UFC is even having an event in Winnipeg this year. Winnipeg isn’t that big a city, even for Canada, so it says something about how the

UFC sees MMA in Canada.”51

These quotes are examples that show how bloggers and commenters confirmed an understanding that Canada was ‘special,’ and reproduced elements of the narrative explored in the previous chapter. These commenters are actively reproducing the domi- nant message of Canadian identity produced by the UFCC. They confirmed the under- standing that the connection between the UFC events and Canada was unique by contrasting it positively with the inability of Canada’s largest sporting rival, the United States, to create such a connection between sporting narrative and national identity. Manyf dominant popular understandings of Canadian national identity are built around the idea that to be Canadian is to not be American, and the UFC events investigated here provided an opportunity to confirm this understanding.52

5.1.3. Defending Nationalism

Lastly, commenters would normalize the narrative of corporate nationalism in UFC events through an explicit defense of nationalism. Fans argued that the expression of national identity was not a negative, but rather a positive for the sport: “Why is it such a bad thing to be rooting for a fellow countryman? It’s the way sports have been done for- ever. It’s in only the last couple of years that it’s become such a bad thing and only among a very vocal minority (mostly on MMA websites).”53 Commenters explicitly defended the notion of nationalism by arguing that the majority of fans enjoyed it. They argued in favour of nationalism and thus those who rejected a narrative of Canadian identity and of nationalism, were wrong. Their celebration of specific notions of Canadian identity amounted to a defense of the notion of nationalism in the context of UFC-produced narra- tives of Canadian MMA events.