Montreal, Canada and Mixed Martial Arts on TV

It has been awhile since the last post but I promise to post more regularly especially on the latest topics buzzing around in the martial arts community. This post is not about the newest BJJ technique but rather my most recent mini-vacation.

Over the Thanksgiving Holiday Melanie and I took a short trip to Montreal, Canada. It is a beautiful city with lots to see and do. For those of you who are as uninformed as I was prior to my visit, Montreal is in the province of Quebec which is the only province in Canada to adopt French as its official language. The average American who generally speaks only one language, "Eng" errr "American", has nothing to fear. Most people living in Quebec, aka Quebecois, are bilingual and speak both English and French. On top of that, nearly every printed sign, media, etc. is written in both French and Engish. So like I said, this place is sanitized for your protection. Did I mention that Canadians are extremely nice and hospitable?

Enough education, back to the point!

During the short night time reprieves between meals and sight seeing, I had the chance to watch some Canadian television. Melanie has a lot of family in France and I've traveled there a number of times which has made me very familiar with French TV programming. I was expecting Canadian TV to much like French TV; limited programming with a lot of uninteresting shows (thanks to my public education and subpar performance in high school French; I only understood a small part of what was being said on TV which is why I found much of it difficult to watch).

Back at the Marriott hotel where we stayed for the weekend, we had basic cable so I knew my options would be limited but after a quick channel surf at 11 o'clock at night, I was pleasantly surprised. With the exception of the staple program channels such as CNN and Discovery, every other Canadian Channel had either Mixed Martial Arts (WEC or UFC) or Poker (World Series and Poker After Dark). At one point there were three different MMA shows broadcasting simultaneously on seprate channels along with two other Poker programs. I could hardly flip the channels fast enough to keep up with all the action between commercial breaks. Interspersed between MMA and Poker channels you had your typical European influenced uncensored sex and nudity in addition to flashing highlights of Canadian Hockey, MMA, and other sporting highlights.

Programming was mixed between English and French so you had your choice of language however, they were different shows so you had a decision to make. I actually stuck with French commentated MMA since I was more intersested in the fights shown on French broadcasting channels.

Why is Mixed Martial Arts so huge in Canada. . . duh because of George St. Pierre (GSP) of course. An average working class Quebecois has now become one of the most recognized faces in MMA. With his most recent sponsorship by Under Armor, he is positioned to become a household name.

Looks like I visited Montreal just at the right time! Canadian late night TV rocks!

This article was written by:

Nakapan Phungephorn
Head Instructor of BETA Academy in Washington DC
For more information visit: www.betaacademy.com or www.betamartialarts.com