Chicago has banned “ultimate fighting” since 2004, but the Illinois Athletic Commission will be approving a waiver in 2008 to certain organizations with sufficient regulations to run a professional event like the UFC.
The governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, has allowed the Athletic Commission to regulate mixed martial events. This would then allow many organizations to provide MMA action within the windy city. The arena most likely to provide MMA events would be the Allstate Arena, which is located in Rosemont and has a capacity between 16,000-17,500 people.
This is great news for all MMA fans residing in Chicago as they will finally get to enjoy UFC events in 2008 at the earliest. The Allstate Arena is home to the Chicago Wolves hockey club, the Chicago Rush Arena Football team and the DePaul University Men’s Basketball team.
