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UFC to bring event to Chicago for first time

Illinois sanctioned MMA in 2007, paving way for UFC to enter key market

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NBCSports.com
updated 12:37 p.m. ET July 18, 2008

The UFC will take its traveling roadshow of pain to Chicago for the first time ever when UFC 90 comes to the Allstate Arena on Oct. 25, UFC President Dana White told the Chicago Sun-Times.

The event will be the first in state, as UFC was waiting for Illinois to sanction the sport before it committed to a show.

Last year, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed a law sanctioning the sport, and just last month, the state boxing commission began overseeing and regulating all pro MMA bouts, putting the necessary precautions in position to host the UFC. The law opened up one of the key markets UFC had yet to penetrate.

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As of now, two key markets remain in which MMA continues to be unsanctioned: Massachusetts and New York. The UFC is working to educate the state's legislators on the sport, but suffered a recent setback in New York when efforts to get the sport legalized stalled when a key committee failed to advance legislation.

No UFC 90 matches have yet to be announced, but the UFC usually tries to include fighters who come from the general area.

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