In town Monday to hype a Fight Night card June 18, UFC bigwig Tom Wright remembered the last time he was in what was then called the Civic Centre — it was a Great Big Sea concert, an event tied to the 2004 Grey Cup.

Not necessarily a great memory. Yeah, that was when Frank Clair Stadium and everything around it was crumbling— outdated and falling apart. So too, unfortunately, was Ottawa’s football team at the time, the Renegades, who were suspended two years later and folded by the CFL. Wright was CFL commissioner at the time (2002-06).

Now UFC’s executive vice-president and GM for Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Wright said: “The 2004 Grey Cup ... with all due respect to Frank Clair Stadium, this place was a barn, it really was. Now, it’s a world-class facility. It’s a transformation.”

While he doesn’t get into details, you can bet it at times must have seemed like Yuk Yuk’s Comedy Club (minus the really good laughs) at a CFL board of governors meeting — everybody sing along, “Jokers to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with you.”

“They were five really interesting years (as commissioner),” said Wright. “Five calendar years, that’s 35 commissioner years if you understand how that works. But I couldn’t have been happier for the experience.”

With bickering and uncertainty in the Ottawa ownership groups — which went from Brad Waters fronting the organization to Bernie Glieberman Part Deux – Wright was on the outside, anxiety and frustration building.

“There was tremendous frustration, there’s no question,” he said. “With the benefit of hindsight, one thing people forget is the commissioner doesn’t have a vote. In the end, there were nine other owners of the teams that voted different things to happen here. It was a bit of a burr in everybody’s side. It’s one of those things that has to run its course. A change is as good as a rest sometimes.

“With the benefit of the rear-view mirror, I look at things positively. We tried our best to stabilize things here, but sometimes you need to have a purging. I always thought the key to any successful CFL franchise was stability, confidence, solidarity and commitment from the ownership. Quite frankly, we didn’t have it here. You have it here now. It’s so refreshing and wonderful to see.”

And when the CFL finally returned, it was local ownership — a strong group with Jeff Hunt, Roger Greenberg, John Ruddy, Bill Shenkman and John Pugh, who became Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group — putting up the money and saying they were in it for the long haul.

“I was thrilled,” said Wright. “I’d had conversations with Roger and with Hunt while I was still commissioner. The time had to be right for them as well. And it clearly was. I think they’ve done a remarkable job here.”

Wright opened the UFC’s Canadian office in 2010 and loves what he’s doing, loves what the mixed martial arts organization has accomplished.

“I’ll be here six years next month,” said Wright. “I’ve always been a sport guy, I’ve also been a brand guy. To be part of a small team growing a global brand and a global sport is pretty fun. I’ve really enjoyed that kind of pioneering thing. Being able to take a sport — here in Canada, six years ago, we were only in Ontario — now, we’ve been to seven provinces and nine different cities. It’s the same thing in Australia.”

Wright is excited about the June 18 card in Ottawa (tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. at capitaltickets.ca).

“(The main event between Rory MacDonald and Stephen Thompson) is a contender fight,” he said. “You’ve got easily the No. 1 and No. 2. Whoever wins this fight is going to fight for the championship. Those kind of fights don’t always come around.

“Donald Cerrone (who faces Patrick Cote) is one of the genuine stars of our sport. He takes fights at a moment’s notice. I think he fought six times last year. Pat Cote is Canada’s MMA pioneer. He makes Georges St. Pierre look young. But he’s having a resurgence — he’s 5-1 in his last six fights. And you have a collection of really good fighters who are coming up. Look at the Canadians on this card. Steve Bosse is fighting this game named Sam Alvey who is himself a really a strong middleweight. You’ve got Olivier Aubin-Mercier, you’ve got Elias Theodorou, who’s another great fighter. It’s going to be a great card.”

MAIN EVENT SHOULD BE A SHOW

There’s been plenty of buzz since UFC announced it would hold a Fight Night card in Ottawa June 18.

You can expect tickets, which go on sale Friday at 10 a.m., will sell out pretty quickly — with a main event of Canadian (The Red King) Rory MacDonald (with a 9-3 UFC record) facing (Wonderboy) Stephen Thompson (7-1).

When asked to break down the strengths of each other, here’s how the fighters responded:

“He’s got a great karate style, which is very unique for MMA,” said MacDonald. “He’s the first karate guy I’ve competed against. It’ll be interesting, but I’m looking forward to it. You see a lot of the strong boxers, wrestlers, jiu-jitsu guys, but nobody with quite that karate striking style that he brings to the table.”

Said Thompson, who has been working with former middleweight champ Chris Weidman: “He’s coming from Tristar, they have great game plans. Having Firas Zahabi in the corner, a great strategist like him, they’re going to have a great game plan coming into the Octagon.

“He keeps his left side forward, he’s very quick with his jab. He also shoots from the outside, unlike Johny Hendricks, who likes to get you to the cage and try and take you down. I don’t expect him to bang it out with me. Maybe he wants to get me to the cage, try and tire my arms out which is strategy they’ve used with Georges (St-Pierre). My buddy Rory is very good on his back, he likes the pressure, ground and pound. We know what he likes to do, it’s coming up with a game plan, that’s what we’re working on right now.”

Email: tbaines@postmedia.com

Twitter: @TimCBaines