The first Ultimate Fighting Championship event in Toronto is officially a sellout, with fans snapping up 55,000 tickets to the April 30 show.

The previous attendance mark was more than 23,000 fans at UFC 124 in Montreal's Bell Centre in December, according to The Canadian Press.

More than 40,000 tickets sold Thursday in the first day of a pre-sale. The rest were purchased Friday, in another pre-sale, and Saturday, when tickets were made available to the general public.

The Ontario government announced last year it would allow events featuring the controversial combat sport starting in 2011, following the lead of several other provinces including Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Manitoba.

The decision to sanction mixed martial arts competition in Ontario was immediately criticized by the Canadian Medical Association, which expressed concerns about the risk of potentially lifelong injuries to the fighters. At an annual meeting last August, CMA members voted overwhelmingly to campaign for a ban on "mixed martial arts prizefighting matches in Canada."

-With files from The Canadian Press

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P.O.V.: Should mixed martial arts events be banned?