UFC president Dana White lobbied Tuesday to bring mixed martial arts to Ontario, but Premier Dalton McGuinty said he wasn't interested in allowing such events in the province.

Hundreds of fans of the sport, which is not sanctioned in Ontario, attended a question-and-answer session put on by White at the Eaton Centre on Tuesday.

"You know how I feel about Canada, man," White told the crowd. "This is the Mecca of mixed martial arts, and we're working hard to try to get up here and put on a live event on in your hometown, finally."

One of the top stars of UFC is Canadian: welterweight champion Georges "Rush" St-Pierre, who fought in front of a sold-out crowd in Montreal in 2008.

White, who is known for dropping the occasional obscenity, spoke cleanly at the event and argued the UFC is making progress on bringing mixed martial arts fighting to Ontario.

"What you have to understand is this education process is going to take longer in some places than it does in others," White said. "It's happening. I'm going to keep coming up here until it gets done."

But prior to the event, McGuinty said that changing the rules on professional fighting in Ontario was not on his list of priorities.

"If I was to knock on 1,000 Ontario family doors and ask them for their top-three concerns, I'd be surprised if anybody said, ‘Well you know… we've got to start this new kind of mixed martial arts in Ontario. That's going to mean a lot to me, my family and our future together,'" McGuinty said.

When pressed by reporters, the premier replied: "In ultimate fighting, you can tap out."

"I'm tapping out on this," he said.

White remained optimistic about the UFC's campaign to put on events in Ontario cities, saying that McGuinty hadn't ruled out the possibility of changing the rules at some point.

"What he didn't say is it's not on my list. And at one time that was his position. He didn't want to hear about mixed martial arts," White told the crowd.

"I honestly don't believe anyone is opposed to it here," he said. "It's just a matter of how do we get it done."

White at least has an ally in Opposition Leader Tim Hudak, who said he would sanction the sport.

"I just think this reflects a premier who is hanging around an elite crowd and is dramatically out-of-touch with what is the fastest growing spectator sport in North America," Hudak said.

In the United States, the UFC has won the right to hold fights in Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Alabama, among other states.

Next, the company is expected to lobby for access to New York, West Virginia, Connecticut and Vermont. Those basically represent the remaining U.S. states without regulations on mixed martial arts.

The company has also held events in Australia, England, Germany, Ireland and Northern Ireland. Next month it will visit the United Arab Emirates.

Nova Scotia, Quebec, Manitoba and several communities in British Columbia sanction the sport, and Montreal is scheduled to hold a third UFC event in May.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Paul Bliss and files from The Canadian Press