UFC reserves dates in Dublin, London Manchester

Niall0

UFC UK division president Marshall Zelaznik - who also wears the snappy handle ‘Vice-President of International Development’ - says the organisation has reserved a number of dates throughout the UK and Ireland this year.

“We are holding (reserving) dates in Ireland [in 2011]. I think we are holding dates in June and October. After this (Australia) I am actually flying back to Las Vegas and we are going to hold a meeting and start planning out the second part of the year,” he told MMA Fighting.

“Ireland will be on that list, Scotland will be on that list. The UK could happen as early as June… this meeting next week is important to shake all that out… We are holding dates in Manchester in June, Liverpool we’re holding dates.

“Its a tricky game trying to get the dates to work with the US TV calendar but we are motivated as ever to bring events to Europe.”

The UFC was last in the UK in October last year and while a schedule of numerous smaller ‘Fight Night’ shows was promised for the British Isles in 2011, that seems to have fallen through. A planned first-quarter show was scrapped and a mooted May visit to Scotland has also been binned as the country has no suitably large venues.

London and Manchester look to be the most likely destinations for the UFC when it next returns, as both have proven to be big-selling venues for the company. Manchester has hosted two events to London’s four, but was the company’s jump-off point for its 2007 return to the UK. That show - UFC 70 - is best-remembered for Gabriel Gonzaga’s head-kick KO of Mirko CroCop.

http://www.fightersonlymagazine.co.uk/news/viewarticle.php?id=6294

rivalius13

This brings great pleasure to me.

I know I'm jumping the gun here, but what were tickets like for the last one? Price/position/availability wise.

d_jordan

rivalius13 wrote: »

This brings great pleasure to me.

I know I'm jumping the gun here, but what were tickets like for the last one? Price/position/availability wise.

I got the tickets for about 80euro and thought they were great

Mellor

I'd be so much happy if he said Dublin.
but any news is great news

rivalius13

Mellor wrote: »

I'd be so much happy if he said Dublin.
but any news is great news

Well, Ireland means Dublin, Belfast or, the obvious third option, Belmullet.

johnny_adidas

wont be going again until we get a decent card (which will prob be never), i didnt even go to watch the last one live in the pub

Jayo_M

johnny_adidas wrote: »

wont be going again until we get a decent card (which will prob be never), i didnt even go to watch the last one live in the pub

The last card in Ireland had some great matches and serious starpower on paper. If you think thats a bad card, then I don't know what you're expecting.

dave1982

Jayo_M wrote: »

The last card in Ireland had some great matches and serious starpower on paper. If you think thats a bad card, then I don't know what you're expecting.

Agreed i think they thought they were in Vegas for 93

johnny_adidas

93 was a great night in fairness. shouldve said i was talking about the latest uk cards in general since , 95, 105 and 120 have seriously lacked top draws. (randy excluded but it wasnt a great fight imo. Comment re pub referred to 120)
I dont think id go to another Irish show in Dublin anyway if im honest, enjoyed 85 in the O2 london more. (not even sure why)

sonic.trip

i'll believe it when its on the ufc website. So many promises so far.

rivalius13

sonic.trip wrote: »

i'll believe it when its on the ufc website. So many promises so far.

They're coming Paddy's day, didn't you hear!?!?

dave1982

rivalius13 wrote: »

They're coming Paddy's day, didn't you hear!?!?

sonic.trip

rivalius13 wrote: »

They're coming Paddy's day, didn't you hear!?!?

paddy's day, no didn't hear that one

drayme

"we're coming"

drayme

News coming out this weekend is that there will be no UK show this year.

They may run Sweden at they very end of the year.

unknown13

drayme wrote: »

News coming out this weekend is that there will be no UK show this year.

They may run Sweden at they very end of the year.

I am not surprised to be honest. Bisping is tied down with TUF, who would headline it?

drayme

unknown13 wrote: »

I am not surprised to be honest. Bisping is tied down with TUF, who would headline it?

Didnt think about the Bisping aspect but really good point.

Germany is unlikely too btw.

Xlami

The speculation is beyond frustrating. I know the UFC likes to reserve multiple arenas to keep their options open but I much rather if they were just honest and said we will or we won't be returning to UK/Ireland in 2011. Instead of releasing irritating pissy little bits of information.

Nanoc

Maybe they'll hold it in England just because of the Bisping aspect or hold the TUF final there? I dunno sick of speculating anyways, I'm surprised they dont even do some fight nights over here!

Tbh I bet strikeforce will be the more frequent visitor.

rivalius13

Looks like all that talk of Liverpool in October was guesswork.

Oh, and Paddy's day is a Saturday next year. Just saying....

fightireland

rivalius13 wrote: »

Looks like all that talk of Liverpool in October was guesswork.

Oh, and Paddy's day is a Saturday next year. Just saying....

Well I'll cancel that hotel in Liverpool so :-(

To be honest I'm shocked by the lack of a UK event considering the commercial success of the previous events.

the_doctor199

I'm a little surprised also, but look at all the events this year, Sydney and Brazil are the only ones outside of North America so we certainly aren't the only place not getting an event.

Here's a few quotes from Marshal Zelzanik's Facebook page, not much info but still..

We are working on some things. Issue right now is finding venues here that work with our TV dates.

...our TV dates in the US are in flux right now so it is hard to plan. For better or worse we still need the US dates to finalize and then we look to fit the UK venues into that schedule. It is tricky but we are working on some things.

JoeyJJ

Regarding cards outside North America

Not sure if it was the MMA hour podcast or not but I remember hearing about the possibility of another Dubai event possibly this year. I bet Anderson won't be on that card!

Xlami

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v51YELekFwo

This video is an interview with DW from just after 130. I agree that with Bisping tied up the only other person big enough to headline a card would be Daley and in this video he dismisses talk of Daley's return. He also gives the same line of "working on it" when asked about Sweeden.

Xlami

fightireland wrote: »

Well I'll cancel that hotel in Liverpool so :-(

To be honest I'm shocked by the lack of a UK event considering the commercial success of the previous events.

John Roche's latest facebook status posted just 5 minutes ago "Had good info UFC is coming to Liverpool Ech Echo Arena Liverpool"

unknown13

People can we just forget about the whole concept about the UFC coming to the UK and Ireland. They continually make broken promises to the MMA fans here and when they come they fill the cards full of shít fights. Lets forget about them until they offically announce something.

unknown13

unknown13 wrote: »

. They continually make broken promises to the MMA fans here.

I dont think they ever promised, did they ?

unknown13

Deleted User wrote: »

I dont think they ever promised, did they ?

Yes, they promised many times.

the_doctor199

Not unexpected, but still..

Hearing now it isn't happening. RT @punch2theface89 sup man, do you know whether Oct 15th has been confirmed for a UFC visit to the uk?

Not looking good right now. Don't shoot the messenger RT @TheHarrison101 @arielhelwani How come Ariel what's happened? No UK show this year?

Richy06

I think a lot of it has to do with the tape delay. If the card is a dud, then people won't pay for it and they won't waste a good fight card on a free show.

Another thing that might be coming into play is that the UFC's deal with Spike is nearly up, so f**k knows where they might end up. This would put a stop to them booking TV cards until they know their situation.

Until then, there's f**k loads of live MMA in Ireland in the coming months featuring some great fights and fighters. So head along to them to sate your live MMA appetite until Zuffa throws us another bone!

DrPhilG

the_doctor199 wrote: »

Here's a few quotes from Marshal Zelzanik's Facebook page, not much info but still..

Poor oul Marshall got a bit of a toasting on facebook since then though.

What a load of crap about venues. When the agreement with Setanta involved a guaranteed 4 events per year, they had no problem with venues. Now all of a sudden venues are damn near impossible to book?

Aye right.