UFC arrives at Arena da Baixada on Saturday (14). Photo: Reproduction
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When talking about UFC 198, one of the most talked about points is the fact that the event fulfills an old dream of the Ultimate organization: holding an event in a football stadium in Brazil. Before arriving on Brazilian soil, however, the octagon had already landed in three other stadiums, coincidentally on three different continents.
The UFC's foray into stadiums began in 2011, in Canada, in an event that featured, of course, Georges St Pierre. The two most recent visits took place last year, 2015, when the octagon was installed in stadiums in Sweden, in January, and in Australia, in November.
Remember with SUPER FIGHTS What were these experiences like:
UFC 129: St. Pierre vs. Shields, April 2011
Made to break records. This was UFC 129, held on April 30 at the Roger Centre, home of the Toronto Blue Jays (baseball) and the Toronto Argonauts (Canadian American Football League). The event included a representative of the SUPER FIGHTS, as our editor-in-chief Eduardo Oliveira participated in the coverage directly from Toronto.
The card was promoted in “celebration” of the release of MMA in the province of Ontario, the main region of Canada and where more than a third of the country's population lives. Thus, Ultimate also promoted a two-day fair and exhibition for fans.
Originally, the event would receive only 42 thousand fans, but sales exceeded expectations so much that another 13 thousand tickets were put on sale – totaling revenue that reached 11 million dollars, and an audience of 55 thousand fans that reigned as a record for presence for four years.
In the octagon, UFC 129 was no less spectacular. Lyoto Machida retired member of Hall of Fame Randy Couture with a flying front kick, “Karate Kid” style. Shortly thereafter, José Aldo debuted in the UFC as featherweight champion and beat Mark Hominnick. In the main event, GSP successfully defended his title against Jake Shields and enjoyed the huge local crowd.
UFC Stockholm: Gustafsson x Johnson, January 2015
On January 24, 2015, the octagon went to cold Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, in the middle of winter for UFC Fight Night Stockholm, an event that was broadcast on open TV in the United States.
The card's venue was the Tele2 Arena, a modern football stadium and home to the teams Djurgårdens IF and Hammarby IF. To support the event, and the 30 thousand fans who bought tickets for the fight night, the organization cast the local star Alexander Gustafson, who faced the North American Anthony Johnson in the main fight of the night, giving him the chance to fight for the light heavyweight belt.
Unlike what happened at UFC 129, however, the final result was not celebrated by the home fans, who saw Gustafsson completely overwhelmed by Johnson in the first round, with an overwhelming knockout.
UFC 193: Rousey vs. Holm, November 2015
The most recent Ultimate card in a football stadium was one of the most notable on the list and one of the most talked about last year for two reasons: UFC 193 set the organization's new attendance record and one of the biggest stars in world MMA was dethroned in her main fight.
Held at the Etihad Stadium, in Melbourne, Australia, the event had 56.214 people present on November 15th local time, plus 14 (Saturday) for the Brazilian and North American public.
Originally, the event would be led by the fight between Robbie Lawler e Carlos Condit, worth the welterweight belt, but Lawler's departure due to injury caused Ultimate to postpone the already scheduled clash between Ronda Rousey e Holly holm for the women's bantamweight title.
Ronda, who had defended the belt three months earlier in Brazil against Beth Pitbull in less than 30 seconds, she was completely dominated by Holm in two rounds and suffered a brutal knockout with a direct kick to the head. In addition to the belt, the former judoka also lost her unbeaten record in professional MMA and, since then, has not returned to the octagon.
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