UFC plans event for more than 50 people at football stadium in Australia

Etihad Stadium, in Melbourne, opened in 2000. Photo: Publicity

After years of speculation, including rumors involving Brazil, Ultimate is finally starting to put its project of promoting cards in football stadiums on paper. After the already confirmed UFC on FOX 14, which takes place in January 2015 in Sweden, the organization revealed even bolder plans for Australia. According to UFC director of operations in Canada and Oceania Tom Wright, the proposal is to promote a card in pay-per-view, possibly UFC 193 in November, at the Etihad Stadium, with an audience capacity of over 50 thousand spectators, in the city of Melbourne.

See too

Wanderlei Silva appeals to court to review eternal ban from MMA

Johnson's alleged ex-wife resigns from UFC fighter: 'He's evil'

New champions and ex-BBB as ring girls: see what happened at Jungle Fight 74

“You only get one chance to create a great first impression. I remember when we went to Toronto for the first time, and Lorenzo Fertitta (UFC CEO) told me that that event would be 'our Super Bowl'. Now the same thing happens with Melbourne. This will be our big event and that is why everything must be very well worked on, so that there is a title fight at this event. It is not possible to do a special edition of the UFC like the one we are planning for Melbourne without there being a belt at stake”, said Wright, in an interview with the “Daily Telegraph”.

If the event is confirmed at the Etihad Stadium, formerly known as Docklands Stadium and with a capacity of over 50 thousand spectators in its stands alone, Ultimate could set a new attendance record in its history. To date, the biggest milestone continues with the Octagon's debut in Toronto (Canada, with UFC 129, mentioned by Tom Wright in his interview. The card headlined by Georges St Pierre e Jake Shields brought more than 55 thousand people to Rogers Arena.

To date, the UFC has arrived in Australia six times, none of them in Melbourne. On four occasions Sydney hosted an event and the cities of Gold Coast and Brisbane received a card each. Of the six events held on Australian soil, two were cards in pay-per-view: UFC 110, in 2010, which had Rodrigo Minotauro x Cain Velazquez as the main fight; and UFC 127, in 2011, headlined by the duel between B.J. Penn and Jon Fitch.