UFC 144 nearly sold out, yearly return anticipated
“It’s exciting,” UFC president Dana White told MMAjunkie.com of the UFC’s first event in Japan since 2000. “I love it…
“It’s exciting,” UFC president Dana White told MMAjunkie.com of the UFC’s first event in Japan since 2000. “I love it here. I’m very excited about coming back here. … This is a place where a lot of great organizations held events. Not only did they build up a lot of Japanese talent but a lot of talent from around the world here in Japan.
“I think the event’s already been successful. We’re close to a sellout already, and obviously the card we put together for this event is phenomenal.”
This weekend’s event is held at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, utilizing a modified seating arrangement that should provide just under 20,000 seats.
“We’re getting all this stuff dialed in,” White said. “We tried to come back to Japan earlier than this, but the deal we had put together fell apart. We stayed on it and didn’t abandon coming to Japan. The deal didn’t fall apart this time. We got everything done that we needed to get done to put on an event. All the things that go into bringing a live event to a new territory and not getting smashed financially, we got done.”
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“We do feel based on the strength of what we’ve seen so far leading into the event – the buzz, the ticket sales so far – that I think it’s a market we’d love to come back to with a big event at least annually,” UFC Asia executive Mark Fischer said. “Whether or not we complement that with maybe one or two smaller events – perhaps ‘Fight Nights’ – and we think there’s quite good potential for an ‘Ultimate Fighter,’ maybe in a slightly different format here.