EUROPEAN-based UFC fans could find themselves treated to as many as THREE UFC events held during primetime hours before the end of the year.
That’s because the September 3 UFC Fight Night event in Hamburg, Germany is all set to be joined by at least one – and possibly two – UK-based events.
The UFC held a hugely-successful event in London earlier this year as Michael Bisping defeated Anderson Silva in a thriller at The O2 in London.
And a second UK show has been provisionally pencilled in for the fourth quarter of 2016.
However, that show could potentially be joined by another UK event, thanks to Bisping’s dramatic middleweight title win at UFC 199.
The Brit has made no secret his desire to make his first title defence on home soil – preferably in Manchester – and UFC EMEA chief James Elliott told SunSport he’s pushing as hard as he can to make that dream of a UK defence a reality for Britain’s first UFC champion.
“We’re always looking to put our shows in the best places we can,” he explained.
“The story for Michael Bisping – bringing the title back, the first UK title, and defending it for the first time on UK soil – is a fantastic one. There’s no denying that.
“It’s quite hard to find arenas at the right time and opponents at the right time to make those stars align.
“But it’s a dialogue that we’re looking to have with (UFC head office in) Vegas – we are having it with them.
“Everyone’s trying to figure out how the pieces are going to fall. But if we can get it done, it’s something that clearly this office would like to do, and Michael’s been very vocal about the fact he wants to get it done.
“But it’s quite complicated pulling it all together, so we’re still working on things at the moment.”
And Elliott hinted that if a homecoming title defence for Bisping became a reality, that could see UK fight fans treated to TWO shows on home soil before the end of 2016.
“There’s a possibility we could have two,” he said.
“We want as many shows as we can get in this market. We’ve been saying that all along.
“The sport’s growing, the executives in Vegas have put their investment in building out this office and giving us the support we need to grow the sport to a level that we’re demanding more shows – and we’re now thankfully at that point.
“So we’ll definitely be going into bat to get both of them. Whether it happens, things change so quickly in this sport it’s hard to guarantee anything.
“But it’s certainly our intention to get as many, and as good a (level of) fights, as we possibly can and put on the entertainment that we want to do for the fans.”
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