Every country to host a UFC event
Follow Us
When Dana White and the Fertitta brothers took over UFC for $ 2 million in 2001 it was a dying business and was on the verge of bankruptcy. Nobody thought that it would be this huge 20 years later. Currently, the promotion is the biggest MMA roster in the world with millions of fans all around. The promotion marketed itself efficiently and brought in fighters from all parts of the world to make the fights more interesting.
Over the years, many things have changed and most of them have had a positive impact on its growth. Now UFC is not limited to only the U.S. but has hosted events all around the globe. Throughout the history of the promotion, UFC has hosted the event in 24 different countries.
Brazil, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, China, Germany, Sweden, México, Uruguay, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Argentina, Australia, Chile, Ireland, Croatia, the Czech Republic, the Philippines, and South Korea, etc are some of the other countries where the promotion has hosted its events in the past.
The promotion is always working forward to get new venues in new countries. The main reason for doing this is to popularize the sport in all parts of the world, simultaneously bringing more eyes to the promotion. Whenever a fight event takes place outside the U.S., UFC stacks fighters from the native country in the event to excite the audience. Every year, the promotion plans to increase its territory to new lands. For example, this year, UFC hosted an event for the first time in France.
List of biggest UFC events all over the world
In the U.S
Some of the biggest pay-per-view events in the history of the promotion took place on U.S. soil and it makes sense as the promotion originated in the United States. The country has hosted a total of 441 events on its soil.
UFC 229: Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Conor McGregor was the highest-grossing one.
UFC 257: Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor II is another major pay-per-view event that took place in UFC.
In Canada
Canada being the home country of the legendary Georges St. Pierre, UFC managed to host some amazing events. The two most successful events of the promotion in Canada are:
UFC 129: Georges St. Pierre vs Jake Shields in the main event in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
UFC 158: Georges St. Pierre vs Nick Diaz in the hometown of GSP, Montreal, Quebec.
In Brazil
After the US, surprisingly Brazil is the second country to host the most events with a total of 37. In Brazil, Anderson Silva is the biggest star when it comes to MMA. Consequently, UFC 134: Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and it turned out to be one of the most successful UFC events in Brazil.
Also Read: Conor McGregor sees a massive downfall in the UFC lightweight rankings
In Abu Dhabi
The promotion prefers to host its events in Abu Dhabi, especially because of the craze and hospitality they get from the people there. One of the biggest events in Abu Dhabi took place when Khabib Nurmagomedov announced his retirement after his fight with Justin at UFC 254. Recently, Islam Makhachev also made history by defeating Charles Oliveira at UFC 280 held in Abu Dhabi.
Apart from these countries, With the rise of Conor McGregor, the promotion did its best to capitalize on the Irish crowd with UFC Fight Night: Conor McGregor vs. Diego Brandao (Dublin, Ireland). Moreover, MMA is already extremely popular in the UK and UFC got its share of success with most of the events it has hosted in London.
Also Read: Why does Dana White hate MMA journalist Ariel Helwani?
Stay Updated!
Soumya Ranjan
(2167 Articles Published)