MMA Mania reports that the UFC will have 5 events in Canada next year and likely a TUF series. The announcement should capitalize on the massive fan output from fans to the north.
The announcement improves Canadian events by 2. This will be the third visit to Canada this year as Edmonton Calgary saw Faber-Barao in the main event. The second saw Jon Jones in the main event in Toronto. The next visit this November will feature the return of Georges St. Pierre as he faces Carlos Condit to unify the welterweight title. As we recall, UFC landed major records for UFC 129 and the country has had annual visits
UFC 149, Edmonton Calgary: 16.089 attendance, $4.1M gate
UFC 152, Toronto: 16,800 attendance, $1.9M gate
UFC 1 154, Montreal
Payout Perspective:
The announcement that the UFC will visit five times in 2013 should not be too much of a surprise considering the addition of more events next year and the country’s dedicated fan base. The possibility of a TUF franchise makes sense considering its global expansion. While UFC 152 may have seen a drop off from its previous appearances in the city, the Edmonton card was a success considering the need to juggle the card. We expect that the UFC will head to Toronto and Montreal and then try to reach other places not previously visited by the UFC in an effort to solidify support in the country.
UFC 149 was in Calgary, not Edmonton.
It was Calgary not Edmonton 😉
Thanks guys. Its been updated. Its Calgary, not Edmonton. I was thinking of Seattle’s new NHL team. j/k 🙂
It will be interesting to see how Canadian interest holds up if/when GSP is no longer a champion. They are hoping Rory MacDonald can take up the Canadian banner, which he might be able to do.
We’ve seen how interest in Japan has declined as Japanese fighters haven’t had much success in the UFC. Fans get excited when their countrymen succeed. Brazilian interest has risen with Brazilian success – especially Anderson Silva’s.
Canada being a fairly small country would not be expected to regularly produce champions.
It’s also clear that UFC has expanded the # of weight classes in the hopes of getting more countries to have champions. Dana has been pretty clear that he hopes some east asians or latin americans win the feather, bantam, and flyweight classes. But so far it’s all Americans and Brazilians.
@jose
Good points. I think a Canadian TUF should help the UFC find the next big thing. I think you are right in that the UFC would love to see MacDonald be the next big Canadian star as we know GSP’s career is nearing its end.
The market has been good to the UFC and it would like to foster it by finding Canadian-born talent.
I wonder if the extra events next year will also be due to the talked about local shows in like Brazil? Maybe the UFC is bringing that sooner than expected and will also run a handful of smaller shows there as well as Canada but maybe not PPV but Fuel tv worthy.
30+ shows is a lot. BUt if they are Fuel level events it wont be hard to fill the cards as the talent isnt very great. It maybe also further hint at the colapse of Strikeforce. The extra events maybe to house those extra fighters.