NSW Premier Chris Minns has made good on his pre-election promise to bring the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) back to Sydney. As both he and President Dana White confirmed today, the state has inked a $16 million partnership with the leading mixed martial arts promotion, which guarantees three pay-per-view events across the next four years starting with UFC 293 (September 10).
“We continue securing a calendar of exclusive, diverse, and unmissable events to boost our visitor economy, support local businesses, and create more jobs – and that’s exactly what these UFC events will do,” said Chris Minns, who also described the deal as a “major coup for the people of NSW.”
“Australians are some of the most passionate fight fans in the world and we know these Sydney events are going to be massive. Sydney was the first Australian city to host a UFC pay-per-view and we are going to bring incredible events every time we come back over the next four years,” said Dana White via statement.
Minns added: “Thousands of people will fly into our state to see the biggest UFC events in Sydney in more than a decade. Some of the best Aussie UFC fighters were born and bred right here in NSW. It’s about time that we have a major UFC event back in Sydney, so local fans can watch our home-grown talent.”
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These hotly-anticipated visitations to our sunburnt shores are projected to inject tens of millions into the NSW tourism economy, similar to what was experienced by Perth earlier this year for the blockbuster UFC 284: Islam Makhachev vs Alexander Volkanovski.
While this is no doubt a massive win for Aussie combat sports fans, it does come at a rather inopportune time for our country’s two biggest names – featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and Robert Whittaker – given they’re both scheduled to fight at UFC 290 for International Fight Week (July 9).
Volkanovski is set to defend his title in a unification bout against interim champ, Yair Rodriguez, while Whittaker will face South Africas Dricus Du Plessis to decide who gets the next title shot against the middleweight division’s newly re-crowned king Israel Adesanya; meaning they’ll only have nine weeks to prepare for UFC 293 (assuming they intend to compete; receive the medical green light). Still, Fox Sports seems to believe Adesanya vs Whittaker could be the move.
Other potential names currently in the conversation for UFC 293’s card include rising stars Jack Della Maddalena and Jack Jenkins, blokes who put on cracking performances in Perth, Western Sydney banger Tai Tuivasa, Jimmy Crute, Tyson Pedro, as well as Jack Culibao. We can also probably expect Adesanya and Volkanovski’s City Kickboxing teammate Dan Hooker to make an appearance.
The last time the world’s leading MMA promotion hit Sydney was in late 2017 for UFC Fight Night: Fabricio Werdum vs Marcin Tybura, held in the Qudos Bank Arena. Just to give you a reference for how long ago that was, Tai Tuivasa threw hands in the preliminary card while Alexander Volkanovski stepped into the Octagon for the main card’s lowest-billed bout.
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