The UFC have announced their next set of European events for 2016, where they will visit both Croatia at the Zagreb Arena on Sunday April 10 and in The Netherlands at the Ahoy Rotterdam on Sunday May 8.
Both are new markets for the UFC in their ever growing expansion of the EMEA market.
“It is truly a testimony to the growth of the UFC brand to be breaking into two new markets in Europe in the first half of 2016,” commented James Elliott, UFC EMEA General Manager and Vice President, “The fans have been demanding local live events and we will not disappoint with two compelling shows.”
Some good news for UK fans, it looks as if UFC programming may be staying on BT Sport for the near future. UFC Fight Pass events usually fall out of the standard UFC and BT deal; with Pick TV showing Krakow, Berlin and Dublin in 2015.
It has been rumoured for some time now that the UFC/BT deal was set to expire in the first quarter of 2016, but with the announcement that both UFC Fight Night Zagreb and UFC Fight Night Rotterdam will be broadcast live on the channel, it may hint towards a possible renewal from the UK subscription based sport’s broadcaster.
With the retirement of Mirko Cro Cop in 2015 after a failed USADA drug test, the pool of Croatian UFC stars falls thin, however after beating Andrei Arlovski at UFC 195, the Croatian flag-bearer, Stipe Miocic said: “It would be a dream if I was able to fight in Croatia, I travelled there for the first time in 2015 to train with Mirko Cro Cop and it was a great experience just to see the country and spend some time there with my family. I don’t know what the UFC has in store for me now but I’ll definitely be back in Croatia one way or another.”
Miroslav Stanec, Project Manager at Zagreb Arena added, “Croatia is a sports nation and we are more than thrilled that we will host such a spectacular fighting organisation like UFC. Not just because of the beauty of the sport, but because UFC promotes health, will to succeed and the way of life. I am very excited that Arena Zagreb will be the first venue in region to hold an event and will enter UFC history.”
There has been ‘red-tape’ in The Netherlands for quite some time now, preventing combat sport events to take place in the major city’s. However, GLORY 26 holding an event in Amsterdam in December 2015 was the first sign of change.
Peter van der Veer, CEO Ahoy Rotterdam, “We are thrilled to be the first Dutch venue to host UFC. Ahoy Rotterdam has a long history in sports. We have hosted many national, European and world championships and other premier sporting events like Sixday Indoor Cycling, ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament and the Premier League of Darts. In short, Rotterdam is the perfect city to host this spectacular event.”
The Ahoy Rotterdam has a capacity of just under 16,000, which the UFC will look to pack if they can utilise their current stable of Dutch talent such as Alistair Overeem, Gegard Mousasi and Stefan Struve.
Tickets for UFC FIGHT NIGHT ZAGREB will go on general sale on Friday, February 12 and for UFC FIGHT NIGHT ROTTERDAM on Thursday, March 24.
