UFC 120 set to break European attendance and gate receipt records
The Ultimate Fighting Championship swill return to the United Kingdom on Saturday 16 October with UFC 120. The event will be held at London’s 02 Arena and all indications are that the
event will set records for gate receipts as well as attendance for a European mixed martial arts event.
On Thursday it was announced that the promoters were reconfiguring the seating in the arena to satisfy demand for additional tickets. UFC UK president Marshall Zelaznik was thrilled with
the level of support the UFC was seeing for this event.
"We've had a huge amount of interest from the fans, the media and A-list celebrities like never before. But, we're only just scratching the surface," said Zelaznik.
The main card at UFC 120 will feature five fight and four of these bouts will feature a fighter from England. In the headlining bout Michael Bisping will face Yoshihiro Akiyama (Japan)
in a middleweight contest. The co main event will feature a welterweight bout between Dan Hardy and former World Extreme Cagefighting champion Carlos Condit (United States).
In addition to Bisping and Hardy, the undefeated John Hathaway (14-0) will battle Mike Pyle (U.S) in a welterweight match. The last British fighter on the main card, James Wilks, winner
of season nine of Spike TV’s “The Ultimate Fighter” will compete against Claude Patrick (Canada). Four other British fighters will compete on the preliminary card.
Zelaznik had this to say about UFC 120, “The level of support the British fighters get from their public is unbelievable and O2 will have a blistering atmosphere from the very first horn.”
More than on week prior to the event, UFC 120 is being billed as the most successful European UFC event ever. Zelaznik told MMAfighting.com that he expects over 17,000 fans to attend
the event.
The UFC has not been in the UK since UFC 105 in November 2009. UFC 105, which was held at Manchester’s MEN Arena currently, holds the
record for highest attendance for a European MMA event at 16,693. UFC 75, which took place in September 2007 at O2 Arena, holds the current record for live gate receipts with $2.7 million.
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