The UFC is officially headed back across the pond for another event in London, England in the first quarter of next year.
UFC London Booked For March
With the UFC’s travel schedule getting more active as the world moves farther away from the COVID-19 pandemic, this year has already seen the world’s leading MMA promotion hold events in countries such as Canada, Mexico, and Australia, among others.
This year’s calendar also featured a major stop in Manchester, England for UFC 304, which saw Tom Aspinall defend his interim heavyweight belt in the co-main event before Belal Muhammad took the
welterweight strap from Leon Edwards in the night’s headlining fight.
Belal Muhammad works for a submission against Leon Edwards of Jamaica at Co-op Live on July 28, 2024 in Manchester, England. / (Ben Roberts Photo/Getty Images)
UFC 304 was the promotion’s only England event this year, but the O2 Arena in London will once again host a UFC Fight Night event next year on March 22.
The UFC’s last visit to the O2 Arena in 2023 saw Aspinall return from a knee injury to stop Marcin Tybura in Fight Night headliner, and just a few months before that the London venue hosted a UFC 286 card where Edwards defended his welterweight title against Kamaru Usman after “Rocky” took the title from Usman via last-minute head kick at UFC 278.
Turns out local ticket holders are still butthurt about the UFC 304 pay-per-view (PPV) card last July in Manchester, which had a “crazy” main card start time of 3 a.m. to accommodate stateside viewers. Participating fighters weren’t exactly thrilled, either.
“If you mfs make us show up at 3am again then we are boycotting,” one fan wrote under the promotion’s Twitter announcement, while another added “this better be on UK time.” A majority of the reactions seemed to focus on the local start time.
Here’s the good news.
Since the UFC London card on March 22 is expected to be a non-PPV “Fight Night” card, the promotion is likely to schedule the bouts for prime time, much like it did for its previous trip to London with Tom Aspinall in tow (sample here).
No word yet on who will be competing at UFC London on March 22.
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This fucking sucks.
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Hopefully this means Strickland isn’t getting a title shot.he was saying Vegas in March
3.this fucking sucks.fuck the UK .
Trump needs to talk dana out of these cards in shit commonwealth countries
Called it!!! Winner gets next title shot, imo.
