THE UFC are considering bringing their European road show back to Belfast next year, a spokesman has confirmed.
MMA's premier event organiser returns to Dublin next month for the second year running, but the UFC have not visited Belfast since a successful show at the Odyssey Arena in 2007.
And with demand for shows overwhelmingly high in Ireland - tickets for October's event at the 3Arena having sold out in less than a minute - the UFC’s Vice President of International Joe Carr admits Belfast is back on their radar for 2016.
“We're trying to figure our calendar out for next year but that's one of the cities we're looking at so there's a very good chance that we'll go there,” he told The Irish Post.
“People ask if we can come to Dublin every year, but maybe there'll be a year when we go to Belfast and not Dublin.”
The UFC has enjoyed a rapid rise in interest among Irish MMA fans over the past two years, boasting a 41 per cent year-on-year growth. Research also shows around 70 per cent of Irish UFC fans have only become fans in the last two years, and Carr is grateful for the boom.
“Ireland, as a whole, is obviously a massive market for us from a live event perspective,” he said.
“I sit across all our businesses internationally, and when I started with the UFC four years ago Canada was on top of the world and our pay-per-view numbers were through the roof.
“Then it was Brazil's turn with Anderson Silva and Jose Aldo. Now I feel as though this is Europe's time. Right now, it's completely on fire, and it's growing faster than any of our other markets – a lot of that has to do with the Irish market.”
