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UFC targeting 'four to six' Fight Nights in UK next year
ESPN staff
July 21, 2010
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The UFC is hoping to come to Britain on 'four to six' occasions next year as it begins to put in place major plans to introduce Fight Nights to the European scene.
UFC UK president Marshall Zelaznik is the man charged with delivering top MMA action to multiple countries around Europe, and he spoke exclusively to ESPN.co.uk after officially announcing UFC 120, which will take place in London on October 16.
The O2 Arena event, headlined by Michael Bisping v Yoshihiro Akiyama, is the first UFC card to come to England in 2010, which is a decrease on the previous two years when the UFC came twice.
Zelaznik is ready to put an end to that, insisting it is time that English fans were treated to the regular UFC diet that they crave.
"We're working towards bringing together a series of UK and European Fight Nights. My hope is that, come October, we'll be able to put some real heat on this. Talks are underway," he told ESPN.co.uk.
"My hope is that it will provide four to six guaranteed UFC events in the UK next year. We're hoping to hold one more European event [in addition to UFC 120] before the end of the year, and then we'll get these extra nights planned for next year.
"We'd like to come to Liverpool, Scotland, Newcastle, Birmingham, these places provide 10,000-seaters which will be great for Fight Nights."
Meanwhile, Zelaznik also promised a fan expo for UFC 120, which will feature at least 20 guest fighters in the week building up to the event.
"We're planning an expo for UFC 120, and we'll have 20 or more fighters present for it," he said. "We would like to focus the event on some single martial arts, like doing Judo tournaments and so on.
"We'll have some of the top fighters guesting there, we really want the fans to mix with the fighters, and we're finalising the planning for the event as we speak."
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