It appears the UFC may soon be coming back to Calgary.
Calgary is in line to host UFC 289 on June 10, according to a report by Montreal-born MMA journalist Ariel Helwani.
“Current plan is for UFC 289 to take place June 10 in Calgary,” Helwani said, adding that it would be Canada’s first UFC event since before the pandemic. “These locations are changing a lot these days but this one is definitely looking good for Calgary.”
These locations are changing a lot these days but this one is definitely looking good for Calgary. Hope it happens for y’all in Alberta and Canada. This would be the first UFC event in Canada since before the pandemic.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) March 28, 2023
The last UFC event held on Canadian soil was UFC Fight Night at Rogers Arena in Vancouver on September 14, 2019.
Other 2019 events held in Canada include UFC 240 at Rogers Place in Edmonton (July 27) and UFC Fight Night at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa (May 4).
Calgary first hosted UFC 149 more than a decade ago, in an event that was deemed by many to be the “worst ever.” Nine high-profile fighters dropped out of that event held at the Scotiabank Saddledome because of injuries, according to the CBC.
The Saddledome also hosted a UFC event in 2018 that featured a lightweight bout between Eddie Alvarez and Dustin Poirier.
“Yes, yes, yes and yes,” UFC president Dana White said last month, per MMA Mania’s Alex Behunin. “Yes, we’re working on getting back to Canada ASAP… [With] the whole COVID thing, it’s gonna take us a few years to get back and hit every place that we need to hit. But the great part of it is that all these places are chomping at the bit to get a UFC event back there. Canada is and always has been a very important market to us. So we’re working on it. Yeah, we’ll be there soon.”
While the full fight card for UFC 289 has yet to be revealed, two bouts are already known.
Miranda Maverick has revealed that she’ll be fighting Jasmine Jasudavicius in a women’s flyweight match, while Iridium Sports Agency reported that Eryk Anders would take on Marc-André Barriault in a men’s middleweight bout.
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