UFC planning on returning to Calgary in the near future

It may not be too long before we see the UFC return to Calgary.

It’s been over six years since a UFC event was hosted in Calgary. A Fight Night headlined by a sequel between Dustin Poirier and Eddie Alvarez took place in July 2018. The only other event held in the city was UFC 149 back in 2012.

UFC hasn’t been ignoring Alberta as a whole, as Edmonton is hosting a Fight Night at Rogers Place this evening. That’s had some fans in Calgary feeling left out, though it sounds like an event will be coming to Alberta’s southern city soon enough.

“We’re keeping a close watch on when that new barn is going to be built. What are we looking at? Summer ’26? Is that right?” David Shaw, UFC executive senior vice-president of international and content, asked Logan Gordon and Peter Klein on Sportsnet Today 960. “The reality is, we will likely come back to Calgary before then. Calgary is a pay-per-view destination. When the new arena is built, that makes a lot of sense for us.”

Shaw also mentioned that the UFC had planned to come to Calgary on other dates in the past, but those dates didn’t work out for various reasons.

“We had some dates held in the past that I think were usurped under our eyes after, I think, maybe the Hitmen or another regional team that needed the date,” Shaw explained. “We lost our date at one point in the past couple years, but that doesn’t slow anything down, we’re going to get it back to Calgary.”

Though Shaw did suggest that they plan to come to Calgary before Scotia Place is done being built, his comments show just how many more events will be coming here once the new building is ready to go. Suffice it to say that some very exciting times lie ahead for this city.

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