Clark Kent
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01-21-2010 02:25 PM:
The UFC really hits the road this year with an aggressive international expansion that include shows in Sydney, Australia and Abu Dhabi. The Aussies are ready. Boy, are they ever. The Acer Arena, configured for 17,300, is already sold out. The UFC's U.K. president told Cagewriter the show will be adding a closed circuit seating venue adjacent to the arena. The event in Abu Dhabi is a little more tricky. The "arena" is far from sold out. That's because there is no arena and yet the event is tentatively scheduled for April 10. What gives?
Zelaznik scouted the area last week and said the plan is moving forward. The UAE is experienced at holding big events.
"The majority of the events are held outdoors. The opportunity for us would include the building of an outdoor arena."
He said it'll be similar to Las Vegas superfight venues of the '70s and '80s.
"You'd have some sort of covering on it. You'd have a pretty intimate live setting. In our current planning, we'd look to have 10,000 seats or more depending on the configuration we go with."
Zelaznik said the thought that Flash Entertainment and the UAE would have a standard 20,000 seat arena finished by April is far-fetched.
"Make no bones about it, the area we're looking at is gravel currently. It will be built for a UFC event. It will be dressed in a way that it will feel very special. With the exception of walls and a roof, it will be an arena with raised seating, coliseum-style seating where you have people very close to the action."
The main event for UFC 112 has B.J. Penn defending his title against Frank Edgar. Renzo Gracie, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor to the UAE royal family and a legendary member of the Gracie clan, will make his UFC debut as well. The 42-year-old will fight a fellow legend in Matt Hughes. Gracie will try to avenge the loss his brother Royce to Hughes back at UFC 63.
Zelaznik said he felt an optimism, almost a "gold rush mentality" because of all the success in the UAE right now. Abu Dhabi has become an entertainement mecca.
"I was just speaking with our partner there, who was coming from a party. And people were coming up to congratulate him on the partnership and he said he was blown away by the people that he wouldn't have expected to be fans. That's the kind of stuff we hear when we go into new markets." Zelaznik didn't specify where the arena was slated for but he did say the Emirates Palace Hotel has hosted big events in the past.
More...
Yahoo! Sports.
Cagewriter is an MMA blog edited by Steve Cofield.
The UFC really hits the road this year with an aggressive international expansion that include shows in Sydney, Australia and Abu Dhabi. The Aussies are ready. Boy, are they ever. The Acer Arena, configured for 17,300, is already sold out. The UFC's U.K. president told Cagewriter the show will be adding a closed circuit seating venue adjacent to the arena. The event in Abu Dhabi is a little more tricky. The "arena" is far from sold out. That's because there is no arena and yet the event is tentatively scheduled for April 10. What gives?
Zelaznik scouted the area last week and said the plan is moving forward. The UAE is experienced at holding big events.
"The majority of the events are held outdoors. The opportunity for us would include the building of an outdoor arena."
He said it'll be similar to Las Vegas superfight venues of the '70s and '80s.
"You'd have some sort of covering on it. You'd have a pretty intimate live setting. In our current planning, we'd look to have 10,000 seats or more depending on the configuration we go with."
Zelaznik said the thought that Flash Entertainment and the UAE would have a standard 20,000 seat arena finished by April is far-fetched.
"Make no bones about it, the area we're looking at is gravel currently. It will be built for a UFC event. It will be dressed in a way that it will feel very special. With the exception of walls and a roof, it will be an arena with raised seating, coliseum-style seating where you have people very close to the action."
The main event for UFC 112 has B.J. Penn defending his title against Frank Edgar. Renzo Gracie, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu instructor to the UAE royal family and a legendary member of the Gracie clan, will make his UFC debut as well. The 42-year-old will fight a fellow legend in Matt Hughes. Gracie will try to avenge the loss his brother Royce to Hughes back at UFC 63.
Zelaznik said he felt an optimism, almost a "gold rush mentality" because of all the success in the UAE right now. Abu Dhabi has become an entertainement mecca.
"I was just speaking with our partner there, who was coming from a party. And people were coming up to congratulate him on the partnership and he said he was blown away by the people that he wouldn't have expected to be fans. That's the kind of stuff we hear when we go into new markets." Zelaznik didn't specify where the arena was slated for but he did say the Emirates Palace Hotel has hosted big events in the past.
More...
Yahoo! Sports.
Cagewriter is an MMA blog edited by Steve Cofield.
