‘UFC 198: Werdum Vs. Miocic’ Breaking Brazil Attendance Records — Dana White Plans For More Events In Country For Fall Season
UFC 198: Werdum vs. Miocic is more than a month away, and it is already causing a lot of hype, more so than the upcoming UFC 197: Cormier vs. Jones 2. Set to take place on May 14, 2016, the UFC premier event will be the first to happen in Curitiba, Brazil. The fight card itself is a dream come true for most MMA fans, especially for Brazilian locals. Besides UFC Heavyweight Champion Fabrício Werdum, Ronaldo Souza, Vitor Belfort, Anderson Silva, and Maurício Rua are competing. Not only that, UFC 198 will also have the UFC debut of Cristiane Justino, who is better known as Cris Cyborg, when she takes on Leslie Smith at a Catchweight of 140 pounds.
The aforementioned details about the fight card have made UFC 198: Werdum vs. Miocic beneficial for business as proven by the sales numbers. Reports now show 32,000 tickets have been sold for UFC 198: Werdum vs. Miocic. As a result, Dana White is planning for more events in Brazil for the Fall season.
Giovani Decker, the General Manager of UFC Brazil, made it known during a news conference for the upcoming UFC premier event. There was a high number of tickets sold, as reported by MMA Junkie. Decker highlighted his statement by claiming UFC 198: Werdum vs. Miocic was well on its way to reaching “sellout status.”
“This is an event we’ve never seen before; for everyone at the UFC and in Brazil it’s a dream come true. For years, we’ve been trying to have an event in a stadium and it’s going to be a great success. (Wednesday) was the first day of sales, and in an hour and a half we have approximately 32,000 ticket sales. So May 14 will be a legendary event, a legendary card that I’m sure will be for many years in everyone’s memory.”
The venue, Arena da Baixada, can hold up to 45,000 attendees. UFC 198: Werdum vs. Miocic is 13,000 ticket sales shy of breaking the record. Apparently, such numbers are more than satisfactory to Dana White and the other bigwigs in UFC. According to Bleacher Report, Giovani Decker also announced UFC will hold more events in Brazil. They are still working through all the paperwork and red tape, but if UFC can deliver, Brazilians will be able to attend two more premier live shows in the Fall season.
Giovani Decker anuncia que el plan es que haya 3 carteleras en total en Brasil. En 2015 hubo 5. #UFC198
— Rodrigo Del Campo (@RodDelCampo) March 30, 2016
Now, to be fair, UFC 198: Werdum vs. Miocic has a card that is technically made for the hometown crowd to buy by the thousands. As the fight card now stands, every single fight features at least one Brazilian. Curitiba, Brazil is also the hometown for both Maurício Rua and Cris Cyborg. Pertaining to the latter, throw in the fact, as mentioned earlier, that the event is Cyborg’s debut in UFC, and it is easily a guarantee for sales.
Future UFC events held in Brazil will most-likely not receive the same intimate local fan service UFC 198: Werdum vs. Miocic is receiving. However, it is still a good move to do to get the hype ball rolling, especially with the two more UFC events planned to happen in the fall season, followed by continually holding three events in Brazil annually.
UFC 198: Werdum vs Miocic will once again take place on May 14, 2016 in the Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil. Tickets are still on sale for the premier event, but they are limited at this moment. As for everyone else who cannot attend the event live, it is only available through pay-per-view, $49.99 for standard definition and $59.99 for high-definition. It is also possible to watch the pay-per-view at a sports bar or restaurant, such as Buffalo Wild Wings or Hooters.
[Image via UFC 198: Werdum vs. Miocic Promotions]
