This past weekend it was announced that the UFC will be returning to the U.K. on September 29th. No official broadcasting plans have been made yet but various rumors suggest that it may be a UFC on Fuel TV event.

The event will take place at the Capital FM Arena in Nottingham, England. If the show is on Fuel TV it will air live internationally. This is a welcome benefit linked to the Fox deal which was made last fall. In the past shows held within the U.K. have aired via tape delay in the U.S., but this would no longer be the case allowing fans to tune into the action as it happens similar to the UFC event that took place in Sweden in April.

Currentlt no matches have been officially announced for the event but some names have been thrown into the mix as likely participants. At the UFC 146 press conference this past weekend UFC president Dana White was asked if the rumors of a show in Nottingham were true and if UFC 146 winners Paul Sass and Dan Hardy who are both British would be on the card. White said:

“Yea, that is happening and Dan will probably be on that card”

Dan Hardy is from Nottingham so it makes sense for him to fight in his hometown. The British fighter expressed a clear interest in fighting on the card in a UFC 146 post fight interview with ProMMANow.com reporter Joe Gugelman on Saturday night.

Another fighter from England that has shown interest in fighting at the event is TUF cast member Andy Ogle who asked Dana White if he could fight at the event in an episode of “The Ultimate Fighter: Live”. Ogle was informed that he couldn’t fight on the TUF Live Finale due to getting knocked the week before which resulted him a 90 day suspension from the NSAC. Ogle then approached Dana White on the sow a

UFC shows are always popular in the U.K. normally taking place once every year. In October 2010 at the O2 Arena in London UFC 120 at that time broke the attendance record in Europe with 17,133 spectators and a $2.56 million live gate. Last year’s UFC 138 show in Birmingham’s LG Arena also set an arena record when it drew a reported 10,823 attendees for a live gate of $1.5 million.

Thanks guys,

Jay Cee – The MMA Review