After years of speculation, the UFC will make its long-awaited Chinese debut on November 10, 2012 with UFC on FUEL 6, promotion officials announced on Tuesday’s episode of UFC Tonight.
The international event is slated to be held in Macau, a special administrative region of China located on the country’s eastern shore, at the 15,000 seat CotaiArena inside the Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel. The $2.4 billion hotel opened in 2007 and is currently the largest casino in the world.
“Breaking into a market with a population of over 1.3 billion is both a testament to the growth of our sport and a long-term challenge we are excited to undertake,” UFC Chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta stated. “This is just the first of many world-class fights we plan to hold over the coming years in China, one of the birthplaces of martial arts.”
UFC on FUEL 6 will mark the second UFC event of the year to hit Asia, following February’s UFC 144 show, which took place in Saitama, Japan.
Veteran featherweight Zhang Tiequan is currently the only Chinese fighter on the UFC roster.
“This event is a major step in the development of the UFC brand in this region of the world, and China in particular,” said Mark Fischer, UFC Managing Director of Asia. “We are delighted by this opportunity to build on the media growth and attention we have received and to finally bring a live event in prime time to the millions of fans in this area, and especially to those lucky enough to come and experience all the excitement of the UFC in person.”