Hold the phone on the reported “UFC Japan Series” in 2013.
After Japanese news outlet Nikkan Sports reported earlier this week that the promotion would be holding a number of smaller events in Japan next year, Mark Fischer, executive vice president and managing director of UFC Asia, told MMAFighting.com on Thursday that nothing has been set in stone.
“I think some items they printed were exaggerated or taken out of context,” Fischer wrote via e-mail, “i.e., as if they are happening rather than simply just things we are just looking at.
“All really just pure speculation at this point.”
The report stated that the UFC would hold a number of events in 5,000-seat venues around the country next year.
The promotion made its return to Japan for the first time in 11 years this past February for UFC 144, and the event was considered a success. According to the UFC, the card drew a sell-out crowd at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
Whether the UFC returns to Japan next year for a “series” of events or not, Fischer told Nikkan Sports that the organization is committed to developing the Japanese market.
“I want to foster Japanese world-class fighters,” he said. “In Japan, which can be called the birthplace of mixed martial arts, I want to do an event on a regular basis.”