UFC 147 finally has a home.
The promotion announced on Friday that Brazil’s Estadio Jornalista Felipe Drummond, aka “Mineirinho,” in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, will host the event on June 23. This will mark the third time in less than a year that Brazil hosts a UFC event.
The main card, headlined by Vitor Belfort vs. Wanderlei Silva, will air live on pay-per-view, while the prelims will air on FX.
UFC 147 was originally supposed to feature Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen 2 inside a Rio de Janeiro soccer stadium, but the UFC was forced to change locations (and main events) after the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) conflicted with the planning of the event.
The “Mineirinho” arena is the largest indoor arena in Brazil and can hold approximately 25,000 fans.
“It is great for our fans and for the UFC to be able to stage events in new parts of Brazil,” Marshall Zelaznik, UFC Managing Director of International Development, stated in a press release. “The UFC is exploding everywhere in the country and Minas Gerais, being the third biggest state in the country, seemed like the perfect place for this. Not only has Mineirinho received some major acts through the years, but it is also located in a central and touristic area of the city. It will certainly be a fantastic experience for the fans.”
In addition to Belfort vs. Silva 2, the card will feature the featherweight and middleweight finals of TUF: Brazil, Fabricio Werdum vs. Mike Russow and more fights to be announced in the coming weeks.