MACAU, CHINA — Zuffa’s first voyage to China just ended with a successful show at UFC: Macao, but when it comes to plans for their Asian expansion, it looks like they’re not taking their foot of the pedal just yet. Following the event, Mark Fischer, the Managing Director of UFC Asia has already announced their next UFC show in the region.
The UFC will be returning to Japan in 2013, and the event will once again be at the Saitama Super Arena. The show will be on March 3rd, and like their last show in the country, it will be held on a Sunday morning to accommodate the time slots for the U.S. audience.
No word yet whether the Japanese event will be on PPV, or a free show on FX, or FUEL TV. In addition, no names were given out as possible participants on the card. The UFC most recently returned to Japan in February of 2012 for UFC 144, which was also held at the Saitama Super Arena. The main event was headlined by a lightweight title fight between Frankie Edgar and Ben Henderson. That marked the organization’s first show in Japan since 2012.
Fischer, however, did mention their plans for another country they will likely be visiting next: Indonesia. No immediate details about a date, venue or card participants were immediately available.
With the desire to go to the country, the UFC has partnered up with MNC Media, a large media conglomerate with holdings including broadcasting and print media, telecommunications, online retail and more. It’s the largest such network in Indonesia and has 40% of the share of the market.
The country hasn’t had much MMA in the the past 7 years, but this year Asian promotion ONE FC has hosted an event at the nation’s capital in Jakarta last February. The audience won’t be completely new with MMA, and with the country being the 4th most populous country in the world, it makes for an attractive target market for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.