IF the jampacked crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena on Saturday night was any indication, then the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will likely be a back in the Philippines sooner than later.
UFC Asia executive vice president Ken Berger announced a sellout crowd of 13,446 was in attendance during the UFC Fight Night Manila at the Mall of Asia Arena (MOA), marking the success of the maiden staging of the world’s No. 1 MMA organization in the country.
Berger earlier said the UFC has been in discussion to hold a fight card in the Philippines annually, but it would first depend on the attendance of the May 16 card.
And the UFC official was certainly satisfied with the resounding success of the 12-fight card, the only UFC event to be held in Southeast Asia this year.
“We had a great turnout, great reaction from the fans, knowledgeable fans,” Berger said. “We certainly hope to be back.”
It marked the first time the MOA Arena was packed to the general admission section for an MMA event since the state-of-the-art facility opened three years ago.
Now, Berger said the UFC is just ironing out a few kinks to make it a regular event.
“We just have to run a few things with our business partners,” the UFC official said. “We certainly hope to be back soon.”
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