Organizers of UFC 198, which takes place on May 14 at Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil, sold 32,000 tickets in the first day of sales, putting the show on pace to sell out and easily set the new ticket sales record for a UFC event in Brazil.
The announcement, from UFC Brazil senior vice president and general manager Giovani Decker, was part of a big news day for MMA fans in that country and beyond. Decker also said Wednesday the UFC is planning two additional events for the fall.
"For everyone at the UFC and in Brazil it’s a dream come true,” Decker said at a news conference for UFC 198, per Mike Bohn of MMAjunkie. “For years, we’ve been trying to have an event in a stadium and it’s going to be a great success. ... In an hour and a half we have approximately 32,000 ticket sales. So May 14 will be a legendary event, a legendary card that I’m sure will be for many years in everyone’s memory."
This is the first UFC event in Brazil (and only the fourth overall) to take place in a stadium. To put the early sales figure in perspective, UFC 190—the main event that pitted massive MMA star and then-women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey against Bethe Correia in Rio de Janeiro—had an announced attendance of 14,723.
Although Brazil has always been a hotbed of MMA—the legendary Gracie family co-invented the UFC in the 1990s, in part to showcase the Brazilian jiu-jitsu it pioneered—the UFC has sometimes seemed to treat the nation's fanbase as an afterthought. Cable TV cards were watered down with homegrown but non-elite talents, while top Brazilian stars like Anderson Silva were often reserved for Las Vegas.
However, that trend reversed in 2015, when the UFC made a conscious effort to raise the quality of its presence in Latin America's largest country. It held five events in Brazil last year, and it would have held six if UFC Fight Night 70 had kept its original location (it was moved to Florida because of technical issues with the U.S. visa system). That's fewer than the seven events held there in 2014, but the more recent events featured noticeably denser star power, with luminaries like Rousey and Carlos Condit more frequently in the mix.
UFC 198 is probably the promotion's most loaded Brazil card to date. Fabricio Werdum defends his heavyweight title against Stipe Miocic in the main event, while the co-main event features Brazilian middleweight standouts Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza and Vitor Belfort. Anderson Silva, Demian Maia, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, hot prospect Warlley Alves and other Brazilian elites also line the card.
Arena da Baixada has a total seating capacity of about 42,000.
Almost as a reward for Brazilian fan enthusiasm for UFC 198, Decker also announced on Wednesday two cards in the works for Brazil for autumn. Details have yet to be finalized, although Decker did say he hopes they will continue to have a big-tent feel.
“We have two events confirmed: one in September, one in November,” Decker said. “We’re still negotiating the cities. ... The idea is to have at least three events each year and continue this format of big events.”
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