UFC set to return to Dublin, Ireland on March 17th, O2 Arena already lined up as venu

scudzilla

Deleted User wrote: »

I've only seen 2 sources on this so far. Can anyone actually confirm it?

Nope, nobody can confirm anthing until it's been officially announced, they promised us a Paddy's day card for this year but nothing came of it.

I'd reckon an announcement will be made in December, with tickets on sale in Dec IF it happens. At least i know what i'll be getting my wife and her me for Christmas ;)

If i was a betting man i'd say it's 80% certain they'll be here in March

unknown13

gatecrasher69er wrote: »

if and when the ufc comes to ireland..how many irish fighters do yous think they will have on the undercard??

Marcus Davis + one fighter. Highly doubt Tom Egan will be used again.

MrStuffins

unknown13 wrote: »

Marcus Davis + one fighter. Highly doubt Tom Egan will be used again.

I was thinking about this today. If Tom Egan fought John Hathaway TODAY and lost how he did, there wouldn't be any shame in it as Hathaway is highly respected at this point.

But with it being Hathaway's first fight, Egan was fighting a "nobody" and got the instant boot.

Retrospective call backs are impossible, but i'd love to see him get another go.

unknown13

MrStuffins wrote: »

I was thinking about this today. If Tom Egan fought John Hathaway TODAY and lost how he did, there wouldn't be any shame in it as Hathaway is highly respected at this point.

But with it being Hathaway's first fight, Egan was fighting a "nobody" and got the instant boot.

I am not going to be go crazy about Egan's performance but look at it this way. Forget Egan is Irish, is the performance he put on in early 2009 acceptable with the UFC?, which market their company as the MMA company with the best talent.

MrStuffins

unknown13 wrote: »

I am not going to be go crazy about Egan's performance but look at it this way. Forget Egan is Irish, is the performance he put on in early 2009 acceptable with the UFC?, which market their company as the MMA company with the best talent.

I understand your point, but he was dominated by a guy who also dominated Diego Sanchez the exact same way.

But at the time, who'd have known Hathaway could do such things?

unknown13

MrStuffins wrote: »

I understand your point, but he was dominated by a guy who also dominated Diego Sanchez the exact same way.

But at the time, who'd have known Hathaway could do such things?

If you asked 100 people who would win the fight between him and Diego. I would say a max of 5 would have said Hathaway. No one expected it, it is a very strong contender for upset of the year.

MrStuffins

Exactly. So thats really my point. The brass thought Egan was being dominated by an ordinary Brit guy. Little did they know he was actually Top Class and was capable of dominating one of the top guys in the world and an actual Title Contender!

unknown13

MrStuffins wrote: »

Exactly. So thats really my point. The brass thought Egan was being dominated by an ordinary Brit guy. Little did they know he was actually Top Class and was capable of dominating one of the top guys in the world and an actual Title Contender!

Hathaway isn't near a title yet. Diego is good but Hathaway has to face some of the better fighters in the division first. IE Fitch, Nate Diaz, Hughes, Penn, Alves, Kampmann, Shields and Tiago before he gets near a shot.

siochain

Thomas will be back. Last I heard he was training on a few camps in the US. Anyone who for sure where's he's at now?

MrStuffins

unknown13 wrote: »

Hathaway isn't near a title yet. Diego is good but Hathaway has to face some of the better fighters in the division first. IE Fitch, Nate Diaz, Hughes, Penn, Alves, Kampmann, Shields and Tiago before he gets near a shot.

When i said "Title Contender" i was talking about Diego. His prior fight had been for the LW Title

unknown13

MrStuffins wrote: »

When i said "Title Contender" i was talking about Diego. His prior fight had been for the LW Title

OK, Diego only went down to LW just to get a crack at a title. There wasn't anyway he was getting one at WW but a great chance he was getting one at LW. After Penn smashed him he made his way back up to WW.

scudzilla

siochain wrote: »

Thomas will be back. Last I heard he was training on a few camps in the US. Anyone who for sure where's he's at now?

He was training wit Kenny Florian about 3 months ago for some time

Fromvert

If Tom Egan had of been fighting since his fight at UFC 93 and rattled up a few wins he might have got a fight in the UFC come March. But I don't think he's fought since, he's been training in the US from what I've read/heard.

There's a good few guys on here who have trained with/coached him and are friends with him. They could give us a better idea of what he's up to.

SuperWoody101

Fromvert wrote: »

If Tom Egan had of been fighting since his fight at UFC 93 and rattled up a few wins he might have got a fight in the UFC come March. But I don't think he's fought since, he's been training in the US from what I've read/heard.

There's a good few guys on here who have trained with/coached him and are friends with him. They could give us a better idea of what he's up to.

I would love to see 'Stormin' Norman Parke get a chance.

gatecrasher69er

Originally Posted by Fromvert
If Tom Egan had of been fighting since his fight at UFC 93 and rattled up a few wins he might have got a fight in the UFC come March. But I don't think he's fought since, he's been training in the US from what I've read/heard.

There's a good few guys on here who have trained with/coached him and are friends with him. They could give us a better idea of what he's up to.

I would love to see 'Stormin' Norman Parke get a chance.


quality mate!!!100% right..

buzzingnoise

an entire irish card would be amazing.
by irish i mean of course, a few of our own plus all the americans that claim irish heritage (or have irish names.)
bonnar
griffin
davis
bj penn...fathers irish

you get the idea.
who else would you have??

unknown13

buzzingnoise wrote: »

an entire irish card would be amazing.
by irish i mean of course, a few of our own plus all the americans that claim irish heritage (or have irish names.)
bonnar
griffin
davis
bj penn...fathers irish

you get the idea.
who else would you have??

The UFC will never bring BJ over because he is a moaning bástard about where he fights. Bonnar and Davis maybe. Griffin unlikely.

TheProdigy

I think BJ's father is from Kansas but he has Irish roots, he wouldn't come here because he wants money from the PPV cut and is fighting at 123.

Griffin is very likely to come here imo, he is a gamer and should have a fight coming up so I wouldn't be surprised to see him fight. Marcus Davis should retire, simple as

cowzerp

TheProdigy wrote: »

I think BJ's father is from Kansas but he has Irish roots, he wouldn't come here because he wants money from the PPV cut and is fighting at 123.

Griffin is very likely to come here imo, he is a gamer and should have a fight coming up so I wouldn't be surprised to see him fight. Marcus Davis should retire, simple as

BJ's dads da is Irish as far as i know, also Griffin said the food over here totally screwed his diet and prep when he fought in Belfast so i dont know how keen he would be to come here again..

TheProdigy

cowzerp wrote: »

BJ's dads da is Irish as far as i know, also Griffin said the food over here totally screwed his diet and prep when he fought in Belfast so i dont know how keen he would be to come here again..

Griffin told me at the Boston expo 4 weeks ago that he would be very interested to fight in Dublin because the fans are "headcases".

Hopefully they give us a good card anyway

unknown13

TheProdigy wrote: »

Griffin told me at the Boston expo 4 weeks ago that he would be very interested to fight in Dublin because the fans are "headcases".

Hopefully they give us a good card anyway

We won't be getting a Brit-fest that is guaranteed.

Richy06

TheProdigy wrote: »

Griffin told me at the Boston expo 4 weeks ago that he would be very interested to fight in Dublin because the fans are "headcases".

Hopefully they give us a good card anyway

I remember reading in his book that he'd never fight outside the US again because of the whole disruption to his fight preparation. So maybe he was just placating you! :P

scudzilla

Richy06 wrote: »

I remember reading in his book that he'd never fight outside the US again because of the whole disruption to his fight preparation. So maybe he was just placating you! :P

A 50k back hander would surely turn that 'Never' into a 'Will' ;)

wedgelington

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC_128

so is it official that the ufc will be coming back for a paddys day show, cause pretty much every show i've seen posted on wikipedia has come to fruition, i reckon they'll do the show the following saturday the 19th

unknown13

Unless the venue is on Junkie or Rogan puts a date for a show in Dublin in March it is not offical until the UFC announce it.

scudzilla

wedgelington wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC_128

so is it official that the ufc will be coming back for a paddys day show, cause pretty much every show i've seen posted on wikipedia has come to fruition, i reckon they'll do the show the following saturday the 19th

Nothing on Wiki is official, i could go on there now and edit that page to say that it will be held in Ashbourne Civiv Centre.

It aint official to it's announced

unknown13

Dana will probably say something after 120. Wait and see.

wedgelington

scudzilla wrote: »

Nothing on Wiki is official, i could go on there now and edit that page to say that it will be held in Ashbourne Civiv Centre.

It aint official to it's announced

i know nothing on wiki can be taken as true but i was just saying that most if not all the event venues and dates have been true

unknown13

wedgelington wrote: »

i know nothing on wiki can be taken as true but i was just saying that most if not all the event venues and dates have been true

Because they have been confirmed in some way or another. Pittsburgh and Montreal were toss ups for the GSP / Koscheck fight but the UFC decided to bring it to mr annoying's back yard. That arena there in Pittsburgh is opening in a few days.

Professey Chin

Is there a way to look up article changes on wiki?
If you can youd see that the original rumour for last march was on it too.

Nefilim777

The problem is this: Paddy's day is a Thursday, which means Fight Night. Although they're great cards usually, Dana and the UFC are trying to really expand the brand and pull great crowds at their European shows. Putting on a fight night card with maybe 4 top, well known fighters, does nothing to promote their cause to the non-hardcore fans. MMA nerds like ourselves might be happy enough, but not the casual fan. Hence why I feel it won't happen on Paddy's Day.

Minstrel27

Why would it have to be St Patricks Day and not St Patricks Day weekend. Fight Nights are also shown on Wednesdays and not Thursdays

TheProdigy

The UFC will probably have a PPV on Paddy's weekend if the rumours are true. A UFC Fight Night would be quite insulting considering how great the last event went selling out and with such a good atmosphere, alot of shows in USA are not selling out so I would expect a PPV at least.

karl bracken

they could have an expo on the weekend aswell, it would make for a good paddys wk end!

unknown13

TheProdigy wrote: »

The UFC will probably have a PPV on Paddy's weekend if the rumours are true. A UFC Fight Night would be quite insulting considering how great the last event went selling out and with such a good atmosphere, alot of shows in USA are not selling out so I would expect a PPV at least.

Asking a PPV is a bit much now we have seen the treatment the UFC gives us. We will probably get a Fight night card.

TheProdigy

unknown13 wrote: »

Asking a PPV is a bit much now we have seen the treatment the UFC gives us. We will probably get a Fight night card.

What treatment are you referring to? The only thing that dissappoints me is that they went to Germany again before here but that could be to interlink with the Paddy's weekend so we will have to wait and see.

The last time the card was pretty good to be fair and the atmosphere was brilliant (Dana said top 3 best atmospheres) so I can't see why they would give us a fight night?

If they are gonna come to Europe I can't see the reasoning in giving us Fight Night 24 for example. I would be disgusted if we did not get a "proper" event like last time.

unknown13

TUF on Sky Sports, UFC 120 being an awful card, 122 being just as bad. Telling us they were coming to Dublin in march.

scudzilla

unknown13 wrote: »

TUF on Sky Sports, UFC 120 being an awful card, 122 being just as bad. Telling us they were coming to Dublin in march.

Few more here

Constant promises that UK cards will be on a par with U.S and we'll have title fights

Advertised Chuck v Shogun as main event (85 i think) even though it was proved they knew that Chuck was injured, still sold tickets for a week though advertising Chuck/Shogun

Dana has said many times that he'd never take 1 fighter from a card to replace an injured one on another, guess moving Belfort from 122 is ok then as he's going onto a U.S card. Imagine if that was the other way round.

Sure, we'll be in Dublin for Paddy's day 2010, then Dana said Summer, then we'll be there soon.

Has anybody else noticed that the cards quality and frequency all went tits up around the time that Setanta went tits up? Sure it'd have nothing to do with the contract UFC were to tied to Setanta too

unknown13

scudzilla wrote: »

Has anybody else noticed that the cards quality and frequency all went tits up around the time that Setanta went tits up? Sure it'd have nothing to do with the contract UFC were to tied to Setanta too

Ooh yeah. Setanta seemed to have alot more of a say than ESPN have at the moment. I heard RUMORS that relating to Tom Egan, Setanta and the UFC 93 card for instance.

scudzilla

In the contract Zuffa had to supply Setanta with a minimum of 4 events a year that were based in the GMT timezone.

Setanta goes tits up, so do our events

Mellor

scudzilla wrote: »

Dana has said many times that he'd never take 1 fighter from a card to replace an injured one on another, guess moving Belfort from 122 is ok then as he's going onto a U.S card. Imagine if that was the other way round.

???

Belfort isn't replacing an injuried fighter.
I'm not saying we don't getr screwed, but no point twisting facts

scudzilla

Mellor wrote: »

???

Belfort isn't replacing an injuried fighter.
I'm not saying we don't getr screwed, but no point twisting facts

My mistake, Belfort is replacing a banned fighter, Dana has said many times that he would not take a fighter from 1 card to make up another.

I think that's better

Tones69

karl bracken wrote: »

they could have an expo on the weekend aswell, it would make for a good paddys wk end!

Be a good move to have it here paddys weekend i reckon, dublin will be jammed with all nations, full of americans and europeans etc, be a great idea

scudzilla

Tones69 wrote: »

Be a good move to have it here paddys weekend i reckon, dublin will be jammed with all nations, full of americans and europeans etc, be a great idea

Weekend after Paddy's day would be a nightmare as Ireland v England Six Nations on March 19th

Tones69

scudzilla wrote: »

Weekend after Paddy's day would be a nightmare as Ireland v England Six Nations on March 19th

Cool but how would the rugby on the friday night affect the ufc on the sat night in dublin?

EDIT: ok thought paddys day was on a wed, hmm still dont see it affecting the ufc night much though to be honest

Professey Chin

Tones69 wrote: »

Cool but how would the rugby on the friday night affect the ufc on the sat night in dublin?

EDIT: ok thought paddys day was on a wed, hmm still dont see it affecting the ufc night much though to be honest

Accomodation would be the biggest issue id say

scudzilla

Tones69 wrote: »

Cool but how would the rugby on the friday night affect the ufc on the sat night in dublin?

EDIT: ok thought paddys day was on a wed, hmm still dont see it affecting the ufc night much though to be honest

As far as i know the Rugby Match is on the Saturday, a lot of Hotel rooms will be taken in the city, especially the cheaper one's.

If Zuffa go ahead and announce the event then a lot of people who would travel to the city for UFC are gonna have problems finding cheap hotels.

Also flights will be very expensive as airlines bump prices for big sporting events.

If UFC were under Ryanair's radar then i'm sure the 6 Nations isn't

scudzilla

Ok, i've just checked

IF, and this is a big IF, they announce it for the weekend after Paddy's Day, 19th, then flight prices are mental.

Normally a return Aer Lingus from heathrow is around 70sterling, for that weekend, thurs - sun, it's a minimum of 285stg, and thats without any checked in luggage!!

Guess more tickets for us then as not many brits will pay that

unknown13

Are UFC's under Ryanair's radar

unknown13

The Brits will be put off by Dublin aswell. Loads of the FC members have said to me that Dublin is very expensive and going to Germany works out cheaper.