UFC 134 Sells out Rio’s HSBC Arena in 74 Minutes

Tickets for UFC 134 sold out quickly. | Photo: Sherdog.com

Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena will be configured to seat approximately 14,000 when it hosts UFC 134 “Silva vs. Okami” on Aug. 27. All of those tickets were accounted for 74 minutes after being put on sale to the general public via ticketing service Ingresso.com Friday at 11:30 p.m. local time. According to a release from the UFC’s Brazilian branch, a limited presale conducted Thursday also sold out in less than 40 minutes.

HSBC Arena was originally expected to hold around 16,500 for the event. Per UFC Brazil, seating was scaled back to accommodate video monitors for fans.

“Six high-quality screens will be installed around the arena... 2,629 seats were blocked and withdrawn from sale due to the installation of the equipment,” the company stated.

Though speedy, UFC 134 was not the fastest-selling event in the promotion’s history. Both UFC 127 in Sydney, Australia, and UFC 115 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, sold out in just 30 minutes, moving more than 18,000 and 17,000 tickets, respectively.

The fight card for UFC 134 features a slew of Brazilian talent, foremost among them UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, who looks to defend his belt for an unprecedented ninth straight time against Japanese contender Yushin Okami. Additional main card bouts will see locally grown superstars Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira face off against American adversaries in respective bouts with Forrest Griffin and Brendan Schaub. In all, more than 10 Brazilian competitors are expected to line the card.