UFC Plans to Shatter Attendance Records with 100,000-Plus Next Year in Brazil

At one point in time, UFC president Dana White wasn’t sure what it would take to put the promotion into a huge stadium.

Now that tune has changed to the point where the promotion is confident in selling out a 100,000-seat stadium next year.

With the UFC’s return to Brazil in full swing for this weekend’s UFC 134 event in Rio de Janeiro, plans are already in the works for a show that will shatter all previous mixed martial arts attendance records worldwide.

“We did a 14,000-seat arena, 350,000 were looking for tickets for this fight,” White told ESPN 790 on Thursday.

“Next time we’re in Brazil we’ll break our record, which was 55,000 in Toronto. We’ll do 100,000. 40 million people will be watching this event live in Brazil.”

The numbers are staggering, but not unexpected considering the amount of time it took for this weekend’s show to sell out.

UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta has commented that plans are in place for the organization to travel back to Brazil in 2012, and all signs are pointing towards a major event in a soccer stadium.

First things first, UFC 134 goes down in Rio this weekend to kick off the Brazilian takeover.

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