Zelaznik: White's hope for 13 UFC events in Brazil lofty, but passionate

BARUERI, Brazil – So maybe Dana White jumped the gun a little bit a couple weeks back. But one of his fellow UFC execs said that just proves his point.

On a media tour with middleweight champion Chris Weidman and Anderson Silva in Brazil in late September, White, the UFC’s president, said the promotion is planning 13 shows in Brazil in 2014. That number is nearly double what the UFC will do in the country in 2013, seven, and represents one fight card every four weeks.

But on Wednesday, after its latest trip to the country, UFC Fight Night 29, Marshall Zelaznik, the company’s director of international development, said White’s initial number might be just a little too lofty.

“I think it shows his passion and intent for Brazil,” Zelaznik told MMAjunkie.com following the event at Jose Correa Arena in Barueri, Sao Paulo, Brazil. “I don’t know that we’ll get 13 events next year. I think it’ll be more in line with what we did this year – maybe a little more, maybe a little less.”

Two of the issues Zelaznik believes will come into play are the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which takes place in Brazil from June 12 to July 13, plus Brazil’s general election, which takes place in October.

“It just makes it difficult,” Zelaznik said. “You all know the problems we have with the venues, you all know the challenges we have with some of the dates that we have to try to manage. We are planning a lot of events next year. Will we get to 13? I don’t believe so. But I think that Dana is committed to this market. He loves the market here.

“He came back into the office and said, ‘I know I’m in big trouble. I said 13.’ But it just shows the intent and motivation to get off a lot of events here.”

Zelaznik said it wouldn’t be impossible for the UFC to hold an event during the World Cup, which is soccer’s biggest stage. Brazil will host the event for the second time.

But Zelaznik is leaning on the side of just because something can be done doesn’t mean it should be done.

“We’ve been going back and forth on whether or not to do it,” he said. “I think the thinking right now is not to bring an event during the World Cup. We’ll try to figure out other events we may do around that time – they won’t be fights. But our decision’s not final. We’re still in the planning mode. But I don’t know that it would be the smartest thing for us to try to hold an event during the World Cup. This is a soccer-loving nation. It’s the biggest soccer event in the world. I’m planning to be here to watch soccer, not to put on an event.”

White’s ambitious number of 13 events was based in part around a plan to cultivate a new generation of talent and stars from Brazil.

“There’s just so much talent in Brazil,” White said in September. “The fact that we have the opportunity now, with the backing of Globo and Combat TV and all the other great networks that are down here, to be able to showcase this great talent, hold these events, and not just here, but beam it all across the world, it’s so huge for this country. It’s so huge for the athletes down here.”

The UFC has had a strong base of Brazilian champions in recent years, including Silva, Jose Aldo, Renan Barao, Junior Dos Santos, Lyoto Machida and Mauricio Rua.

The UFC first visited Brazil nearly 15 years ago in the pre-Zuffa era, but didn’t return until UFC 134 in August 2011. Since then, the promotion has held pay-per-views there (UFC 142, UFC 147, UFC 153, UFC 163), as well as free TV events starting this year on FX and FUEL TV.

On Wednesday, the UFC visited Barueri for the first time, and in November, it makes its first trip to Goiania for UFC Fight Night 31 with a clash between Brazil’s Vitor Belfort and Dan Henderson.

“There’s an appetite here, there are a number of great fighters, and if we were ever committed to doing 13 events here, I have no doubt that the fans would turn out and we’d deliver exciting events that would keep the brand growing and building. I believe that,” Zelaznik said.

For more on UFC Fight Night 29, check out the UFC Events section of the site. And for more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Marshall Zelaznik)