UFC returns to Fortaleza, Brazil in February

The Octagon will make its next trip to Brazil on Feb. 2 for a Fight Night event in Fortaleza, MMA Fighting has confirmed following a report by Combate.

UFC executive David Shaw told the media after the September UFC Sao Paulo event that the company had three cards planned for the country in 2019, including one pay-per-view show.

The UFC has yet to officially announce the UFC Fortaleza event, as well as the dates and locations for the other two 2019 cards.

The promotion has held a pair of events in the state capital of Ceara in the past, most recently with a middleweight main event between Vitor Belfort and Kelvin Gastelum in March 2017. Gastelum won by first-round knockout, but had his win overturned after testing positive for marijuana metabolites in an in-competition drug test.

That card, UFC’s first show at the brand new Centro de Formação Olímpica do Nordeste, had an attendance of 14,069 fans, more than doubling the number of the first event. In 2013, a fight card brought 6,286 fans to the Paulo Serasate gymnasium for a main event between TUF Brazil coaches Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Fabricio Werdum.