MANILA, Philippines – The Ultimate Fighting Championship is coming back to the Philippines in 2016.
Kenneth Berger, UFC executive vice president, on Tuesday said they will hold another fight card in the country this coming year after staging its first ever event at the MOA Arena in Pasay City via UFC Fight Night 65 in May this year.
"We're coming back in 2016," said Berger at a press conference at the Seda Hotel in BGC, Taguig where UFC, Cignal and TV5 officially made its partnership official with a contract signing.
"We're still working dates, lots of logistical issues and availability of venues in the Philippines but we're looking forward to announcing it the first quarter of the coming year," he added.
Beginning January 1, Cignal will bring extensive UFC programming starting with UFC 195, the first live event of 2016 featuring a welterweight title fight between Fil-Am Robert "Ruthless" Lawler and Carlos "Natural Born Killer" Condit to Filipino households through HYPER Channel 53.
UFC will also be shown via HYPER and TV5 and Aksyon 41.
"It is a historic moment for us that will be able to bring UFC to Filipino mixed martial arts fans," said Sports 5 vice president Vito Lazatin.
Cignal president and CEO Emmanuel Lorenzana, for his part, said they're proud of having UFC as one of its top contents.
"Cignal is proud of its role in expanding our people's available choices on what to watch and who they idolize among our sports heroes out there and we welcome UFC coming into our Cignal family in response to our viewers," he said.
For almost a decade, UFC was seen on Balls, ABS-CBN's sports cable channel, before it folded, paving the way for the world's biggest fight outfit's transfer to Cignal and TV5.