London has become one of the most important locations of the UFC in recent years after Dana White fell in love with the capital after a monumental event.
The next Saturday, the promotion lands again for the 5th time since 2022 in the O2 Arena in London, as a former UFC Welterweight champion, Leon Edwards, will compete against Sean Brady in the main event.
The fight was put together in a relatively short term after the first opponent of Edwards, Jack della Maddalena was upgraded to compete against Belal Muhammad for the title.
London has become one of Dana White's favorite locations to organize UFC events because of the notorious raw fan base.
Read more: Leon Edwards scored one of the fastest knockouts ever to bounce back after UFC debut defeat
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'The biggest combat evening in UFC history' Dana White fell in love with London
UFC 38: Brawl in the hall in 2002 was the first time that the promotion landed in London and since then it has become one of the most popular locations around the world.
After the COVID-19 Pandemie when the UFC started to try to organize events at different locations, they returned to the O2 in London in March 2022.
The event saw the expected debut of Muhammad Mokaev, who finished Cody in a emphatic way, as well as Ilia Topuria who scored a devastating Ko about Jai Herbert.
Paddy Pimblett also made his long -awaited first UK UFC performance when he submitted Kazula Vargas in the first round after an incredibly memorable strike.
The event included nine incredible finishes, one of the highest quantities of each Fight Night event and it resulted in the white labeling as 'The Grade Fight Night in UFC History' and every hunter who scored a finish with a bonus.
That is, despite the fact that he was covered in beer from head to toe as a result of the insane British fan base.
“Crazy, incredible night. The energy in this place, the buzz, the fighting, we broke the record here in the O2 Arena and it was the greatest battle evening of all time,” White told ESPN MMA
“My voice is gone, my brain is gone and I am now covered in beer from head to toe. I was hit with two beers on my way out,” he continued.
Dana White was so impressed that he changed the 2022 schedule of the UFC to return to London
After such an incredible event that the UFC boss left practically speechless, he immediately made the decision to change the rest of the schedule of the promotion that year to return to London.
Usually it was rare that the UFC hosts several events in the same year at a location outside the United States, which has now apparently changed, with the middle -east getting different events per year.
“Tonight I breathed new life and reminded me what it's like to do fights in the UK. We'll be back here this year. I don't give what the schedule is. We're moving around when we get home,” White said at the press conference after the fight.
Unfortunately for the fan base and the promotion, the next event did not go down, because Tom Aspinall brutally ran a fight that ended a knee injury in the main event and there were only five finishes over the entire card.
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