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Zelaznik eyes Liverpool or Manchester for UK UFC return

A UFC event in Liverpool or Manchester would see Britain's Michael Bisping get a huge home following © Getty Images

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UFC chief Marshall Zelaznik has revealed Liverpool or Manchester are the most likely venues for the next UFC event to be staged in the UK.

Zelaznik has been working around the clock in an attempt to bring together his vision to stage four-to-six Fight Night events in the UK and Ireland during 2011. However, the plan remains a work-in-progress due to the difficulties of finding dates that satisfy US TV partners.

Zelaznik admits there will be no UFC card in the UK by the end of March, and he revealed it is more realistic to target three-to-four UK events this year as he attempts to iron out the obstacles blocking the full visualization becoming reality. As a result, he has asked for patience from Scottish MMA fans in particular, who are unlikely to see the Braehead Arena stage a fight card this year.

"Scotland is a priority for us, but the problem is that the venue causes problems if we're talking about a three or four-event plan for 2011," Zelaznik told ESPN. "If we were having six Fight Nights in the UK, Scotland would make all the sense in the world.

"But if we're in the situation where we're running three of four events that are more in line with how we've done past events, the more likely arenas are Liverpool and Manchester. Liverpool we haven't been to and it's a newer arena than Manchester, but both are bigger in size than the Braehead in Scotland, which seats about 5,200 people.

"If we can pull off the fight that we have in mind for our next UK event, we will definitely sell out Liverpool or Manchester, that's a fact."

Elaborating on the UFC's efforts to bring six events to the UK, Zelaznik insists it is merely logistics currently blocking the way forward.

"The first quarter is done and dusted. Nothing's happening in the first quarter," he confirmed regarding the date of the next UK fight card. "There's still a chance in the second quarter that we'll be able to bring an event to the UK.

"We haven't yet got all the pieces together on this plan for four-to-six Fight Nights in a year, but we're still working on it. If we're successful we could still see three or four events take place in the UK this year, but right now six looks unlikely for 2011.

"It's still a work in progress, the difficulty is finding the right dates that mix with our US TV partners, because we still need US TV to make these events run. So if we haven't done a date in the UK during the first quarter, it is purely due to the fact that the dates didn't work."

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