Dana White in photo by Josh Hedges
GRACIEMAG.com brings you all the details surrounding what happened in Oakland at UFC 117. The event set a lot of things straight. Besides the middleweight belt remaining with Anderson Silva after a fight with Chael Sonnen that nearly gave his fans heart attacks, two new contenders for belts cropped up: Junior Cigano will have a shot at the heavyweight belt, and Jon Fitch will have a go at the welterweight belt, as previously reported.
But there was much more that came in the wake of UFC 117.
President of the promotion Dana White once again commented on his interest in holding an event in Brazil, something that has only happened once before, in 1998. White said the organization has been investing money in the country, but more than that is needed.
“We already have people working for us there and we invested in marketing, that kind of thing. We have to make it into those countries, but we need to cultivate the market. Look at how much time and money we invested in the United Kingdom. But we’re in Brazil and we’ll announce something shortly, in the coming weeks,” he told MMAJunkie.com.
Former welterweight challenger Thiago Pitbull once again failed to make weight and put in a below-expectations performance against Jon Fitch. Dana has new plans for the fighter. He wants to fighter to fight as a heavyweight, although that’s not what Pitbull wants. We’ll have to wait and see what happens there.
And the numbers coming in from the first installment to be held in Oakland, California, pleased. In all, 12,971 tickets were sold, for a gate of 1.56 million dollars.
Check back with GRACIEMAG.com for more news.
