UFC to return to Auckland
The biggest show in mixed martial arts is returning to Auckland and a Kiwi fighter is being touted as the frontrunner to headline the event.
But it’s not who many fans would expect.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) yesterday confirmed a fight night for Auckland on February 23, 2020.
Kiwi veteran Dan Hooker, who last fought and won on the UFC’s blockbuster pay-per-view event in Melbourne at UFC
243 in October, is being touted as one half of the likely main event.
Kiwi UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya (7-0 in the UFC) unified the division when defeating Robert Whittaker in October in front of
57,000 fans at UFC 243 in Melbourne but there are no guarantees he will fight in Auckland next February.
Given his now global super stardom, an appearance in a smaller venue in Auckland seems unlikely at this stage.
That could pave the way for Hooker, who is 6-1 in the UFC since moving up to the lightweight division just over two years ago, to headline the Auckland card – the first time the UFC has staged an event in New Zealand since 2017.
Hooker has already teased his appearance on Twitter, posting about the event with a ‘‘save the date’’ message to his fans.
Following his one-sided victory over Al Iaquinta at UFC 243, Hooker said he wanted a fiveround championship fight and to be the main event on his next card.
‘‘I feel like I’m a five-round fighter, so I wanted to take that full 15 minutes [against Iaquinta] and really showcase that. I felt like if I had another two rounds that I would have stopped him for sure,’’ Hooker said at the time.
The announcement of a card in Auckland is a massive help to the lightweight contender’s dream of doing just that.
Adesanya is rumoured to be fighting Yoel Romero next after Brazilian Paulo Costa was ruled out with injury.
With New Zealand being one of the UFC’s smaller commercial markets – just 7468 people were crammed into Spark Arena in 2017 for Mark Hunt’s TKO victory over Derrick Lewis – it would seemingly be much less profitable for the UFC to have him fight in Auckland than a larger international venue.
But back in September, UFC president Dana White told he was in favour of Adesanya defending the middleweight title in New Zealand if he got past Whittaker – which he went onto do.
Brad Riddell, who won his UFC debut in the fight of the night against Jamie Mullarkey at UFC 243, has already called for a slot of the February card in Auckland.
Powerhouse Auckland gym City Kickboxing will again feature prominently on the card.
Kai Kara-France, who fights Brandon Moreno in Las Vegas next month, could also push for a spot on the Auckland card if he comes through that fight injuryfree. The flyweight is currently unbeaten on a 3-0 run in the UFC.
Luke Jumeau, who suffered a split-decision loss to Diego Lima at UFC 243 in Melbourne, is another Kiwi possibility for the February card as are a couple of Kiwi options who could make their UFC debuts.
Jumeau is 2-2 since joining the UFC.