UFC to Return to Brazil on May 7 in Rio de Janeiro

Retorno marcado! UFC volta ao Brasil com card no dia 7 de maio no Rio de Janeiro https://t.co/C0GwknRJ8D pic.twitter.com/57dItz3k44

— Combate (@canalCombate) December 16, 2021

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After over two years away, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will finally be staging an event in Brazil.

On March 14, 2020, the UFC held its final event before shuttering for a few months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The show, UFC Fight Night 170, went down in Brasilia, Brazil, and no fans were allowed in the building. Since that fight card headlined by future champ Charles Oliveira and former UFC fighter Kevin Lee, the UFC has held fights in either the United States or in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Recent reports have stated that the UFC will head to England on March 19, but UFC head Dana White has said that it will depend on the status of COVID. As first reported by Combate on Thursday, and later confirmed to Sherdog by sources close to the situation, the UFC will be heading to Brazil in May.

The fight card that is expected to be staged inside the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro does not currently have a designation of a Fight Night or a numbered show, but it is believed that UFC 274 will be its official title. This will be the 11th time that Rio de Janeiro has hosted a UFC event, with the last UFC 237 in 2019. In the main event of UFC 237, Jessica Andrade knocked Rose Namajunas out to claim the strawweight belt.

No matches have been announced or rumored for the newly reported show, but some expect that Brazilian champs Charles Oliveira and Glover Teixeira, as well as featherweight queen Amanda Nunes, may play a role in the promotion’s first event in the Federative Republic of Brazil since before the pandemic.