Sydney in deal to host three UFC cards in next four years but Alex Volkanovski won’t be headliner

Sydney will host a multi-million dollar series of events through a partnership with the Ultimate Fighting Championship – but Australia’s top fighter, Alex Volkanovski, is not favored to headline the first event.

NSW Premier Chris Minns announced the $16 million partnership on Thursday, saying three UFC Pay Per View events would take place in Sydney over the next four years, starting with UFC 293 on September 10.

The events would bring the world’s most competitive mixed martial arts athletes to Sydney and showcase the Harbor City to millions of international viewers and visitors, he said.

Mr Minns described the deal as ‘a major coup for the people of NSW’ and delivered on an election promise.

“We will continue to secure a calendar of exclusive, diverse and must-have events to boost our attendance economy, support local businesses and create more jobs, which is exactly what these UFC events will do.”

Rob Whittaker is reportedly favored to headline UFC 293 – which could be tricky for the former middleweight champion given he’s booked to fight at UFC 290 just nine weeks early.

Whittaker is scheduled to clash with South African Dricus Du Plessis in a No. 1 middleweight bout on July 8 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

UFC boss Dana White has indicated that the winner will face champion Israel Adesanya in Sydney.

Fox Sports Australia reports that sources close to Whittaker say he is excited about the challenge, despite the awkward turnaround.

Alex Volkanovski will take on Mexico’s interim champion Yair Rodriguez on July 8 and – should he win – will most likely be chasing a rematch with UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev.

Since Makhachev has already made the trip to Australia to fight Volkanovski, the rematch is more likely to take place in Abu Dhabi in October.

Whittaker took to social media on Thursday morning to express his delight at the news of the promotion’s return to New South Wales.

‘It’s great that the office is coming to our backyard in September!’ he wrote on Twitter.

The UFC Pay Per View events in Sydney are expected to attract tens of thousands of international and domestic tourists and inject tens of millions of dollars into NSW’s visitor economy.

It would benefit hundreds of companies and jobs in the NSW events sector, along with hotels, restaurants, shops and other tourist attractions, the premier said.

UFC 293 marks the franchise’s return to Sydney for the first time since 2017 and will be the first mega Pay Per View event to be held in the city since 2011.

At UFC 284 held in Perth earlier this year, a record 68 percent of ticket buyers traveled from interstate or overseas, injecting millions into the local economy.

Pay Per View events can be viewed by more than 900 million TV households across 50 major sports channels in 170 countries.

There are now more than 700 million UFC fans around the world, including a total of 233 million followers on UFC’s social media channels.

In Australia and New Zealand combined, UFC has more than 4.3 million fans and six million followers on social media.

The popularity of UFC has skyrocketed worldwide since Sydney hosted its first event, UFC 110: Nogueira vs. Velasquez at Qudos Bank Arena in 2010.

The UFC 293 Main Event and Fight Card will be announced at a later date.

UFC Vice President Australia and New Zealand Peter Kloczko says UFC events are “the pinnacle of sport and entertainment.”

“Nothing compares to the UFC live event experience, which we are excited to bring to Sydney for the next four years,” he said.

“UFC events have huge local appeal with fans in all parts of Australia, while remaining relevant to a global audience of millions.”