Minister of Sport Gayton McKenzie has hinted that the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event set for local shores will be held at FNB Stadium, or Soccer City as it is widely known as, in Johannesburg.
Before Dricus du Plessis defended his UFC title against Israel Adesanya in Perth in August, UFC boss Dana White said if the South African won his fight, his next title defence would be in his home country.
A number of venues across the country, like Cape Town’s DHL Stadium and the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) have been touted as the favourites to host the event.
When asked about where the fight might take place with a suitable venue being difficult to find, McKenzie on Wednesday said on X: “It’s a problem, I can assure u that we have been tasked with finding a solution by @ufc who r very keen 2 come here, we have some solutions which we will present at the end of this month in Abu Dhabi.There is also a semi-permanent structure opening in a few weeks at Soccer City.”
Announcement expected end of October
McKenzie was speaking in response to the comments made by White, after he said they had run into problems with the hosting of the fight in South Africa.
“You know how bad I want this. I’ve been trying to get this done. The arena situation there is tough. That’s been the challenge with Africa as a whole. The place where we’d have to do it at, is outdoors, and you know how I feel about that,” said White.
“I’ve heard that wind is a problem, and anything that could affect the outcome of a fight makes me not want to try.”
The Patriotic Alliance (PA) leader McKenzie last month said that negotiations were taking place, and that a venue would only likely be announced at the end of October.
Also last month, the Cape Argus ran a front page story saying the City of Cape Town could spend a minimum R30 million to erect a temporary roof at the DHL Stadium.
McKenzie said: “We have silently worked on it and we are very close to an official announcement. We have some things to do and fix, but the fight is happening in SA.”