UFC 197 lands in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on March 5, 2016
The UFC will return to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on March 5 for UFC 197 at the HBSC Arena.
UFC senior vice president Giovani Decker made the announcement at the post- fight news conference following UFC Fight Night: Belfor vs. Henderson from Sao Paulo.
The card was originally rumored to land in Curitiba, Brazil, which is the hometown of former middleweight champion Anderson Silva but plans were never finalized and so the show will shift back to Rio.
The last UFC pay-per-view card to take place there was in August as Ronda Rousey defended her bantamweight title against Bethe Correa in one of the biggest shows of all 2015.
There are no fights finalized for the UFC 197 fight card, however, a heavyweight title fight between Fabricio Werdum and Cain Velasquez was originally expected to land in Brazil until the recent struggles to confirm the show for Curitiba.
Now that the card is set for March 5 in Rio, UFC officials will likely figure out in the next few weeks which fight will headline the show and if Werdum vs. Velasquez will stay in Brazil or possibly shift back to the United States for the UFC 196 fight card in February.
The other possible name for the show remains Silva, who mentioned the possibility of fighting in Brazil upon his return to action after facing a one-year suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs in his last fight against Nick Diaz at UFC 183.
Silva has always been a draw in Brazil and his return there in any capacity would be a huge boon for the upcoming show.
