UFC’s a knockout in return to Brazil

Zuffa CEO Lorenzo Fertitta called the fans at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro “the best crowd we’ve ever had at a UFC event.”

The over-capacity crowd of nearly 17,000 inside the venue arrived early and maintained a raucous atmosphere throughout the night in what was essentially the organization’s first foray into the nation considered the birthplace of mixed martial arts.

Fertitta said the excitement extended far beyond the arena.

“It was the front page of every newspaper, every news outlet, every TV show. You could tell it was a major national event for the entire country,” he said. “It’s great to see the country is really getting behind the sport. There’s no question we are the No. 2 sport in Brazil, obviously behind only soccer.”

The UFC had been to Brazil one time, 13 years ago, but never under the current ownership.

The organization will be back much sooner this time. Fertitta said Brazil can absolutely expect another card in 2012.

“We’re trying to map out our strategy going forward, but you can bet we’ll be back down there,” Fertitta said. “The question is how many times will we get down there, what cities, what types of shows. We feel like we can really build a sustainable business down there. It’s not one of those situations where we’ll just go one time per year. We’re looking at a long-term plan down there.”

Fertitta said the groundwork was laid two years ago when the events began airing on broadcast television in Brazil. The popularity grew rapidly once people saw the product, similar to what happened in the United States after “The Ultimate Fighter” began airing on Spike TV.

Now, several Brazilian stars have made the decision to relocate to the U.S. because they have become too popular back home to lead a normal life.

Anderson Silva, who retained the middleweight title with a second-round knockout of Yushin Okami on Saturday, has become the biggest star of all.

“The entire country stopped to watch Anderson Silva fight. He’s now at the status of the great soccer players like Ronaldo,” Fertitta said. “He’s got a Burger King commercial that’s running in the market. Budweiser sponsors him. Nike has now made him the premiere athlete in Brazil. His status there is like a Michael Jordan-type status here in the U.S.”

Brazilian television numbers will be released today. The UFC expects them to be very good. Tickets sold out in about an hour, and nearly 350,000 people were shut out trying to buy them online.

The event also served as a showcase for the city.

“Every city down there wants us to come, it just so happens Rio was kind of in the front when we first started going down to Brazil,” Fertitta said.

“They were very aggressive in wanting us to come there. They literally put us in the same category as the Olympics and World Cup as far as what they were doing with their city and their planning and everything else. They’re really focused on making Rio an international destination, and they want to use events like the UFC to do it.”

Fertitta says other markets in the country, including a 100,000-seat venue in the jungle town of Manaus, are viable sites for shows.

“It’s certainly a possibility, but I will tell you there’s a lot of planning that still needs to go into that,” he said. “We wanted to get this event behind us and then, in the next month or so, we’ll be announcing some of what our plans will be for 2012.”

Brazil certainly will be a major part of that schedule.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509.