UFC president Dana White is hoping to capitalise on the rise of talent from Down Under with a return to Oceania.
The UFC hasn't been to Australia or New Zealand since they hosted an event at Auckland's Spark Arena in early 2020, ruling out a return when Covid-19 set in and Australia and New Zealand introduced strict quarantine rules for anyone entering the countries.
When quarantine was mandatory, it wasn't logistically possible for the UFC to host an event given all of the foreign staff and fighters would have had to spend two weeks in isolation. While it didn't completely stop Australian and New Zealand fighters from competing, it did serve up extra hurdles to jump, however for the promotion itself, those were not possible.
However, with restrictions now eased, there is much more of a scope to get back into the region that has two of the promotion's 11 world champions - Israel Adesanya (middleweight) and Alexander Volkanovski (featherweight), who both defend their belts on Sunday at UFC 276 in Las Vegas.
Speaking to the Herald, White indicated that when the promotion does finally return Down Under, it will likely be to Australia.
"The fans going into this week, obviously for Australia and New Zealand, it's a big card for them this weekend. Two of their champions in the main and co-main event. I can't wait to get back into Australia and do an event there."