The Ultimate Fighting Championsip (UFC) could be headed back to the Emerald Isle with a major mixed martial arts event at The O2 in Dublin, Ireland, on January 17.
It would be dubbed UFC 93, according to UK.Eurosport.Yahoo.com, meaning that the Super Bowl weekend card on January 31 that features the monster main even between welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre and lightweight champion BJ Penn would be renamed UFC 94.
Even though the show is still unconfirmed, the report indicates that Rich Franklin could headline the fight card against former light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell or Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. It’s important to note the the “Iceman” has remarked in recent interviews that he does no intend to return to the Octagon until sometime in Spring 2009.
In addition, Mark Coleman is still being discussed as a possible opponent for Shogun. Therefore, take the rumored match ups for what they are worth … simply rumors at this time.
The 02 in Dublin, which recently underwent a major renovation, opens its doors for the first time ever on December 21, 2008. It’s a multimillion dollar venue that can hold around 10,000 seated fans.
This is the first foray for the promotion into the Republic of Ireland. UFC 72: “Victory,” however, did take place in Belfast northern Ireland in June 2007, featuring a main event between Franklin and Yushin Okami.
It was a live pay-per-view (PPV) event that aired at 3 p.m. ET in the United States. Whether it was the timing or the line up, UFC 72 was perhaps the least watched event of the entire year.
Stay tuned for more details.
58 Comments »
Hopefully it will be free. Unless it gets a little more stacked, I wont buy it.
Its all good and well the UFC coming over here (by that i mean UK/IRE) but they put on such weak cards.
I know the reasons for it and fully understand but would just prefer to have one loaded card a year as opposed to 3-4 poor events.
all i can say is as an irishman who competes we need a good fight card with some stars! not so many home-grown talents are needed.possibly a good polish fighter seens as there are alot of polish people in ireland maybe marcus davis and rampage if he isnt on another card for sure. chuck would be good hes very marketable. also they need to show it on sky man not enough people have setanta sports in the uk and ireland one free show wont hurt
Setanta are taking over. They should put it on Setanta Ireland which is free. A few Poles on the card would be great.
Can’t even think of a decent Polish fighter, Marios Zaromskis is Lituanian….thats close enough?
Tomasz Drwal is one suitable candidate. Wouldn’t mind seeing Zaromskis on the undercard but he might still be tied to a Cage Rage/Elite XC contract.
Zaromskis is sick. Would like to see him in the UFC, i heard he juices tho so would have to cut that out, have a watch…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiV2CU5Gb6Y
forget about murios zaromskis~
che mills is the man u guys should b talking about.
I remember a few years ago reading a few rumors that Marius Pudzianowski was considering getting into mma. Obviously he would definately have to stop the roids, but I would love to see if he could fight. As far as strength goes, he would make Brock look weak.
Ricky - Yeah i know mate, Mills is the man and his 2nd win over Zaromskis proved that the upset wasn’t a fluke.
However i take it you have watched Zaromskis vs Mason, now that is an awsome fight. I think if Zaromskis works on his ground game, put that with his exciting style and awsome striking game he would be a hit with the US fans.
does any1 no wen the tickets go on sale for UFC in dublin ??
Shogun would rip Franklin apart
yes he would, but I would still pay to see it!
you jokin son. franklins only lost three times in his mma career!!! to anderson silva(twice) and lyoto machida. id put my money on rich!!!
u do realize that Shogun is the same type of fighter as the fighters you mentioned that beat Rich.
The ultimate fight would be Shogun vs. Anderson. I think Shogun is on another level than Rich. Rich would have to get re constructive surgery again, if he fought Shogun!
How is Shogun in anyway like Lyoto Machida? Shogun fights are actually exciting.
who has rich franklin beat???
Good point, i am a big fan but he bossed a weak division and has quite a padded record.
it will be on at a decent time so i probably watch it cos i already pay for setanta so it will give me something to do on a saturday night
WOW!! Now thats better. Dublin instead of Belfast, now I will make the trip!! Belfast is way too far for me to travel and more awkward. I’ll be the first to purchase. Hopefully its not Rich, his performance was very poor in Belfast. Please please say Shogun v Coleman
now that would be a fight!!! Remember the first one ;)Cant wait!! 
Thanks Dana
Wow, just reading the title I thought they were going to move Penn/GSP out of the states.
I can’t argue with another UFC card. I’d much rather see Shogun/Machida than Shogun/Coleman, though. The last Ireland card was pretty weak, so I’d expect the same this time around.
i agree. i’d much rather see machida vs. shogun than franklin vs. shogun. im pretty pumped to see machida and silva go at it. i dont know who to predict in that fight…i know it’ll be exciting though!
Franklin vs Shogun would be awesome. Talk about a step up for Richy boy. At least he will be the bigger gent that night. Shogun is not overwhlemingly lol bad spelling..strong like the ox matt hamill. I think rich takes this fight. I bet im the only one who thinks this.
if shogun fights like he did in the griffin/shogun fight, franklin will definatly win. i think shoguns got the ufc jitters and thats why he didnt do so well in his last appearance. i’d definatly rather see franklin win though. i think he’s got what it takes to beat shogun.
I know I would love to Rich be able to fight for the title at 205. A win over shogun may just do that..or maybe just one more win after that.
Quick Note
Belfast is in Northern Ireland
Dublin is in the Republic of Ireland.
They are two different Countries and lots of people have been sadly killed and/or murder because of it.
wow! and i had some guy on here from ireland telling me the the u.s. shouldnt worry so much about terrorism and how bad our pollitics are.
“This is not the first foray for the promotion into Ireland — UFC 72: “Victory” took place in Belfast in June 2007, featuring a main event between Franklin and Yushin Okami.”
That was Northen Ireland mania, not Ireland. I’m not to bothered if you change it or not, but I’m pretty sure the Northen Irish & The Irish hate been lumped into one. Pepare for some backlash possibly? Do they have computers? Lol j/k
Thanks for the clarification. Changed.
Ha ha, doesn’t bother me. But mania, come on you know better than that!
Depends who you are, most of the country don’t care but there are those who are pretty passionate about it. Our rugby team is made up of the whole of Ireland (that is, players from both the Republic and the North) for example.
“Do they have computers? Lol j/k”
I laughed…And I’m from Dublin haha.
The O2 in Dublin is weird. It’s a big ass amphitheatre even for boxing/wrestling/mma.
Oh yeah, I live about 25 minutes from the O2!!!
Here’s the likely seating arrangements.
http://www.ticketmaster.ie/seatingchart/197033/12165
Also I think they should move the Griffin Vs Evans fight to this date, it would interest people more.
I just read some reports that it looks more likly that it could be Dan henderson vs Rich and it might not be the main event. Sources close to both fighters say its the most likly scenario..whether the fight is at 205 or 185 its going to be awesome. I hope its at 205.
yes!!!! i cant wait!!!! and yeah there is a diff between northern ireland and ireland and yeah we do have computers!!!
i hope griffin wins that one. i’d really hate to see rashad be the lhw champ. if griffin uses his range and keeps it on the feet(and stays away from rashads haymakers)he should win. forrest is evolving into a great fighter and i think he’s got a great future as the champ…
I agree his wrestling striking bjj is imporving with every fight. I love seeing these guys evolve with each fight..makes it way more exciting. I think it will be like the ramoage griffen fight but not so controversial. Griffen by tko late 4th rd.
I’d much rather see Franklin fight up in Canada again at UFC 94: Penn vs. GSP II. Against who though? i really think Mark Coleman vs. Shogun Rua needs to happen. Shogun needs to gain some exposure to these new breeds of MMA fans. I think two loses for Shogun hurts his credibility. He needs to get an easy win (coleman) underneath his belt. I also dont think franklin/Liddell does anything for either fighter. I think Franklin should fight Lyoto, but considering that fight got moved to what the Canada card or UFC 92? It would be hard for Franklin to get that fight now wouldn’t it? I say Jardine/Vera winner vs. Franklin.
Jardine/Vera winner vs. Franklin would be awesome!
Supposedly, Franklin vs. Henderson could be the main event… this coming from Yahoo Sports UK.. Does this make any sense considering Bisping vs. Hendo on TUF?
i’d like to see either of those fights (jardine/franklin or vera/franlin) but i’d rather see vera/franklin.
Thats the job. First time its gonna be in the Republic (no disrespect to the Northerners) of Ireland
Can’t wait! For once I won’t have to fly to England, just hop on a 3hr bus
Hope they have big names on it
Anyone think they’ll have Davis ready for it after the October fight?
3 hour bus ride!….20 mins on the DART for me.
Langer!!!!!!!
hahaha
Still better than flyin though
I think i’m just after creaming myself!!! Got talking to Dana White at the Newcastle event and was pestering him about coming over here. Even told him he could stay on my couch and told me there were plans.
Marcus Davis and Jake O Brien are the only obvious half irish additions I can think of off hand. Gonna go join the fight club now. I’m gettin to the front of this!
There’s Colin ‘Big C’ Robinson who’s Northern Irish. He’ll prob be put on a undercard proportion. There could be a flood of Eastern Europeans at it since Ireland now has a big population of Polish, Lithunians and so on
I hope they put Cain Velasquez on the card. He hasn’t fought in a while so hoping he’ll be involved
Bisbing is rumored to be a coach with Hendo on the next series of TUF as well if he gets by Leben with the winner getting a shot (losing) to Silva
i just read that we might see a franklin vs. henderson match up at this event
yeah Yahoo Sports UK is stating that. I’ll check with a friend of mine that knows Rich. Makes no sense considering Hendo is supposedly tapped to fight Bisping. Maybe winner fights Bisping?
Winner of Hendo Franklin possibly to take the USA side for TUFcould make sense with both rumours in the mix
Yeah that makes sense. We’ve seen Rich on TUF so I’d prefer to see Dan but I’d rather not see them fight just yet.
Please please let the ICEMAN fight over here, we were supposed to get to see him the last time and never due to injury, so I think we deserve an ICEMAN show, maybe against Rich or Shogun.
I also think a co-main event could be Bisping v Hendo, although I realise they may want them to do the next series of TUF??!
It should be a strong card with loads of top fights, this isnt Japan where we necessarily want to see home grown talent id much rather get to see the stars of the sport over here!! I would also love to see the Tito show live, get him back and have him fight Vera/Alexander/Jardine or something like that!
Lets see the following
Bisping v Hendo (Title shot next) or A silva v Shogun (205) MAIN EVENT
loser of couture v lesnar v Cheik Kongo
Liddell v Franklin
Shogun v Coleman (dependant on Main Event)
Tito v one of the above
Diaz v ??
Hughes v Serra
There are so many possibilities, im soooo excited for this. I just defo want the ICEMAN on here!! Plus when the hell are we gony get a UFC event up here in Scotland? Has it even been spoken about yet MANIA????????
Hughes v Serra could have a good possibility of making this card. It hasn’t been slated for any other card as far as I know. Would make a great addition.
you newbies really are lame
Facts wrong my friend im no newby, Liddell has been my favirout fighter for years and as a result id love to see him fight live as we cant all afford to make our way accross the atlantic to las vegas!!!!!!
So if you think im a newby based on that you couldnt be further from the truth, if your referring to the tito comment, once again iv watched him for years and think although hes not at the top anymore he puts on a great show and would make the card a little more desireable, so stop the bitching im a real mma fan and have been for a number of years now!!
ufc should have brazilians , polish and chinese fighters on this card as they are populated all over ireland , cause i dont think the ufc will fill the point with just mainly irish.
the uk better come over and help fill the arena ! i would expect the ufc to put lots of the usuals in the prelims eg kelly,taylor,etim,wain etc depending how they do in ufc 89.
btw ufc.com has confirmed franklin v hendo , shogun v coleman
its about time that the ufc put on a fight for the rep of ireland
there are so many of us that are interested in mma here its unreally. so lets hope its a good line up, because i belive it will be a full house.see you all there guys.