UFC exec Dave Shaw highlights potential hurdle for promotion's return to Dublin
EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada – UFC exec Dave Shaw revealed a roadblock stopping the UFC from returning to Ireland.
The UFC hasn’t hosted an event in Ireland since Conor McGregor knocked out Diego Brandao in July 2014 at UFC Fight Night 46 from 3Arena in Dublin. The attendance for that event was 9,500, and according to the 3Arena official website, the venue can host up to 13,000 fans.
UFC CEO Dana White attended Callum Walsh’s boxing match in September at 3Arena, but Shaw said the venue’s capacity isn’t sufficient for a UFC event.
“Great venue – but a small venue,” Shaw said after UFC Fight Night 246. “Could we take our show to that arena? It would be challenging. It’s not an insurmountable challenge – we’d be able to do it. But we’d be having a small event. It’s a small arena. It doesn’t have the space that we need necessarily.”
While Dublin could be a challenge, Shaw confirmed that the UFC plans on returning to the United Kingdom in 2025.
“Are there more plans? Yes,” Shaw said. “We’re going to be back in the U.K. next year. Whether that’s Dublin, (it’s) probably London for us next year, and then as we get through next year, which is the last year of our current media deal in the U.S., and we start to plan out what we want to do in 2026 and beyond in terms of the number of international events that we can have, the intention is to be able to go back to Europe more often.”
Check out Shaw’s full post-event news conference in the video above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 246.