THE UFC® ANNOUNCES WORLD TOUR FOUR WORLD CHAMPIONS AND FOUR TITLE CHALLENGERS HIT 11 CITIES IN SIX DAYS
Four world champions and four title challengers will visit 11 cities in six days promoting the final four championship Pay-Per-View events of this historic year. The UFC® 2013 World Tour will include UFC® light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, Alexander Gustafsson, UFC® heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos, UFC® welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, Johny Hendricks, and UFC® women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate.
The World Tour Schedule
- July 29 – California Bay Area: Press tour with UFC® heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and former heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos.
- July 29 – Las Vegas, Nev. – Main Lobby, MGM Grand Hotel & Casino
, 12 p.m. PT: Ultimate Media Day with UFC® welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and challenger Johny Hendricks. Free and open to the public.
- July 30 – Los Angeles, Calif. – Club Nokia at Nokia Live, 11 a.m. PT: UFC® president Dana White hosts a press conference with UFC® heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos, UFC® light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, Alexander Gustafsson, UFC® welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, Johny Hendricks, UFC® women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate. Free and open to the public; streamed live on UFC.com.
- July 31 – New York, N.Y. – Beacon Theatre, 1 p.m. ET: UFC® president Dana White hosts a press conference with UFC® heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos, UFC® light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, Alexander Gustafsson, UFC® welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, Johny Hendricks, UFC® women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate. Free and open to the public; streamed live on UFC.com.
- August 1 – Montreal, Canada – Complexe Desjardins, 12:30 p.m. ET: UFC Director of Canadian Operations Tom Wright hosts a press conference with UFC® welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and Johny Hendricks. Free and open to the public; streamed live on UFC.com.
- August 1 – Houston, Texas –Toyota Center, 1 p.m. CT: Open workouts and interviews with UFC® heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and former heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos. Free and open to the public.
- August 1 – Stockholm, Sweden: Press tour with UFC® light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson.
- August 2 – Dallas, Texas – Cowboys Stadium, 1 p.m. CT: Open workouts and interviews on the field with UFC® welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and Johny Hendricks. Free and open to the public.
- August 2 – Chicago, Ill.: Press tour with UFC® women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate.
- August 2 – London, England: Press tour with UFC® light heavyweight champion Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson.
- August 2 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – HSBC Arena, 3 p.m. BRT: Former UFC® heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos to participate in joint Q & A session prior to weigh-ins for UFC 163. Free and open to the public.
About The Upcoming Championship Pay-Per-View Events
UFC® 165: JONES vs. GUSTAFSSON takes place Saturday, September 21 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, as reigning pound-for-pound king Jon Jones defends his light heavyweight title against a top-ranked challenger who can match him in speed, size and youth in Alexander Gustafsson. Both men have been calling for the showdown and, finally, the biggest 205-pound clash of the year is on. Tickets are available now at www.ticketmaster.ca or by calling (800) 745-3000.
UFC® 166: VELASQUEZ vs. DOS SANTOS 3 takes place Saturday, October 19, from Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. The fate of the world heavyweight championship will be decided when perhaps the two baddest men on the planet – UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and rival former heavyweight champ Junior dos Santos – collide for the third and perhaps final time in their blistering series. Mexican-American Velasquez regained the championship from Brazil-born dos Santos last December, pounding out a five-round decision which tied the series 1-1 after dos Santos’ crushing 64-second KO win in their first fight in 2011. Tickets go on sale Friday, August 2 at www.houstontoyotacenter.com or by calling (866) 4-HOU-TIX.
UFC® 167: ST-PIERRE vs. HENDRICKS takes place Saturday, November 16 at The MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, where the longest-reigning champion in the UFC, welterweight king Georges St-Pierre, returns to the Octagon® to face No.1 contender Johny Hendricks. “GSP” will be fighting in the United States for the first time in three-and-a-half years, taking on his most dangerous challenger to date in the sledge-hammer handed “Bigg Rigg.” Tickets go on sale Friday, August 2 at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling (800) 745-3000.
UFC® 168: WEIDMAN vs. SILVA 2 closes out 2013 on Saturday, December 28 at The MGM Grand Garden Arena with the most hotly anticipated rematch in UFC history with UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman defending his title against the dethroned king, Anderson Silva. UFC 168 also features UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, who takes on bitter rival Miesha Tate in a rematch of one the biggest female fights of all time. Rousey ripped the championship from Tate in a breathtaking March 2012 war, however, nothing was settled in Tate’s eyes and now she gets her chance to avenge the most painful defeat of her career at UFC 168. Tickets go on sale Friday, September 27 at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling (800) 745-3000.
All bouts live and subject to change. Visit UFC.com for more information.
About the Ultimate Fighting Championship®
Universally recognized for its action-packed, can’t-miss events that have sold out some of the biggest arenas and stadiums across the globe, the UFC® is the world’s premier mixed martial arts (MMA) organization. Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, headquartered in Las Vegas and with offices in London, Toronto and Beijing, UFC produces more than 30 live events annually and is the largest pay-per-view event provider in the world. In 2012, the UFC burst into the mainstream with a landmark seven-year broadcast agreement with FOX Sports Media Group. The agreement includes four live events broadcast on the FOX network annually, with additional fight cards and thousands of hours of programming broadcast on FOX properties FX and FUEL TV. This also includes the longest-running sports reality show on television, The Ultimate Fighter®, moving to FOX Sports 1 in September 2013.
In addition to its reach on FOX, UFC programming is broadcast in over 145 countries, to nearly 800 million TV households worldwide, in 28 different languages. UFC content is also distributed commercially in the United States to bars and restaurants through Joe Hand Promotions, in English throughout Canada via Premium Sports Broadcasting Inc. and Australia via Main Event and in French throughout Quebec via Interbox. The UFC also connects with tens of millions of fans through its website, UFC.com, as well as social media sites Facebook and Twitter. UFC President Dana White is considered one of the most accessible and followed executives in sports, with nearly 2.4 million followers on Twitter. Ancillary UFC businesses include best-selling DVDs and video games, UFC FIT®, an in-home fitness and nutrition program, an internationally distributed magazine, UFC.TV offering live event broadcasts and video on demand around the world, a new franchise in development with EA, UFC GYM®, UFC Fight Club® affinity program, UFC Fan Expo® festivals, branded apparel and trading cards.