AS YOU’VE PROBABLY heard by now, the UFC is returning to Dublin’s O2 Arena next month — five years on from its first Irish visit back in January 2009.
It is sure to be one of the biggest sporting events of the summer, with 10,000 fans expected to pack out the venue on 19 July as Conor McGregor faces Diego Brandao (Cole Miller pulled out through injury last night) in front of his home fans for the main event.
The card looks like this at the moment:
Main card
- Conor McGregor vs. Diego Brandao (Featherweight)
- Gunnar Nelson vs. Zak Cummings (Welterweight)
- Brad Pickett vs. Ian McCall (Flyweight)
- Norman Parke vs. Naoyuki Kotani (Lightweight)
Prelims
- Tom Lawlor vs. Ilir Latifi (Light Heavyweight)
- Neil Seery vs. Phil Harris (Flyweight)
- Tor Troeng vs. Trevor Smith (Middleweight)
- Cody Donovan vs. Nikita Krylov (Light Heavyweight)
- TBD vs. TBD
- TBD vs. TBD
You will be lucky to get your hands on tickets as they are sure to be like gold dust, but here is all the information you need to know if you’re hoping to head along:
When do they go on sale?
If you’re a member of UFC’s ‘Fight Club’ (it costs €55 or €110 depending on the package), you get first dibs on ticket pre-sales at 10am this morning.
Those who subscribe to the UFC newsletter are eligible for pre-sale at 10am tomorrow morning so we suggest you sign up to that now here as it’s free of charge! 02 Priority members are also given access 24 hours early.
For everyone else, it promises to be a frantic scramble for tickets when they go on general sale Friday morning (also 10am).
How much will it set me back?
That all depends on which ones you’re after. Pricing starts at €50 and goes up to €175 (€50, €100, €125, €150 and €175) for regular tickets based on where in the arena you’re seated.
For those happy to pay a little (or a hell of a lot) extra there are several VIP and VVIP packages ranging from €585 to a whopping €1250 for the ‘Owner’s Section – Ultimate FAN VVIP Experience’.
Just so you can dream, here’s what comes with that package:
- 1 Premium VVIP Octagon side floor seat in exclusive Owners VIP & celebrity guest section
- Private VIP entrance to 02, open 30 minutes prior to general admission
- Exclusive ‘Inside The Octagon’ tour with UFC guest fighter & championship belt
- Exclusive VVIP hospitality area adjacent to the O2
- UFC celebrity guest fighter appearance - meet & greet with photo opportunity
- 1 official limited edition UFC Fight Night Dublin event poster signed by UFC fighters on the card
- 1 UFC 20th anniversary DVD ‘Fighting For a Generation’
- 1 official limited edition UFC Fight Night Dublin event t-shirt
- 1 pair of official UFC fight gloves
- 1 official event program
- Commemorative UFC VVIP experience badge
- Reserved premium seat for the official UFC weigh-in on Friday
- Reserved seat for the UFC guest fighter Q&A on Friday
- Cloakroom service
For more information on the VIP options, go here. All other tickets will be available to buy on Ticketmaster.ie and TheO2.ie
Will the event be a sell-out?
You’re damn right it will. In a matter of minutes, most likely. Here’s what UFC Brand, Comms and Event Director David Allen had to say during yesterday’s pre-fight conference call:
We’re really hugely excited about returning to Dublin after such a long time. We have a fantastic card lined up and the anticipation around this event is enormous.
“We are expecting this to be the quickest sell-out event ever in UFC history and that is in no small part thanks to the fantastic main event.”
