JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The UFC is headed back to Jacksonville this summer.
The promotion announced its return to Florida on Friday afternoon, with the event coming to VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena on June 24. Instead of a main UFC card that has been in town with UFC 249, 261 and 273, this is a Fight Night event, a step down from the promotion’s highest tier. The headliner on the card features Josh Emmett and unbeaten Ilia Topuria. The full card will be announced later.
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It marks the fourth consecutive year that the prominent mixed martial arts show has made a stop in Jacksonville.
UFC 249 was held May 9, 2020 in front of no fans, with Justin Gaethje dominating Tony Ferguson in the main event. The promotion stayed in town for a week, with UFC Fight night events on May 13 and 16.
HUGE ANNOUNCEMENTS JUST DROPPED! 🚨@DanaWhite just confirmed SIX big fights going down this summer and more 👀 pic.twitter.com/2trJujb3kB
— UFC (@ufc) April 21, 2023
That stop was significant in many ways. That came during the pandemic when live sporting events had hit pause. Mayor Lenny Curry and Gov. Ron DeSantis allowed the promotion to come to Jacksonville when other states weren’t permitting it. UFC president Dana White told News4JAX then that he would repay that hospitality when restrictions eased on fans attending events.
When pandemic restrictions lightened up, Jacksonville served as host for UFC 261 on April 24, a blockbuster night that included Kamaru Usman’s brutal knockout of Jorge Masvidal, Rose Namajunas wiping out Zhang Weili and Chris Weidman suffering a brutal broken leg in his bout with Uriah Hall.
UFC 261 earned an arena-record $3.3 million in ticket revenue and generated $17.6 million in economic impact for the area last time it was here.
At UFC 273 last April, the arena was sold out again, packing in 14,605 and earning a record gate of $3.55 million. Alexander Volkanovski pounded the Korean Zombie, Chan Sung-Jung, in the finale to defend his bantamweight championship and close down a long and eventful night in the arena. Volkanovski landed a crushing blow to Sung-Jung in the center of the ring that prompted Herb Dean to jump in and stop it in the fourth round for the exclamation point on UFC 273.
