The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is set to stage an event in Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day of next year, according to reports in the Irish Daily Star.
A report in the paper suggests UFC president Dana White and the governing body of the UFC have first refusal on one of the largest venues in the country, the O2 arena in Dublin, for 17 March.
The UFC have previously staged events in Ireland: UFC 93, also at the O2, in January of last year, and UFC 72 in Belfast in June 2007.
Although there are no Irish fighters of renown in the UFC, there are a number of fighters of Irish-American heritage currently fighting, such as Forrest Griffin and Marcus Davies, which would attract the interest of an Irish audience.
