Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fans in the UAE have been promised a night to remember when the UFC returns to Abu Dhabi on April 11.

Four years after the success of UFC 112, the sport will return to Yas Island, with a 10-fight UFC Fight Night card headlined by Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira’s heavyweight clash with Roy Nelson.

The two fighters could hardly contain their excitement at getting their chance to fight in the capital due to the city’s passion for Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Nogueira described Abu Dhabi as the “motherland of grappling” while Nelson says he has waited 13 years to fight in the UAE.

“The UAE is a very special place for me to fight because I am from a jiu-jitsu background and this country has a very good tradition, in Abu Dhabi especially,” declared Nogueira, the only man to hold both the UFC and PRIDE heavyweight belts.  

Nelson added: “I’ve always wanted to come to Abu Dhabi. I first had the dream back in 2001 for the ADCC [Abu Dhabi Combat Club] – which is known as the Olympics of jiu-jitsu – because Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Abu Dhabi go hand in hand.”

American Nelson, known as ‘Big Country’, knows he has his work cut out against his opponent. The two men are both 37, but Nogueira, or ‘Big Nog’, is adept either on the mat or in a stand-up brawl.

“Now I’m here and I get the opportunity to fight a legend of our sport who has won the UFC belt, and the PRIDE belt and I just want to get halfway there and win the UFC belt,” Nelson added. “I know Big Nog is going to try and choke me out or he’s going to try to knock me out.”

The return of UFC to Abu Dhabi has been a long time coming with Flash CEO John Lickrish admitting he had been asked little else in the intervening four years other than “when is the UFC coming back?”

April’s fight is the second of six events to be held in Europe, Africa and the Middle East in 2014.

Plans are also afoot to hold five fights exclusively in the Middle East over the next three years and Lickrish and Garry Cook, UFC Executive Vice President and Managing Director for the EMEA region, suggested an event in Abu Dhabi could become an annual thing.

“This is a sports nation, it loves its sport and more importantly it is the culture of jiu-jitsu and Brazilian jiu-jitsu that makes it so receptive,” Cook said.

Tickets go on general sale today from 12:00 (UAE) priced between Dh695 and Dh3,695 from www.ticketmaster.ae

Full fight card

Roy Nelson vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Clay Guida vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri
Daniel Omielanczuk vs. Jared Rosholt
Chris Camozzi vs. Andrew Craig
Johnny Bedford vs. Rani Yahya
Dustin Ortiz vs. Alptekin Ozkilic
Beneil Dariush vs. Ramsey Nijem
John Howard vs. Ryan LaFlare
Jim Alers vs. Alan Omer
Thales Leites vs. Trevor Smith