UFC 149 Sells Out As Canadians Prepare For First Of Three Shows In 2012

TORONTO – The Ultimate Fighting Championship® organization announced today that the highly anticipated UFC 149 event – headlined by the featherweight title fight between Jose Aldo and challenger Erik Koch at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary – has officially sold out. With the sell-out, attendance for the July 21 event will be over 18,000.

UFC® 149: ALDO vs. KOCH, presented by Sport Chek, is the first-ever UFC® event to be held in Alberta. The Calgary event marks the first of three UFC events taking place in Canada in 2012 as Toronto (Sept. 22, location to be determined) and Montreal (Nov. 17, Bell Centre) are also set with UFC dates this calendar year.

The stacked card also sees two former UFC® champions in Calgary as former light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua faces off against Thiago Silvawhile former interim heavyweight champ Minotauro Nogueira returns to action to face Cheick Kongo. Title contenders also clash as Michael Bisping faces middleweight Tim Boetsch.

Five Canadians add to the star power on July 21 as Edmonton’s Mitch Clarkefaces lightweight Anton Kuivanen, Calgary’s Nick Ringbattles middleweight Court McGee, Sudbury, Ontario’s Mitch Gagnontakes on bantamweight Bryan Caraway,Oshawa, Ontario native Antonio Carvalhochallenges featherweight George Roop, and Saint John, New Brunswick’s Ryan Jimmo meets light heavyweight Anthony Perosh.

Canada has played host to eight UFC® events since 2008. Its three host cities to date – Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver – have welcomed more than 185,000 fans in attendance with millions watching worldwide on PPV. Canadian events have had a cumulative gross gate of more than $40M andmillions more in direct economic impact. The city of Montreal has held fourevents (UFC 83, 97, 113 and 124) while Toronto (UFC 129 and 140) and Vancouver (UFC 115 and 131) have each played host twice.

Earlier this year, the UFC® also committed to host three premier global events in Canada each of next three years (through to 2014).

UFC® 149 will be available live on Pay-Per-View at 10 p.m. EST/7 p.m. PST on UFC.TV, iN DEMAND, DirecTV, DISH Network, Avail-TVN, and in Canada on Shaw Communications, Bell TV, Sasktel, Viewer’s Choice Canada and in French on Canal Indigo for a suggested retail price of$44.99 US/$49.99 CAN for Standard Definition and $54.99 US/$59.99 CAN for High Definition.