UFC to return to London in 2025 in UK’s 30th event

UFC will return to London in 2025 in what will be its 30th event in the United Kingdom, the MMA promotion company announced on Tuesday.

UFC Fight Night 254 will take place on 22 March at the O2 Arena in Greenwich in what will be the company’s first event in the UK since UFC 304 – headlined by Belal Muhammad and Leon Edwards’ second meeting – in Manchester and first at the iconic domed arena since UFC Fight Night last July, in which Tom Aspinall’s heavyweight bout with Marcin Tybura headlined.

London has a history of being a strong selling point for the promotion company with the O2 Arena often at capacity for the events it has hosted.

It does mean London will go the entirety of 2024 without hosting UFC, however, despite David Shaw, executive vice president, telling City AM in 2023 that the organisation would host a card in the capital every year.

“When you’re in London you feel like you’re in the centre of the universe,” he said at the time.

“This isn’t just about British or UK MMA, it’s about European MMA.

“It does feel like home. We will be in London once per year at a minimum.”

The UK’s association with hosting UFC began in 2002 when the Royal Albert Hall staged Brawl at the Hall.

Since then Manchester, Newcastle, Birmingham, Nottingham, Glasgow, Liverpool and Belfast – using multiple venues – have joined London as host cities.