It’s been 28 months since the UFC last visited my home city of Chicago. UFC 90 featured a lackluster main event between middleweight champion Anderson Silva and overmatched challenger Patrick Cote, Josh Koscheck filling in as a late replacement for Diego Sanchez against Thiago Alves, and Junior dos Santos announcing his presence in the heavyweight division with a shocking knockout of then-title-contender Fabricio Werdum.
Despite a solid gate (UFC 90 took in more money at the arena than UFC 87 in Minneapolis and UFC 88 in Atlanta), the UFC has yet to return, instead making multiple trips to locales like Philadelphia, Montreal, Vancouver, and Newark instead. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, that may change this summer:
“We’re looking at dates for this summer,” UFC president Dana White told the Sun-Times.
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White said nothing is set in stone, but his remarks were the strongest indication for Chicago fight fans who are hungry for the UFC’s return.“It’s tentative, but it’s lightly penciled in,” White said.
The article mentions that the UFC is looking at the United Center to host the event (UFC 90 took place in the All-State arena in suburban Rosemont), and that the venue has open dates in July and August. The UFC event wiki page indicates that the organization has venues booked through the August 27th in Rio with the exception of a UFC on Versus show planned for June 26th.