Mixed martial arts promotion UFC has confirmed its return to the Chinese Special Administrative Region of Macau, courtesy of a new partnership with the Galaxy Macau resort.
Through the deal, UFC will stage three of its secondary ‘Fight Night’ events at the 16,000-capacity Galaxy Arena between 2026 and 2029, as well as the opening round of season 5 of the Road to UFC tournament.
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Since the promotion’s first visit to the territory in 2012 (UFC on Fuel TV: Franklin vs Le), the promotion has staged four events in the city.
While three of these, including Franklin vs Le, were hosted at the Las Vegas Sands-owned Venetian Arena, the most recent, UFC Fight Night: Yan vs Figueiredo, was staged at the Galaxy Arena in November 2024, drawing a crowd of 12,615.
On the announcement, UFC senior vice president and head of Asia, Kevin Chang, commented: “In 2026, Macau will be the launchpad to UFC in Asia. Building on our wildly successful 2024 event, this long-term partnership with Galaxy Macau solidifies our commitment to this region and its passionate fans.”
In terms of cities in East Asia, only Singapore (six), Saitama, Japan, has staged more UFC events (five) than Macau’s four, and indeed only Japan (nine) has staged more than China’s eight.
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By GlobalDataUFC has also staged China events in Shanghai (twice), Beijing, and Shenzhen.
Galaxy Entertainment Group chief operating officer for Macau Kevin Kelley added that the move “reflects our ongoing support for the Macao SAR Government’s vision to integrate tourism and sports.”
This vision will see other major sports properties come to the city in the coming years, and perhaps none more prominent than North American basketball’s elite NBA, which has committed to bringing games to the region through a multi-year partnership with the Las Vegas Sands’ Sands China arm.
This will begin in 2025, when the Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns will play a pair of pre-season friendly fixtures against each other at the Venetian Arena.
Meanwhile, UFC parent company TKO Group has announced that it will double shareholder dividends after the recent major US media rights deal with Paramount.
The next dividend payout on September 30 will be worth 76 cents per share, up 100% on the previous.
Paramount announced a $7.7 billion, seven-year deal to capture the UFC rights in August, with the broadcast deal beginning in 2026.
Paramount will become the exclusive US distributor of UFC’s top-line numbered events (13 per year) and secondary Fight Night events (30 per year) via its Paramount Plus OTT streaming service.
The subsequent jump in TKO stock value from the substantial rights capture has helped fuel the dividend increase.
