UFC 69 tickets on sale soon

Tickets for UFC 69, which will take place on April 7 in Houston, Texas, at the Toyota Center, will go on sale in early February, according to Steve Seivert over at the Houston Chronicle.

Typically, the UFC waits until a major event is over to start pushing sales for future events. Therefore, we can probably expect an announcement soon after UFC 67, which takes place this upcoming weekend.

UFC 69 will be the UFC debut in the Lone Star State. But, not the first time the state has hosted a mixed martial arts event.

The International Fight League (IFL) beat the UFC to the punch, staging a show for this Friday, February 2. However, ticket sales have been sluggish. In fact, the IFL can't even give them away.

Seriously.

Here's a snip from Seivert's blog:

Somehow, Houston can sell 70,000 tickets for Hannah Montana at the Rodeo, but can't move a scant 5,000 stubs for the first major MMA show to hit town. The IFL is even pitching a buy one, get one free deal and still can't get seats in the seats ... not a good sign if you can't even give 'em away.

Does this pose problems for the UFC?

Not a chance. When fans heard the UFC was coming to town, most of them "put their wallets back in their pockets." Also, the IFL has apparently done a terrible job promoting the event.

However, Heath Herring — a Texas native who just lost a horrible-looking decision to Jake O'Brien at UFC Fight Night 8 — wants on the card to make up for his poor performance, according to the article.

If the UFC is concerned about ticket sales (and it shouldn't be) adding Herring to the card might scare off a few folks.

Regardless, the developing (unofficial) UFC 69 fight card is shaping up nicely:

170 lb.: Georges St. Pierre (13-1) vs. Matt Serra (7-4)
170 lb.: Diego Sanchez (17-0) vs. Josh Koscheck (8-1)
155 lb.: Joe Stevenson (26-7) vs. Caol Uno (22-9-4)
170 lb.: Luke Cummo (4-4) vs. Josh Haynes (7-7)