The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will continue its assault on new markets, heading to Chicago, Ill., for the first time ever with UFC 90 at the Allstate Arena on October 25, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
It will also mark the first-ever sanctioned mixed martial arts bout in the "Prairie State."
Here's a snip from UFC President Dana White:
"Chicago is a huge market for us. We track pay-per-view buys for our events and ratings on Spike TV, and Chicago is a killer market for us. 'There are tons of fans in Chicago and around Chicago, and it's going to be one of the places we hit often. It's a great fight town, and we're really pumped that we're finally getting this done.''
Chicago joins Atlanta, Ga. (September), Omaha, Neb. (September) and Boston, Mass. (likely November) as fresh places within the United States that the promotion is heading as the sport continues to grow. Portland, Ore., and Honolulu, Hawaii, too, have been discussed as potential destinations stateside.
That's of course in addition to the international expansion that Lorenzo Fertitta is now spearheading, eying far-off spots like the Philippines, India, Germany, Italy, Brazil and Japan in the near future.
There's no word yet on possible UFC 90 participants; however, if "Windy City" resident Stephan Bonnar is healed from knee surgery he'll be a shoe-in for the card.
Stay tuned for more details.
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