UFC’s Hopes For A Stadium Show In Sao Paulo Appear To Be Dead

Promoted from the fan posts by Kid Nate.

Dana’s dream of having a big UFC show in a stadium in Brazil appears to be dead, at least for the city of Sao Paulo, which would host the return of the UFC to Brazil in June and would showcase the TUF Brazil finals, a rematch between Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva and would have as its main event the long awaited rematch between UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva and challenger Chael Sonnen.

A non-profit organization called Viva Pacaembu has taken action to prevent the UFC from hosting its show in the Pacaembu stadium. A judicial decision was made yesterday that would prevent the organization from occupying the stadium after 12AM, claiming that after that specific time slot the loudest the noise can reach would be at 45 decibels.

"First was the difficulty with the noise. (Then) the Viva Pacaembu organization demanded that the law of noise ordinance would have the limit of 45 decibels, which is impossible. I even bought a noise measurer and took it to the Mayor’s office, and it measured 60 decibels" said the Secretary of Sports, Bebeto Haddad.

Haddad also showed frustration in trying to explain that the time slot for which the event would take place could not be different; "the UFC is an event broadcasted to 150 countries, we have to adapt to the time zone of many countries. There’s no way we could make this end before midnight" he concluded.

Unfortunately for the UFC, most of the big stadiums are under renovations for the 2014 World Cup, leaving the bigger Morumbi stadium the only other available stadium to host the UFC in Sao Paulo. The Morumbi stadium has its problem though, as they don’t meet all of Zuffa’s demands, such as covering the grass in the case of rain. It also does not have the support of the City Administrators:

"It’s different than it would have been in Pacaembu, which is our stadium. But of course we’ll help with what we can for the UFC to come to Sao Paulo. For them (Morumbi) it should be easier, because the noise ordinance law is more flexible in that area. They can even infringe the law, if that’s the case, and pay a fine, but they wouldn’t be able to do that as a public building, as is the Pacaembu" Haddad concluded. The difference here is that the Pacaembu stadium is public while the Morumbi stadium is private.

Morumbi appears to still be open to do business with the UFC:

"We haven’t spoken to the UFC again, we’re in the same page (of negotiation) as before, but we are open to do business (with them). The Morumbi stadium is ready to receive any type of show" said Roberto Natel who is responsible for the negotiations of the stadium.

The question is if the UFC would want to go to the Morumbi, given that the stadium will not comply with its demands. I suspect that the UFC will have to look for an indoor arena or perhaps go to a different city if they really want to use a stadium, such as Rio again. Can you say UFC Rio III in the Engenhao?

Sources:

UOL

UOL

Globo Esporte