UFC
UFC 147 now reportedly heading to Minas Gerais, Brazil on June 23
Apr 27, 2012 - 2:05:47 PM

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

UFC 147 may have its home for June 23, as Tatame.com reports that the event will now come to the Journalist Felippe Drummond Stadium in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

The card needed a new venue when problems arose in Rio de Janeiro. A United Nations conference in the city left the UFC without enough available hotel rooms for the event they had planned, and led to them removing the Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen rematch from the card.

The event is now expected to be headlined by a Featherweight Championship bout between Jose Aldo and Erik Koch, though that fight could still take place at the UFC 149 card in Calgary in July.

There could still potentially be an issue with this site, as the UFC will require an engineer to determine if the site can hold the UFC's lighting structure.

Penick's Analysis: The event just needs a location at this point, so if this venue works they'll move forward with it. Getting into a different city in Brazil will perhaps allow for better tickets sales, as it means they're not exhausting one city financially with three straight events in less than a year. Aldo on top will help this card immensely as well, though if it winds up being Wanderlei Silva vs. Vitor Belfort in the top spot, it could see a massive drop in potential pay-per-view buys.