...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
MMATorch reader Ian Saul sent the following notes from Saudi Arabia, where he is currently stationed for work.
-Tickets went on sale Saturday in all price ranges. Tickets were still available in all price ranges a day later. The floor is nearly sold out (an impressive fact concidering that all floor seats cost over $1,000 U.S.) with only the East floor available, and there have been good sales on the lower and mid tiers of the grand stand.
-I was told yesterday by a friend of mine who was trying to book tickets that the lower tier did actually sell out at one point but they added more seats (the arena is extendable in all directions).
There are currently no seat numbers attributed to the cheapest two price brackets. Not sure if it will be a free for all or they will be allocated when they are sent out. It could be complete chaos if they don't allocate seating!
-The TV spots here in KSA have really gone a bit mental this morning. Between 5 a.m. local time (when I got up) and now (7:40 a.m.) every advert break has had two adverts for UFC112 (I have a TV on in my office). Each ad break starts and finishes with the same advert. I've been told that this is the same on the channel "Dubai One" which is one of the regions more popular stations.
-Show Sports 4 (the channel that covers UFC and WWE the most) has started showing season 5 of the Ultimate Fighter for the second time since I have been here, but interestingly they have given over all of the advert break time to advertising both UFC112 and WWE Elimination Chamber PPVs.
-The biggest piece of news in the region today is the rumor that the Saudi Royal's intend on attending. Both the King and Princess Nora Bint apparently secured a Royal Box today. Now, keep in mind that this is Saudi Arabia and these things are often just put out by the Palace to keep the king in the news, but if it is true, this is a massive deal for MMA in the region as if the King attends, then every important person in the region will need to be seen there. How much this would complicate life for the UFC due to the security arrangements I really don't know, but the Abu Dhabi money originates in the KSA so I'm sure the UFC's Abu Dhabi backers will be very happy at the idea of Royal attendance. If this is confirmed I'll let you know.
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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