Whether it's real estate, scouting where to shoot a movie or where to hold an Ultimate Fighting Championship event - it's all about location. Specifically, with the UFC, location means finding a destination based on the main event fight that helps to strategically expand the brand's dominance.

For example, the UFC loves to book Georges St. Pierre's championship bouts in Montreal because he is an icon in Canada. It's really elementary. The biggest reaction towards a GSP fight is going to come from a Canadian crowd since the audience has more investment into him. There are other times though where the location is selected to further the reach of the UFC and move into untapped live markets. Cities like Detroit, MI (or more accurately Auburn Hills, a suburb of Detroit, which will host UFC 123) and Dallas, TX were largely populated areas that had never been graced with hosting the travelling Octagon circus. Those cities were selected due to their ability to increase the amount of eyes on the UFC and to connect candidly with the region.

So with many new changes to the landscape of the UFC, including it's newest champions and biggest current stars, it begs to take a look at a few possible scenarios for UFC locations in 2011. Take the jump with me....

Continue reading this post »