That’s right folks – the Octagon is coming to the Kiwis. On June 28 this year, the UFC will host UFC Fight Night Auckland: Te Huna versus Marquardt at the Vector Arena.
The five-round main event will feature a middleweight clash between New Zealand’s James Te Huna versus former Strikeforce champion Nate Marquardt. The fight will mark Te Huna’s middleweight debut, having previously fought at light-heavyweight.
It will be interesting to see not only how the weight cut affects Te Huna, whose last fight was a swift and savage KO at the hands of ‘Shogun Rua’ in Brisbane last December. It remains to be seen how his first KO loss affects him.
This will be a return to middleweight for Marquardt, in a fight likely to make or break him, having been winless in his last three bouts.
Tom Wright, UFC Managing Director New Zealand, Australia and Canada said:
We are very excited about the UFC’s debut event in New Zealand. This country has a proud and successful combat sports history and certainly punches above its weight with representation in the UFC.
“We’re coming with a card featuring some of the greatest international and local fighters in mixed martial arts. Kiwis love their sport, and we have a great fan-base already in New Zealand with mixed martial arts becoming increasingly popular.
Remaining fight card and ticket information will be announced in the coming weeks, although expect to see local guys like Robert Whittaker and Dylan Andrews to have fights on this card, and maybe even a few Aussies like Ben Wall and Richie Vaculik.
But don’t hold your breath for Mark Hunt – he’d be headlining this card if they planned to have him fight!
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