UFC Reportedly Moving Fight Card to City That's Waited Almost 10 Years for UFC Return

The UFC is reportedly moving an upcoming Canada card to a city that the promotion hasn’t visited in nearly 10 years.

Canada has long been a major market for the UFC thanks to the tremendous success and popularity of Canadian fighters like UFC Hall of Famer Georges St-Pierre, and last year the world’s leading MMA made two visits to the country with shows in Montreal and Vancouver.

News recently broke that a UFC Fight Night card scheduled for April 18 would be taking place in Ottawa, but the latest report from Adam Martin indicates that the UFC is now planning on moving that event to Winnipeg.

Winnipeg Last Hosted A UFC Card In 2017

As noted by Martin, the UFC held its first event in Winnipeg in 2013 with UFC 161, which saw Rashad Evans defeat Dan Henderson via split decision in the night’s main event.

A return to Winnipeg for a UFC Fight Night card in 2017 featured a clash between former UFC titleholders Rafael dos Anjos and Robbie Lawler, and the event surprisingly only featured three Canadian fighters out of 11 scheduled bouts.

Rafael dos Anjos celebrates defeating Robbie Lawler during UFC Fight Night at Bell MTS Place. | Bruce Fedyck-Imagn Images

Dos Anjos got his hand raised via unanimous decision to cap off a 3-0 start to his welterweight run before losing to Colby Covington the following year, while Lawler suffered the first of what would become four-straight losses until “Ruthless” stopped Nick Diaz at UFC 266.

UFC Adds Another International City To 2026 Schedule

A return to Winnipeg only adds to what is already a busy international slate of events for the UFC in 2026, and the promotion already returned to Sydney, Australia last month for UFC 325.

Alexander Vokanovski defended his featherweight title in a rematch with Diego Lopes at UFC 325. | (Steven Markham/AFP)

Other international offerings already locked in on the UFC calendar include a visit to Mexico City next weekend, which features a headlining bout between two-time Flyweight Champion Brandon Moreno and Lone’er Kavanagh, who is stepping in to replace Asu Almabayev after the latter fighter was forced to withdraw with an injury.

This year’s edition of UFC London is headlined by a potential featherweight title eliminator between Movsar Evloev and Lerone Murphy, and the UFC also has trips to Macau and Shanghai penciled in for the latter half of 2026.

Lerone Murphy (red gloves) fights Aaron Pico (blue gloves) during UFC 319 at United Center. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

Martin’s report regarding UFC Winnipeg notes that a main event announcement should be coming soon, and at the moment there are four fights expected to take place during the card on April 18.

UFC Winnipeg Fight Card

• Jasmine Jasudavicius vs. Karine Silva

• John Castañeda vs. Mark Vologdin

• Mitch Raposo vs. Allan Nascimento

• Dong Hun Choi vs. Andre Lima