Cape Town Stadium to get R30m roof to host UFC?

Plans are already underway to add a temporary roof to Cape Town Stadium in order to make it viable to host a historic UFC event.

By Craig Lewis

16-09-24 09:31

in MMA

Dricus du Plessis Israel Adesanya UFC 305

Dricus du Plessis has helped put UFC on the map in South Africa. Image: Richard Wainwright / EPA / BackpagePix

At the start of this year, UFC super star Dricus du Plessis claimed a stunning win over Sean Strickland to claim the middleweight title, becoming the first South African UFC title holder.

That victory already heightened calls for the UFC to bring an event to South Africa, and this possibility gained even more traction when Du Plessis recently defended his title against Israel Adesanya.

The triumph once again united South Africa behind a sporting success story, while the build-up to the fight – as well as the bout itself – undoubtedly brought a huge new following to UFC from sports lovers in Mzansi.

Many feel that Cape Town would be the ideal city to host such a historic event, but UFC would require an indoor venue that is not weather-dependent.

With this in mind, City of Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has confirmed that engineers have already drawn up four temporary roof options for Cape Town Stadium.

“We are already someway down the road… when it became a possibility that we could pitch for a Dricus fight, we started working on a plan immediately because we know that an indoor venue is a non-negotiable requirement of the UFC,” Hill-Lewis commented.

“All of them would be temporary roofs and it would give us a chance to erect, take down and re-erect to give some flexibility at the stadium to also host other events.”

The temporary roof could be done by March 2025 if a plan is approved by broader government entities, with the cost expected to be around around R30 million.

“It’s by no means in the bag. We’re just being well-prepared with these plans,” added Hill-Lewis.

“Our engineering teams have already come up with four options, all of which work but have different costs and have different pros and cons.”

Dricus du Plessis has been desperate to bring a UFC event to South Africa

Earlier this year Du Plessis said in an exclusive interview that his ‘one wish’ was to see his success result in the UFC coming to South Africa after seeing all the support and interest that has come out of the country.

“I only have one dream. The rest is work that I’ve already done for this. I don’t want to be given anything. I’ll take it. But there is one wish after hearing Dana White talking at a press conference about possibly bringing a UFC event to South Africa … that would be the dream…. It’s not totally in my control, but being a champion and getting an entire country hyped up for the UFC would go a long way.”

In the build-up to UFC297, UFC president Dana White hinted at his plans to host an event in South Africa and reiterated this position after the success of Du Plessis.

“If Dricus becomes the world champion, it’s a no-brainer. We will go to South Africa. Africa has been on my radar for a long time,” said White.

The UFC boss has reiterated that the 30-year-old South African would be the reason to bring UFC to the country.

“Absolutely, positively Dricus could be the guy to spearhead a UFC Africa event,” said White. “I have been talking about UFC Africa for a long time. Maybe we start looking at South Africa and arenas in the country and possibly doing a fight down there.”