The UFC is headed back to Rio in October, but it won’t be for a pay-per-view event.
In the past two years, Rio has hosted UFC 283 and UFC 301. This year’s event in “The Marvellous City” will be a UFC Fight Night, set to go down at Farmasi Arena on Saturday, October 11th.
This event has been rumored since June but was finally announced on the UFC’s official social media accounts late last night (Jul. 30th, 2025). Eagle-eyed Brazilian fans also noticed a quickly deleted post from the vice-mayor of Rio
featuring a promo for the event with a little more swagger.
The vice-mayor of the city of Rio de Janeiro posted this promo video for UFC Rio moments ago on Instagram and then took it down.
— Guilherme Cruz (@guicruzzz) July 31, 2025
As reported a while ago, UFC returns to the city for a Fight Night card on Oct. 11. pic.twitter.com/gzQMIWLxDG
THE OCTAGON IS RETURNING TO RIO
— UFC (@ufc) July 31, 2025
Register your interest for #UFCRio here https://t.co/fOZNmKuv4y pic.twitter.com/gtDuoWe72c
UFC Fight Night 261 is the first Fight Night being held in Rio since 2015. No main event has been revealed yet, but the card currently features Brazilian heavyweights Jhonata Diniz and Vitor Petrino, along with the debut of Rio’s own “BJJ GWOAT” Bia Mesquita.
We’ll keep you updated on additions to the card as we hear them. The UFC certainly has more than enough Brazilian talent to stack the card, but many rising stars (like The Fighting Nerds) are already booked for other events, and the promotion tends to save guys like Charles Oliveira and Paulo Costa for pay-per-views.
Let us know in the comments below who you’d like to see fighting in Rio this October!
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