The Milwaukee Bucks frequently have touted that their new arena will be home to more than just basketball – from music acts to hockey games – and on Saturday they announced another big-time event.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is coming to the Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center on Dec. 15, when the state-of-the-art arena will host the top mixed martial artists in the world. The on-sale date for tickets to see the can’t-miss-action inside the hallowed Octagon will be announced soon.
"We are thrilled to bring the UFC to our new arena as we continue to deliver the best in sports and entertainment to Milwaukee," said WESC General Manager Raj Saha. "Milwaukee has a deep-rooted history in mixed martial arts as many UFC champions and fighters have trained here. It is going to be a great night of fights."
The fight card for the UFC event also will be announced soon.
The $524 million new arena is set to hold a grand opening celebration on Aug. 26.
Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.
After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.
Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.
