UFC planning return to Anaheim's Honda Center on Feb. 23, likely for UFC 157

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

The UFC will not hold a pay-per-view event in the first month of 2013, but there may be two in month number two. According to a report from MMAJunkie.com, the UFC is eying a return to the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. on February 23, with an event expected to be UFC 157.

That would come three weeks after UFC 156, which heads to Las Vegas on Feb. 2 with a Featherweight Championship bout between Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar.

It will be the UFC's first event at the Honda Center since UFC on Fox 1 in November of 2011, and will be the sixth event the UFC has brought to the venue (formerly the Arrowhead Pond). They also brought events to the city in 2010 (UFC 121: Lesnar vs. Velasquez), 2007 (UFC 76: Knockout), and 2006 (UFC 63: Hughes vs. Penn 2 and UFC 59: Reality Check).

Penick's Analysis: I'm not a fan of the UFC running two pay-per-views so close together, but there's a five week break between events prior to the month of February, so it's a little bit offset. Depending on the fights they put together for both cards, they may be able to pull strong numbers, but they're going to need to offer something big for both in such close proximity to one another.

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Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_14978.shtml

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