Colorado Springs – USA Wrestling today announced UFC^® as an official sponsor of the 2015 World Wrestling Championships, which will be held from Monday, September 7 through Saturday, September 12 at the Orleans Arena, adjacent to The Orleans Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

 

Governed by United World Wrestling, this will mark the first time since 2003 that the World Wrestling Championships, the world’s largest global elite wrestling competition and first qualifier of the Rio 2016™ Olympic Games, will be showcased in the United States.

 

“We’ve already enjoyed a growing partnership with UFC and this is a natural extension,” said USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender. “We’ve had numerous athletes that have gone on from our National and Olympic teams to great success in UFC, including trailblazing athletes like two-time Olympians Dan Henderson and Daniel Cormier and Olympic champion Henry Cejudo. With UFC located in Las Vegas, it made a lot of sense for both organizations to partner on this historic event.”

 

“We are thrilled to sponsor the 2015 World Wrestling Championships and welcome wrestling competitors and enthusiasts from 100 countries to Las Vegas,” UFC Vice President of Federation Relationships and Corporate Social Responsibility Lou Lauria said. “Wrestling is a key member of the combat sports community and UFC will continue to support the development of men’s and women’s amateur sports globally.”

 

More than 800 athletes are expected to compete in the six-day competition over three Olympic disciplines, Greco-Roman, women’s freestyle and men’s freestyle. There are 24 sets of medals contested at the World Championships, eight in men’s freestyle, Greco-Roman and women’s wrestling.

 

Eighteen Olympic weight classes are recognized, with the top six from each class qualifying to represent their nation and compete in the Rio 2016™ Olympic Games. The 12 session competition will determine who will capture the 108 Olympic berths that are up for grabs.

 

This will be the sixth time the United States has hosted a Senior World Wrestling Championships and first in Las Vegas. The previous sites were Toledo, Ohio (1962, 1966), San Diego, California (1979), Atlanta, Georgia (1995) and New York, New York (2003).

 

Wrestling has been a featured sport in the Olympic Games, going back to the Ancient Olympics in Greece and starting with the first modern Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in 1896.

 

For more information please visit VegasWorlds2015.com and follow on Twitter @VegasWorlds2015.

About USA WRESTLING

USA Wrestling is the National Governing Body for the sport of wrestling in the United States and, as such, is its representative to the United States Olympic Committee and in United World Wrestling, the international wrestling federation. The organization consists of over 200,000 members participating in all levels, from youth through the Olympic Games. Simply, USA Wrestling is the central organization that coordinates amateur wrestling programs in the nation and works to create interest and participation in these programs. Its president is James Ravannack and its Executive Director is Rich Bender.

 

About UFC^®

UFC^® is the premier mixed martial arts (MMA) organization and largest Pay-Per-View event provider in the world. Headquartered in Las Vegas with offices in London, Toronto, Singapore and Sao Paulo, UFC produces more than 40 live events annually that consistently sell out some of the most prestigious arenas around the globe. UFC programming is broadcast in 158 countries and territories to over 1 billion TV households worldwide in 21 different languages. The UFC has a multi-year broadcast agreement with FOX in the U.S., which annually includes four live events broadcast on the FOX network, as well as The Ultimate Fighter^® reality television show and thousands of hours of programming on FOX Sports 1 and FOX Sports 2. In 2014, UFC launched UFC FIGHT PASS^®, a digital subscription service that is available throughout the world with exclusive live events, thousands of fights on-demand and original content. The UFC organization also licenses over 100 UFC GYM^® locations, and owns UFC.TV^® (offering live event broadcasts and video on-demand around the world), UFC FIT^® (an in-home fitness and nutrition program), UFC Magazine, and has a videogame franchise with EA SPORTS, UFC Fight Club^®, UFC Fan Expo^®, UFC branded apparel, DVDs and Blu-rays and Topps Trading Cards. For more information, visit UFC.com and follow UFC at Facebook.com/UFC, Twitter and Instagram: @UFC.