Inside the Venue: Acer Arena

Location: Sydney, Australia
Built: 1999
Cost: $190 Million
Seating Capacity: 21,000
Architect: Abigroup Ltd/Obayashi Corporation

The Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia, will become a two-time host for the world’s most prominent mixed martial arts promotion on Saturday with the arrival of UFC 127 “Penn vs. Fitch.” The event, which will air live on pay-per-view, will be headlined by a bout pairing former two-division champion B.J. Penn with perennial welterweight contender Jon Fitch.

Architects broke ground on the 21,000-seat Acer Arena in 1997, and work was completed two years later. The venue opened in November 1999 under the Sydeny SuperDome moniker. It hosted a number of events at the 2000 Summer Olympic Games, including basketball and trampoline gymnastics. Acer Inc., a Taiwan-based computer technology and electronics corporation, purchased the naming rights to the $190 million arena in 2006. Countless musical acts, from Metallica and Coldplay to Britney Spears and Taylor Swift, have chosen the Acer Arena as a host site since it opened for business.

On Feb. 21, 2010, the UFC made its first visit to the arena, which touts 200 television monitors and four scoreboards. UFC 110 was headlined by a heavyweight showdown between Cain Velasquez and former Pride Fighting Championships titleholder Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Velasquez stopped the Brazilian icon on first-round punches and became UFC heavyweight champion eight months later. Nogueira, sidelined by various injuries, has not fought since.