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Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has announced that the City of Cape Town is planning to add a temporary roof to DHL Cape Town Stadium at a cost of around R30 million to host more events that require an ‘indoor’ venue.

Hill-Lewis says the plan comes after Cape Town’s proposal to host South African UFC champ Dricus du Plessis’s next match, which requires an indoor venue.

Four temporary roof options have so far been flouted by city engineers, and it seems the roof might be constructed as soon as March 2025 – if the plan is approved by ‘broader government entities’.

“Our engineering teams have already come up with four options, all of which work but have different costs and have different pros and cons.”

“So it’s by no means in the bag. We’re just being well-prepared with these plans,” notes Hill-Lewis.

“We are already someway down the road… when it became a possibility that we could pitch for a Dricus fight, we started working on a plan immediately because we know that an indoor venue is a non-negotiable requirement of the UFC.”

Cape Talk reports that Cape Town is also competing against Johannesburg and Pretoria to host the next big UFC fight – with Cape Town possibly soon hosting a UFC fight at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC).

Earlier this year Du Plessis said in an exclusive interview that his ‘one wish’ was to see his success result in the UFC coming to South Africa after seeing all the support and interest that has come out of the country.

“I only have one dream. The rest is work that I’ve already done for this. I don’t want to be given anything. I’ll take it. But there is one wish after hearing Dana White talking at a press conference about possibly bringing a UFC event to South Africa … that would be the dream…. It’s not totally in my control, but being a champion and getting an entire country hyped up for the UFC would go a long way.”

Well Dricus, ons sal jou laat weet waneer ons weet.

[source:capetalk&southafrican]